WTBBL closed to public
As of July 1, 2025, the library building is open by appointment only and phones go to voicemail due to loss of funding. Services continue as usual. To request an appointment, call 800-542-0866 or email [email protected].
Equipment Troubleshooting & FAQs
Having trouble with the equipment you received from WTBBL? We have the answers!
Learn more about receiving equipment and materials from WTBBL on the Equipment page.
Talking Book Player & Accessories
General Help
This section provides guidance on using the Talking Book Players and addresses some common questions.
To learn more about the player, turn it on with no cartridge inserted. Then, you can press any button to hear a description of what that button does.
Access the audio User Guide by pressing and holding down the Play/Pause button with no cartridge inserted. Wait until you hear a beep, then release. You are now in the audio User Guide and can listen and navigate as you would any book.
Learn more about using your Talking Book Player with Hadley’s video and audio workshops, the Talking Book Standard Player Series and the Talking Book Advanced Player Series.
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Using the Player for the First Time
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Make sure the player is facing the correct direction. The shorter side with the handle, cartridge opening, and Play/Stop button should be facing you, with the power cord away from you at the back. The player has an internal battery, which is charged using the attached power cord in the back. You can also use the player to listen to books while it’s plugged in.
View Hadley’s helpful introductory guide to your player at Getting to Know Your NLS Player.
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Do I Have a Standard (DS1) or Advanced (DA1) Player
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Find the round speaker on the top of your player. The speaker is larger than any of the buttons and is closer to the charging cord than the handle. If the following five buttons are directly below the speaker, you have an Advanced player: Info (braille i), Prev (braille p), Menu (braille m), Next (braille n), Mark (braille b). If your player does not have those buttons, you have a Standard player.
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Turning the Player On
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Press the red round button located on the top left side of the player. The button is labeled in print as “Power” and with a braille P. You will hear a beep when it turns on, followed by “Player on.” If you have a cartridge inserted, it will automatically begin reading.
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Inserting a Cartridge
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Hold the cartridge with the label facing up and the end with the hole facing you. Gently push it into the horizontal opening just above the handle until you feel a small click. To remove it, use the hole to pull the cartridge towards you.
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Inserting a USB Flash Drive
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A USB-A port is located on the right side of the player. It can play NLS books downloaded from BARD, as well as AMR-WB+,
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Playing a Book/Magazine
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Insert a cartridge or USB flash drive. You will hear a beep followed by the number of books on the cartridge/drive, and the first item will start playing. The player will play the books in the order they are saved to the cartridge/drive. Use the Bookshelf feature to skip a book and/or go to a specific book.
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Bookshelf Mode
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The player’s Bookshelf Mode allows you to listen to the full list of items on your cartridge/USB flash drive and choose a different item. The following are instructions for using the Bookshelf:
- Turn the player on, and insert the cartridge or USB flash drive.
- Hold down the Play/Stop button until you hear a beep followed by “Bookshelf.” Release the button.
- The player will tell you how many items are on your cartridge/drive and begin to list each book. Use the rewind and fast-forward buttons to the left and right of the Play/Stop button to go backwards and forwards on the Bookshelf. The player will beep and read the book information.
- When you find the title you’d like to listen to, press the Play/Stop button to select it. You will hear a beep. Press the Play/Stop button to begin playing the title.
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Adjusting the Volume
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The volume buttons are located on the top right of the player, closer to the handle than the power cord. They are yellow up and down rounded triangles with a ridge, labeled with Volume in print and a braille v. Push the top button to raise the volume and push the bottom button to lower the volume. The player will announce when the volume has been raised and lowered.
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Adjusting the Tone
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This changes how high and low pitched the narrator sounds. The tone buttons are located on the top left of the player, closer to the power cord than the handle. They are white up and down rounded triangles with a ridge, labeled with Tone in print and a braille t. Push the top button to raise the tone (make it higher-pitched), and push the bottom button to lower the tone (make it lower-pitched).
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Adjusting the Speed
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This changes how fast and slow the narrator speaks. The speed buttons are located on the top right of the player, closer to the power cord than the handle. They are white up and down rounded triangles and have no ridge, labeled Speed in print and with a braille s. Press the top button to raise the speed, and push the bottom button to lower the speed.
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Fast-Forward and Rewind
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To the left and right of the Play/Stop buttons are the Rewind and Fast-Forward buttons. They are white and shaped like left and right arrowheads with tactile raised lines at the arrow’s point. The left Rewind button is labeled with RW in print and a braille r. The right Fast-Forward button is labeled with FF in print and a braille f.
Press and release the Rewind/Fast-Forward button to move back or forward five seconds. Press and hold the button to move back or forward. The player will announce how much time you’ve moved. Release the button when you hear the time you want.
