Bookshare and HumanWare Simplify Access to Bookshare Books

Direct Connection to Bookshare Facilitates Transfer of Books to Devices
Palo Alto/Longueuil June 30, 2011 – HumanWare and Bookshare are pleased to announce a new version of the FREE HumanWare Companion Software that simplifies the process of finding, downloading, and transferring Bookshare books to the Victor Reader Stream digital talking book player. “Many of our customers appreciate the free HumanWare Companion software with its simple intuitive interface to transfer books and files from their computer to the Stream.” Says Gerry Chevalier, Victor Reader Brand Manager at HumanWare. “It seemed only logical to work with Bookshare to add the access to their web service. Now, our Companion users can not only transfer their Bookshare book to their Stream but they can go online to find and download the book as well.” “We developed an interface that connects to Bookshare from within devices and applications precisely for uses such as this – making it easier to find and read books,” says Betsy Beaumon, Vice President and General Manager of the Literacy Program at Benetech. “Bookshare members who use the Companion software with their Stream have direct access to our online book repository of more than 114,000 DAISY digital talking books.” With the latest version, 3.4, of the free HumanWare Companion software, VR Stream users can now select the Bookshare Web Service from the Online Books menu, log into their Bookshare account, and search by title, author or ISBN. Simply select the desired title from the search results list and the Companion will download it, and transfer the book to the Stream. It couldn’t be easier! Victor Reader Stream users can obtain the HumanWare Companion version 3.4 from: www.humanware.com/stream_software Or, users who already have Companion version 3.3 can just use the Check for Updates item of the Help Menu. To learn more about the popular Victor Reader Stream DAISY MP3 player and recorder visit: www.humanware.com/stream For more about Bookshare books and membership visit: www.bookshare.org About Bookshare Bookshare is the largest online accessible library of copyrighted content for people with print disabilities. Through its technology initiatives and partnerships, Bookshare seeks to raise the floor on accessibility issues so that individuals with print disabilities have the same ease of access to print materials as people without disabilities. In 2007, Bookshare received a five-year award from the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP), to provide free access for all U.S. students with a qualifying print disability. Bookshare serves more than 145,000 members and is an initiative of Benetech, a nonprofit which creates sustainable technology to solve pressing social needs. About HumanWare HumanWare (www.humanware.com) is the global leader in assistive technologies for the print disabled. HumanWare provides products to people who are blind or have low vision and students with learning disabilities. HumanWare offers a collection of innovative products, including BrailleNote, the leading productivity device for the blind in education, business and for personal use; the Victor Reader product line, the world's leading digital audiobook players; the SmartView family of handheld and desktop electronic magnifiers; and myReader2, HumanWare's unique "auto-reader.” Bookshare Media Contact: Valerie Chernek- 410-960-4060 valerie.c@bookshare.org HumanWare Media Contact: Nicolas Lagace - 450-461-1717 nicolas.lagace@humanware.com