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DA2

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Digital Advance Player 2 (DA2): Tips & Tricks

User Guide

The user guide is available online, as a PDF or in braille as a BRF. To access the audio version of the user guide, press and hold the Bookshelf button for two seconds. 

Physical Description of the DA2

Top of the Player

The top of the player is where all the controls and the speaker are located. About halfway back, along the right side of the top, is a round translucent Power button. This button is slightly recessed. To turn the player on, press and hold the Power button until you hear a startup jingle. You will hear a welcome message and a few seconds later, you will hear the number of books available on the player. If there are no books, then you will automatically enter Key Describer Mode. When Key Describer Mode is active it provides the name and a description of each button when the button is pressed. To manually enter Key Describer Mode press and quickly release the Power button. If you enter Key Describer Mode in this way you will need to press and quickly release the Power button to turn it off. To turn the player off, press and hold the Power button until the player says, “Shutting down, please wait.” You will hear a shutdown jingle when it has fully shut down.

At the front of the player toward the right is a group of four buttons. Closer to the front, the three buttons are Rewind, Play/Stop, and Fast Forward. Briefly tapping the Rewind or Fast Forward buttons will move the playback position by 5 seconds. Press and hold either of these buttons to move by larger increments. Directly behind the Play/Stop button is the Sleep button with an embossed half-moon. Tapping this button will cycle through the various amounts of time before the player is turned off. These are 15, 30, 45, 60 minutes, and End of Section.

Behind a recessed line is another group of five buttons. These are the navigation buttons. The top and bottom buttons are Up and Down. The left and right buttons are Previous and Next. The middle button is the Info button, which will provide info about the current book, and is often used as an Enter button to confirm actions. You can press and hold the Info button for two seconds to open the player’s menu.

At the back of the player toward the right behind another recessed line, there is a group of three pairs of buttons. The left pair are tone up/down, the middle pair are Volume up/down, and the right pair are Speed Up/Down.

On the left side of the top, starting at the front and going back, there is a group of three buttons. The frontmost is the Mode button. This button allows you to switch between book reading functions and BARD functions, which allows you to select and download books. The next button going back is the Bookmark button. This button allows you to set bookmarks, remove bookmarks, and delete books.

The farthest back is the Bookshelf button. The Bookshelf button allows you to access a list of books on a cartridge, USB drive, or in the internal storage.

On the bottom of the player near the front, there are two recessed bars for attaching a shoulder strap. A shoulder strap is not supplied.

Right side of the Player

On the right side, there is a headphone jack near the front. A bit farther back is a USB-A port for connecting an optional remote control for people with physical disabilities. Traditional USB flash drives can be connected to this port for playing audio content. Near the back on the right side is a USB-C port for connecting the power supply for charging the battery.

Using Key Describer Mode

When Key Describer Mode is active it provides the name and a description of each button when the button is pressed. There are two methods to enter Key Describer Mode.

Method 1

When the player is turned on and there are no books on the Bookshelf (either in the DA2’s internal memory or on external devices such as a cartridge or USB flash drive) the DA2 will automatically enter Key Describer Mode. To turn Key Describer Mode off you will need to press the Mode button several times to go to another mode, such as NLS BARD. Pressing Mode to go back to the empty Bookshelf will turn the Key Describer Mode back on.

Method 2

At any time, press and quickly release the Power button to turn on Key Describer Mode. Be careful not to press the button down too long otherwise you will turn the DA2 off. To turn Key Describer Mode off you will need to press and quickly release the Power button again.

Turning on Wi-Fi

Be default, the Wi-Fi is set to off. It will need to be turned on before you can connect to Wi-Fi.

  1. Press and hold the info button until you hear the message “entering menu.”
  2. Use the left and right arrows to go to settings and press the info button to open it.
  3. Use the right arrow to go to Wi-Fi and press info to open it.
  4. The first option in the Wi-Fi menu is the on/off switch.
  5. Press the info button once will toggle the Wi-Fi on.

Connecting to Wi-Fi

Before connecting to Wi-Fi you will need to make sure that Wi-Fi has been set to on. There are four ways you can connect to Wi-Fi. You can scan for SSID, WPS connection, create connection, or by importing connection.

