Apple Seeks to Make iPod and iTunes Friendly to the Vision Impaired

David W. Martin — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 16:18:25 -0500

Apple has agreed to work with the state of Massachusetts to make its iPod music player and iTunes 8 software usable by the vision impaired. This will be accomplished on the Mac by using the same VoiceOver technology found in Leopard. Using VoiceOver, people with vision impairments will be able to access the iTunes store, create accounts, and purchase songs, apps and other media from the store.

Of course iTunes is great for music at your desk, but everyone knows that to complete the experience you need to be able to use an iPod. This is accomplished by changes made to the newest iPod nano which can now include spoken menus and audio navigation set up through iTunes.

Finally, according to an agreement between Apple and the National Federation of the Blind (NFB), Apple will make iTunes U accessible to the vision impaired by the end of 2008 and full access to iTunes application by the end of June 2009.

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Apple Seeks to Make iPod and iTunes Friendly to the Vision Impaired