Using your Digital Talking Book Machine and Audio Cartridges

About the Machine

Your digital player is powered by a rechargeable battery. We recommend plugging it in when you aren’t using it to keep it charged.

It features standard buttons to power the machine on and off, play, stop, fast forward, and rewind, along with volume controls. Near the speaker, you’ll find buttons that change the voice tone and speed. Newer or advanced players also include buttons to help you set bookmarks and navigate through multiple materials (“Bookshelf” mode).

You can use your digital player with cartridges, which you insert on the bottom, and with USB flash drives, which you insert on the right side of the machine. There, you’ll also find a socket for headphones or external speakers.

The National Library Service (NLS) has more detailed information about digital players on its website.

Using a Cartridge (TBBL or BARD)

If you get your TBBL or BARD materials directly from us at the New York State Library, you’ll get them on a cartridge. The cartridge stores audio or eBraille books you request from us.

You can ask us to add your materials to a cartridge in a certain order, or we’ll add them in a random order and you can navigate through them using “Bookshelf” mode. (See “Playing multiple books on a cartridge or flash drive” below.)

There's only one way to insert the cartridge into the player: The beveled end, or shaped part, goes into the machine, while the other end has a round finger hole so you can easily get the cartridge out of the machine.

Using a USB Flash Drive (BARD)

You’ll insert the USB flash drive containing your materials into the USB port on the right side of your digital player. The USB port is a rectangular socket that may have a black plastic cover over it.

You can also add MP3 and WAV audio files you have on your computer to the same USB flash drive with your BARD materials to play on your digital player. "Create a folder on your USB flash drive exactly named: Audio+Podcasts (using the plus sign between “Audio” and “Podcasts”). The audio files will then play on your digital player in order based on their file names.

Playing multiple books on a cartridge or flash drive

There are two ways to access multiple books on an audio cartridge:

1. You can read books in order by simply pressing the “Play/Stop” button when you’ve finished one book or magazine to get to the next one.
2. You can use “Bookshelf” Mode, which lets you skip over books and read in any order you want.

To use Bookshelf Mode:

1. Put the cartridge or USB flash drive into your digital player.
2. Turn the player on by pressing the “Power” button.
3. Press and hold the “Play/Stop” button for three seconds until the player says, “Bookshelf.” It will then tell you the total number of books or materials on the cartridge.
4. Press the “Fast Forward” button next to the “Play/Stop” button to hear the next book. Press the “Rewind” button next to the “Play/Stop” button to move to a previous book.
5. When you hear the entire title of the book you’d like to read, press the “Play/Stop” button to begin listening.
6. To return to "Bookshelf,” repeat step 3 and continue from there.