FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Media Contact: Brad Davis
800-444-4443 or 727-803-8000
www.FreedomScientific.com
Sales: [email protected]

Significant Breakthrough for Blind Students

PAC Mate Reads DAISY Books from RFB&D

(St. Petersburg, Florida - March 22, 2007)

Freedom Scientific today announced that its PAC Mate™ accessible Pocket PC can now play AudioPlus® books from Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic (RFB&D®), further establishing its position as the notetaker of choice for blind students.

FSReader 1.1, the latest version of Freedom Scientific's DAISY player for PAC Mate, allows users in the United States to benefit from the wealth of audio material available from RFB&D. RFB&D says that the new User Authorization Key (UAK) will be available for purchase in late April.

"We're delighted that our strong partnership with RFB&D has led to PAC Mate being the first notetaker to offer RFB&D support," said Jonathan Mosen, Vice President, Blindness Hardware Product Management for Freedom Scientific. "This will make a huge difference to students who can now access their textbooks on the same device they use to write, manage their daily lives, and read other material. As RFB&D begins to include text as well as audio in its titles, PAC Mate users with braille displays will also benefit from reading texts in Braille, switching to narration when it suits them."

With FSReader for PAC Mate, users can easily read and navigate digital talking books and ebooks produced in the Digital Accessible Information System (DAISY) format. The RFB&D books can be unlocked using a User Authorization Key which will be available from RFB&D beginning May 25, 2007. Readers can navigate to sections of a book by browsing headings or flipping pages, can set multiple bookmarks, and can resume reading where they left off when a book is reopened. In books that contain audio narration, users can fast forward, rewind, and even adjust the speed of the narrator.

"We are excited that RFB&D AudioPlus books will now be instantly available to PAC Mate users. This will let them integrate our AudioPlus books even more closely into their work, study or leisure time," said Stephanie Turner RFB&D Product Manager of Market & Product Initiatives. "Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic is the nation's largest audio textbook library serving people with print and learning disabilities stemming from physical, visual, or learning challenges. Our library contains more than 30,000 digital titles ranging from math and science books to literary classics, from kindergarten level through graduate school. RFB&D's AudioPlus textbooks provide our 146,000-plus members individually, and through institutional memberships, with the opportunity to achieve confidence, independence, and success both in the classroom and beyond."

Since material is only available to qualifying RFB&D members, AudioPlus books are protected, so they cannot play with just any DAISY player. To access RFB&D AudioPlus books with FSReader, users will need RFB&D's special UAK. Users will be able to purchase the UAK by calling 800-221-4792.

Please note: RFB&D will only provide and support the UAK. Users must first purchase the FSReader software directly from Freedom Scientific.

Current users of FSReader for PAC Mate 1.0 should get the 1.1 update that is compatible with the RFB&D UAK before contacting RFB&D. Download the update from the Freedom Scientific website.

About Freedom Scientific

Freedom Scientific is a leading worldwide brand of assistive technology products for those with vision impairments. Freedom Scientific is part of Vispero™. Vispero has its headquarters in the USA and the Netherlands, and offices in Switzerland, Belgium, Canada, Germany and the United Kingdom. Through Vispero's multi-tier distribution, Freedom Scientific products are available in more than 70 countries worldwide.

Freedom Scientific® and its products are registered trademarks in the United States and/or other countries. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.