‘iPods and iTunes’ Archives

Today, APple released the latest version of their popular multimedia management and playback software iTunes, version 8.2.1. Our initial inspection shows only one accessibility fix. Typing the first few letters of an entries name in the Playlist Browser now appropriately announces the entry that becomes selected, something which had been broken in the previous version [...]

Apple has posted an accessible version of the iPhone manual on their web site, ideal for screen reader users. You can access it on your iPhone 3GS if you open the "iPhone User Guide" bookmark in Mobile Safari , and flick right a few times to find the new button in the upper left corner [...]

In the latest episode of the MacCast, a popular mainstream podcast focusing on Apple products, host Adam Christianson invites Shelly Brisbin, Josh de Lioncourt, and Shane Jackson to discuss the new accessibility features of the iPhone 3GS. We’d like to thank Adam for his coverage of accessibility on the show, and highly recommend the MacCast [...]

Lioncourt.com editor Holly Anderson has been compiling a list of third-party iPhone applications that the growing community of visually impaired iPhone users has used in the first week of the iPhone 3GS’s release. This is by no means an exhaustive list, and will doubtless grow as users become more comfortable with the new platform, but [...]

In episode 163 of the MacWorld Podcast, host Christopher Breen focuses on Apple’s new iPhone 3.0 software and the new iPhone 3G S handset. Mac-cessibility’s Josh de Lioncourt is brought on to discuss VoiceOver on the new iPhone 3G S, as well as Apple’s upcoming accessibility enhancements and more.
Once again, we’d like to thank Mr. [...]

Today, Apple released iTunes version 8.2. Along with some unspecified bug fixes, the update delivers support for the as yet unreleased iPhone and iPod Touch 3.0 software and, of greater interest to our readers, accessibility improvements.
We will update this post as soon as we have some clarification on exactly what these accessibility enhancements are.
iTunes 8.2 [...]

It’s time for this month’s edition of the Mac-cessibility Round Table Podcast. This month’s episode is #2, entitled "Sedated". Josh de Lioncourt’s sound quality is not quite on par this time, for which we apologize. He was travelling and away from his usual equipment.
Topics covered:

Introduce this month’s panelists, including Holly Anderson, Darcy Burnard, [...]

Apple quietly updated the VoiceOver Kit for the iPod Shuffle 3G to version 1.0.1 today. The download, which is currently oly available through the software update mechanism and not Apple’s web site, is 17MB and includes corrected pronunciation definitions for certain popular artists’ names and other unspecified bug fixes.
The iPod Shuffle 3G employs VoiceOver Kit [...]

On Tuesday, Apple began offering its entire iTunes music catalog without the chains of Digital Rights Management, and at 256KBPS, they’re twice the previous bit rate. This enhancement makes tracks purchased from the popular online retailer virtually indistinguishable from CD copies.
This boon for consumers comes at a price, particularly for fans of contemporary popular hits. [...]

Today, Apple updated iTunes, its popular multimedia playback and management software, to version 8.1.1. The changes include fixes for VoiceOver support and iPhone/iPod Touch syncing, though what these fixes are specifically is unclear at present, save for the ability to tab from field to field through the iTunes interface, which had ceased to work in [...]

The Mac-cessibility Podcast has been reborn as a round table discussion show, dealing with all things related to accessibility of Apple products. The show is planned to have a new episode once a month, starting with this week’s episode entitled "Reboot".
Topics covered:

Introduce this month’s panelists, including Holly Anderson, Darcy Burnard, Cara Quinn, Steve Sawczyn, and [...]

We’ve published a new editorial piece on the new third-generation iPod Shuffle, its VoiceOver implementation, and what all this could potentially mean for the future of other Apple products. You can read the editorial here.