What is DAISY?
DAISY, or Digital Accessible Information System), is basically a format for audio books. More than just mp3, there is also XML that adds features, such as allowing users to search, bookmark, and make notes. More information on Wikipedia.
DAISY Software
To create DAISY audio books, you typically need at a minimum, a headset hooked up to a computer with DAISY creation software, a good human reader, and an electronic text version of what you’re recording. We’re currently using LPStudio Pro, which works well, but is not supported in Windows 7. Since our machines need to be upgraded, we’re looking at different software.
Studio Recorder
Cost: $200
Studio recorder has a fairly simple interface, but has a lot of features. While you can navigate by sentence and what not, you can only seem to record the audio. There doesn’t seem to be any way to connect that to a text-based document. No matter how great a program, without this function, we can’t use it for our purposes.
Obi
Cost: Free
Unfortunately, I couldn’t get Obi to work, so I can’t say much beyond that.
Tobi
Cost: Free
Works well, fairly easy to use and imported HTML files well enough. Navigation is easy enough as well. I think Tobi could work as a replacement. There’s also a decent amount of documentation.
Dolphin
Cost: $2950+ (according to their site)
Definitely works, as Dolphin is the new version of LP Studio Pro. The user interface looks pretty much exactly the same, and has all the features we need.
Conclusion
This is only a very brief review. Partly, I don’t know a whole lot of about recording to DAISY format.
While the most expensive option, I might still recommend Dolphin. One major consideration is that moving to Dolphin means that our readers don’t have to learn a new interface. Additionally, because it’s made by the same people, Dolphin will also load our LPStudio Pro files without any issues as if they were dolphin files, which is a big plus. Being a non-profit should also provide a discount.
The upgrade might not happen during the time I’m here, but if it does, I’ll definitely provide an update.
Learning (Lib)Tech 