The DA2 Debut Plus a Bose Curveball

If you love curling up with a good book from the National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled, this episode is especially for you. We recently received our brand-new Digital Advanced Players (DA2) from the library, and of course we couldn’t resist taking them for a thorough spin. We start by sharing our first impressions of the player and giving you a friendly tour of the hardware. From the layout of the controls to how everything feels in your hands, we walk through what makes the new player different and why we’re so excited about it. Then it’s time for the fun part: a full demo. You’ll hear two of the built-in text-to-speech voices, follow along as we download a book, explore the wish list feature, check out settings, and more. While there are still a few things we’d love to see improved, we’re already big fans of the functionality—and especially the hardware design. If you’re curious about the DA2 player or wondering whether you might want one, this demo should give you a helpful preview. In the second half of the episode, we shift gears to a slightly less delightful discovery involving our new Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones. After picking them up during the holidays, we recently ran into an unexpected change that may impact some blind and visually impaired users. We talk about what happened, what we think about it, and why it might matter if you rely on accessibility when using Bose products. As far as we know, this doesn’t affect all Bose hardware, but it’s definitely something some users may encounter. Thanks as always for listening! And if you’re tuning in on release day, we hope your St. Patrick’s Day luck is going strong. We’ll talk to you again on the last day of March!