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Sleep Timer
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The sleep timer is a crescent shaped button located directly above the Play/Stop button. It’s white and labelled with Sleep in print and a braille s. Each time you press the sleep timer button, the player will say “Sleep” followed by an amount of time added to a counter in increments of 15 minutes. The player will begin reading the book. After the amount of time you selected, the player will turn off automatically.
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Advanced Player (DA1) Navigation
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The Advanced Player has five extra buttons below the speaker and above the Power/Sleep/Volume buttons. From left to right, these buttons are labeled with the following: Info (braille i), Prev (braille p), Menu (braille m), Next (braille n), Mark (braille b).
Info is a white diamond-shaped button with a tactile raised dot at the center. It provides information about the current book, and the player’s battery level. Press the button multiple times to advance to the next piece of information. Press and hold the button to begin playing the built-in User Guide. While in the User Guide, press and hold Info again to return to your cartridge.
Menu is a white rectangle with a tactile horizontal line through the middle. This button allows you to change how you navigate through your book using what the player calls navigation levels or “Levels.” Levels include navigation by chapter, parts, sections, phrase, recipe, and bookmark. The navigation Levels available depend on the book you are reading. Some books may only be available to navigate by chapter and bookmark, while others such as cookbooks may have many options such as chapters, bookmarks, sections, recipes, and pages.
Press and release the Menu button to change your navigation Level. The player will announce which level you are on. Continue to press and release the button until you find the Level you’re looking for.
Prev or Previous is a white button shaped like a left arrowhead with a vertical line at the point and tactile lines on the vertical line and point’s edge.
Next is a white button shaped like a right arrowhead with a vertical line at the point and tactile lines on the vertical line and point’s edge.
Use the Prev and Next buttons to the left and right of the Menu button to move to the previous and next navigation element in your book. For example, if you’ve set your Level to chapter using the Menu button, the Next button will bring you to the next chapter, and the Prev button will bring you to the previous chapter.
Mark or Bookmark is a white vertical rectangle with a tactile vertical line through the middle. Pressing this button will create a bookmark at the current reading position. You can navigate between bookmarks by setting your Level to bookmark with the Menu button and using the Prev and Next buttons to go back and forth between bookmarks. To delete a bookmark, pause your book at the exact reading position of an existing bookmark and press the Mark button.
FAQs & Help Topics
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How do I know which books are on a cartridge?
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Each cartridge comes with a piece of paper folded over and inserted into the front of the case it arrives in. Unfolding the paper will reveal a list of the items on the cartridge. An audio version of the book list is available via the player’s Bookshelf Mode, which is covered in the following section.
You can also review the materials you have checked out by logging into the WTBBL Catalog. Learn more about this at Ordering Books Online.
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How can I skip to a different book on a cartridge?
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You can listen to a full list of books by accessing the player’s Bookshelf Mode. To go to the Bookshelf, hold down the Play/Stop button until you hear a beep followed by “Bookshelf.” Release the button. The player will tell you how many books are on the cartridge, and then will start listing each book. Use the arrow buttons (usually Rewind and Fast-Forward) on the left and right of the Play/Stop button to go backwards and forwards on the Bookshelf. Press Play/Stop to select a book, and press Play/Stop again to begin playing that book.
Visit NLS’s Talking Book Player Bookshelf Feature Quick Guide for step-by-step instructions.
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Can I control the player using a keyboard, gamepad, or other assistive device?
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Yes, an Assistive Technology (AT) device can be connected to the player using its USB-A port. The AT device can map its keys to each of the player’s own keys, with the exception of the Power button. The regular keys are still active when an AT device is connected, so it can be controlled by either.
The player’s controls will be automatically mapped to default buttons on a keyboard or gamepad device. These default assignments are shown in the table below. Please note that joysticks, while they can be used, have no default assignments.
Player Control
Keyboard Button (Numeric Keypad) Gamepad Button Play/Stop 0 1 Sleep . (decimal point0 2 Volume Up 8 3 Volume Down 2 4 Rewind 4 5 Fast Forward 6 6 Speed Up 9 7 Speed Down 3 8 Tone Up 7 9 Tone Down 1 10 Bookmark / (slash) 11 Menu * (asterisk) 12 Previous - (minus) 13 Next + (plus) 14 Info 5 15 You can customize which controls on the AT device are used to perform particular player functions. This is done through the player’s Learning Mode with the following steps:
- Connect the AT device to the USB port on the right side of your player.
- If you have a cartridge inserted, remove it.
- Press and hold the Sleep button for 5 seconds to enter Learning Mode. If no AT device is found, the player will announce “No remote-
- Audio prompts will lead the user through the learning sequence. The first prompt asks the user to press the Fast-
- Assign player controls by pressing the button on your player then pressing the control on the AT device that is to be assigned that function. Repeat for all controls until you’re finished.
- Press the Power button to exit Learning Mode.