Scan for SSID (the name of your wireless network)

  1. Press and hold the info button until you hear the message “entering menu.”
  2. Use the left and right arrows to go to settings and press the info button to open it.
  3. Use the right arrow to go to Wi-Fi and press info to open it.
  4. Use the right arrow to navigate to “new connection” and press the info button to select it.
  5. Use the left and right arrows to navigate to “scan for SSID” and press the info button to select it.
  6. Selecting “scan for SSID” will start a scan for available Wi-Fi networks nearby and show the list of networks found.
  7. Use the left or right arrows to navigate the networks and press the info button to select the network that you wish to connect to.
  8. Selecting the network will take you to Text Input Mode and you will be prompted to enter the password.
  9. To enter your password, you can use the buttons on the DA2 or attach a compatible USB Keyboard to the DA2. To know if your keyboard is compatible, connect it to the DA2. If it is compatible the DA2 will say “USB keyboard connected.” To use the buttons on the DA2 use the following list of button functions. You can also turn on key describer mode for Text Input Mode. While in Text Input Mode, press the power button once quickly. The DA2 will say “entering Key Describer Mode.” Press the different buttons to learn what they do while in Text Input Mode. When you are finished, press the power button once quickly to exit Key Describer Mode. You will be in Text Input Mode again.
    • Use the Up and Down arrows to navigate through the current list of characters one item at a time or press and hold for quick navigation.
    • Press the Bookmark key to switch between different character lists, such as lowercase letters, uppercase letters, numbers, and symbols.
    • Press the Sleep button to insert the character at the current position.
    • Press the Play/Stop button to review typed text. The DA2 first reads what is typed and then spells it out.
    • Use the Rewind button to delete the previous character.
    • Use the Fast Forward button to delete the next character.
    • Use the Left and Right arrows to review and edit typed text.
    • Press the Info button to confirm typed text.
    • Press the Mode button to cancel text input.
  10. Press the info button to confirm the typed text.
  11. Once you have pressed the info button, the connection will be processed.
  12. Once connected the player will remember the connection.

WSP Connection

This is only for routers that have a WPS button.

  1. Press and hold the info button until you hear the message “entering menu.”
  2. Use the left and right arrows to go to settings and press the info button to open it.
  3. Use the right arrow to go to Wi-Fi and press info to open it.
  4. Use the right arrow to navigate to “new connection” and press the info button to select it.
  5. Use the left and right arrows to navigate to “WPS connection” and press the info button to select it.
  6. Press the info button on the DA2 to start the WPS connection. Then press the WPS connection button on your router to initiate the connection.

Create Connection

  1. Press and hold the info button until you hear the message “entering menu.”
  2. Use the left and right arrows to go to settings and press the info button to open it.
  3. Use the right arrow to go to Wi-Fi and press info to open it.
  4. Use the right arrow to navigate to “new connection” and press the info button to select it.
  5. Use the left and right arrows to navigate to “create connection” and press the info button to select it.
  6. Selecting create connection will take you to Text Input Mode and you will be prompted to enter both the SSID (the name of your wireless network) and the password.
  7. To enter your SSID and password, you can use the buttons on the DA2 or attach a compatible USB Keyboard to the DA2. To know if your keyboard is compatible, connect it to the DA2. If it is compatible the DA2 will say “USB keyboard connected.” To use the buttons on the DA2 use the following list of button functions. You can also turn on key describer mode for Text Input Mode. While in Text Input Mode, press the power button once quickly. The DA2 will say “entering Key Describer Mode.” Press the different buttons to learn what they do while in Text Input Mode. When you are finished, press the power button once quickly to exit Key Describer Mode. You will be in Text Describer Mode again.
    • Use the Up and Down arrows to navigate through the current list of characters one item at a time or press and hold for quick navigation.
    • Press the Bookmark key to switch between different character lists, such as lowercase letters, uppercase letters, numbers, and symbols
    • Press the Sleep button to insert the character at the current position.
    • Press the Play/Stop button to review typed text. The DA2 first reads what is typed and then spells it out.
    • Use the Rewind button to delete the previous character.
    • Use the Fast Forward button to delete the next character.
    • Use the Left and Right arrows to review and edit typed text.
    • Press the Info button to confirm typed text.
    • Press the Mode button to cancel text input.
  8. Press the info button to confirm the typed text.
  9. Once you have pressed the info button, the connection will be processed.
  10. Once connected the player will remember the connection.