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The book I’m listening to isn’t working/sounds weird.
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Please try a different cartridge. If this cartridge plays as normal, your Talking Book Player works, and there’s something wrong with the other cartridge. Please contact the library.
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I’m trying to listen to books/audio files I’ve downloaded to a USB flash drive, but it’s not working.
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The player can only play NLS books downloaded from BARD and the following file types: AMR-WB+,
If your USB flash drive is 32 GB or larger, it may not work with the Talking Book Player. However, 4-16 GB is more than enough storage space for most patrons, as book files are very small.
While there is no upper size limit for storage, the Talking Book Player is only able to recognize USB drives formatted to FAT32, a file system that controls how files on a drive are organized and accessed. Most USB drives 32 GB or larger come automatically formatted using other file systems. The built-in formatting tool for Windows and Apple do not support formatting storage media from a size 32 GB or larger to FAT32. To format such a drive, you would need a third-party application.
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My Talking Book Player won’t turn on/hold a charge.
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It sounds like your player is no longer working properly. Please contact the library at [email protected] or 206-615-0400 to order a new player.
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My Talking Book Player was turned off, but started playing out of nowhere.
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If something did not bump into the player, it’s possible it was affected by a power surge if it was plugged in. Fluctuations in power such as surges or outages can cause the player to turn on, play, and/or pause. If it continues to have this issue, please contact the library at [email protected] or 206-615-0400 to order a new player.
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The Headphones/Remote/Breath Switch/USB Adapter I received from the library aren’t working.
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Please contact the library at [email protected] or 206-615-0400. We would be happy to send you a new accessory and instructions for returning your old one.
If these answers don’t resolve your issue, please contact WTBBL at [email protected] or 206-615-0400.
eReader
The following are frequently asked questions about the NLS Zoomax Braille eReaders. More information about the eReaders, including user guides and how-to videos, can be found on the Braille eReader page.
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My Zoomax is fully charged but won’t turn on/the battery won’t hold a charge.
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If it isn’t already, plug your Zoomax into an outlet. Hold the Power Off button for a full 15 seconds. This will reset the player without deleting any of your files or information. Your Zoomax should turn on automatically. Leave it plugged in to charge for at least three hours.
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The dots/pins on my device are stuck/not moving up and down.
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Make sure your Zoomax is fully charged. A low charge can cause the pins to malfunction. Check that dust or dirt hasn’t accumulated around the pins, causing them to stick. The Zoomax can be cleaned with a dry, soft cloth or with a small amount of rubbing alcohol on a cloth.
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My Zoomax is beeping repeatedly/making strange noises/the pins are scrolling in an endless loop.
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Try turning your device off and on again. If that doesn’t work, plug your Zoomax into an outlet. Turn your Zoomax off if possible. Hold the Power Off button for a full 15 seconds. This will reset the player without deleting any of your files or information. If it was off, your Zoomax should turn on automatically. Leave it plugged in to charge for at least three hours.
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The device is overheating.
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Stop using the device immediately and contact WTBBL. If possible, turn the device off. It’s normal for an eReader to become slightly warm when charging or with extended use, but it should not be hot to the touch.
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Help – I don’t know how this machine works!
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Our Training & Assistive Technology Librarian is available to answer questions and offers 60-minute one-on-one trainings over the phone and in-person by request. Please contact the library to set up an appointment.
If these answers don’t resolve your issue, please contact WTBBL at [email protected] or 206-615-0400.
iBill
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What is the iBill and how do I use it?
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WTBBL partners with the Bureau of Engraving and Printing to provide currency reader devices, free of charge, to eligible individuals who are blind or visually impaired. The currency reader, called the iBill Talking Banknote Identifier, is a compact device that announces a note’s value in one of three ways: voice, pattern of tones, or pattern of vibrations.
For information on how to use the iBill refer to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing's print users manual, the audio users manual or the video guide.
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My iBill is on, but won’t read the bills I insert.
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Take your money out of the iBill, smooth down the corners, and try again. If it still doesn’t work, try inserting a different corner of your bill into the player. The iBill struggles to read money that is bent, smudged, damaged, or otherwise has the numbers obscured.
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My iBill won’t turn on/doesn’t work at all.
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First, try changing the battery. The iBill uses one (1) AAA alkaline battery. The battery compartment is located on the bottom of the device and can be identified by two raised ridges. To insert the battery, remove the compartment lid by pressing down and pulling gently forward. When the battery is low, two short beeps or three very short vibration pulses will follow each denomination announcement.
If changing the battery doesn’t fix the issue, please contact WTBBL at [email protected] or 206-615-0400.
CCTV
For assistance with your CCTV issued by WTBBL and Washington State Department of Services for the Blind (DSB), please contact the DSB’s Independent Living Services at [email protected] or 800-552-7103.