Importing Connection

  1. On a computer, open a text editor such as Notepad or TextEdit and type in the SSID (wireless network name) and Wi-Fi password.
  2. Ensure that only the name of your SSID is on line 1, your Wi-Fi password is on line 2, and nothing else.
  3. Save the file with the name wifi_config.text to a USB thumb drive or cartridge. It is helpful if this is the only file on the drive.
  4. Disconnect the drive from your computer.
  5. Power on the DA2.
  6. When the DA2 announces, “entering key describer mode,” insert the drive/cartridge to the USB-A port or cartridge port of the DA2.
  7. Press and hold the info button until you hear the message “entering menu.”
  8. Use the Right arrow to go to Settings and press the Info button to open it.
  9. Use the Right arrow to go to Wi-Fi and press the Info button to open it.
  10. Press the Right arrow to navigate to “import Wi-Fi connection.”
  11. Press the Info key.
  12. The DA2 will announce, “Testing…[network name].”
  13. You will hear a tone and the DA2 will announce “connected…[network name]” once you have successfully connected to Wi-Fi.
  14. Disconnect the drive/cartridge.
  15. Once connected the player will remember the connection.

Connecting to BARD

There are two ways you can connect to BARD: you can either sign in with your username (email address) and password using Text Input Mode or a USB keyboard, or you can import your BARD login information.

Entering your username and password

  1. Press and hold the Info button until you hear the message “entering menu.”
  2. Press the Right arrow until you get to NLS BARD.
  3. Press the Info button to select it.
  4. Activate the “Login” option with the Info button.
  5. Entering “Login” will take you to Text Input Mode and you will be prompted to enter the username and password.
  6. To enter your password, you can use the buttons on the DA2 or attach a compatible USB Keyboard to the DA2. To know if your keyboard is compatible, connect it to the DA2. If it is compatible the DA2 will say “USB keyboard connected.” To use the buttons on the DA2 use the following list of button functions. You can also turn on key describer mode for Text Input Mode. While in Text Input Mode, press the power button once quickly. The DA2 will say “entering Key Describer Mode.” Press the different buttons to learn what they do while in Text Input Mode. When you are finished, press the power button once quickly to exit Key Describer Mode. You will be in Text Input Mode again.
    • Use the Up and Down arrows to navigate through the current list of characters one item at a time or press and hold for quick navigation.
    • Press the Bookmark key to switch between different character lists, such as lowercase letters, uppercase letters, numbers, and symbols.
    • Press the Sleep button to insert the character at the current position.
    • Press the Play/Stop button to review typed text. The DA2 first reads what is typed and then spells it out.
    • Use the Rewind button to delete the previous character.
    • Use the Fast Forward button to delete the next character.
    • Use the Left and Right arrows to review and edit typed text.
    • Press the Info button to confirm typed text.
    • Press the Mode button to cancel text input.
  7. Press the Info button to confirm the typed text.
  8. If the information is typed correctly, the DA2 will say “Login successful.”

Import configuration using a helper file

  1. On a computer, open a text editor such as Notepad or TextEdit and type in your BARD email address and BARD password.
  2. Ensure that only your BARD email address is on line 1, your BARD password is on line 2, and nothing else.
  3. Save the file with the name nls_bard_config.txt to a USB thumb drive on cartridge. It is helpful if this is the only file on the drive.
  4. Disconnect the drive from your computer.
  5. Power on the DA2.
  6. When the DA2 is on. Insert the drive/cartridge to the USB-A port or cartridge port of the DA2. The DA2 will say “USB inserted.”
  7. Press and hold the Info button until you hear the message “entering menu.”
  8. Press the Right arrow to navigate to NLS BARD.
  9. Press the Info button to select it.
  10. Press the Right arrow to navigate to Import Configuration.
  11. Press the Info button to select it.
  12. A message saying “login successful” will be heard.
  13. Disconnect the drive/cartridge.