BARD Mobile

This is so cool The only way It could be improved is by adding a Sleep button UPDATE Been using this app for a couple of years now Its still great but ever since upgrading to iOS 8 the forward and back button navigation voice doesnt work tell you how many seconds or minutes youve gone back andor forward I really hope an update comes out soon that fixes this problem and adds a sleep button                 TulsaTim

I am happy with everything but the loading of the files using the iTunes file sharing Simply it does not work It loads the file but does not decrypt the file so you get the warning of not a authorized player Use the down loading feature and it works great If you wireless internet connection is some place link McD it is a problem Even though the example is extreme it is easier to load the files using a fast computer and connect For OS X that is the iTunes File Shareing and it does not work           Good BUT The Sharing feature on IOS

I just recently learned about the BARD Mobile app and downloaded it As many others have said I think it is a great first release My confusion has to do with the fact that when I looked up some books last week there were 250 under Audio Books Today there are only 49 Also I would love to know how the one reviewer imported the zip files using iTunes I tried it and it did not give me any errors but I was also unable to find the book I attempted to import If someone can give me details on how to do that I will go reading crazy with my iPod Touch              Love the functionality but Im confused

Im dyslexic and in the past Ive used both talking books from the national Library service and those available from learning Ally But after the learning Ally iPhone app was launched I found it so much easier then the NLS equivalent system that it became my go to for my reading needs However with the introduction of this application and its exceptional user interface I am once again using Bard and NLS I find the user interface very easy to use and even better then the learning ally app Highly recommended                 So wonderful and welcome

This app is great it works very well the only problems Ive in countered is downloading a book It takes forever and in some cases it downloads then downloads again Then other times it doesnt download at all I have to exploit a sort of glitch to read the book at that point The slow downloads could be my home wifi but when I get to another area with stronger wifi it sometimes still wont download Despite these few flaws this app is great my by far favorite feature is the chapter navigation That is so helpful when you lose your place or you need to go back for a project or something So overall great app few flaws hope the bugs get ironed out in later updates           Great but has a few problems

This app is CRITICAL for blind or visuallyimpaired people It deserves considerable support and attention OnScreen Buttons need Key Associations so that any Bluetooth device can be used to control its basic functions              Excellent Needs Support

I cannot give this app a high rating until we can turn the screen off the device There is nothing mobile about this app Any movement and the book gets lost and you have to find the right buttons to push to get back to where you were I know the government works slowly but if the government wants to move up in the tech world it needs to move a whole lot faster It is very telling that the app has NEVER been updated If have pleaded in several venues to fix this problem but it has fallen on deaf ears              after a year and a half never updated

I was sooo excited when the Bard app finally came out Ive been using this it now for quite some time and LOVE that I dont have to get books by mail the only thing that would improve it is if it could run while using other apps That way people could write notes or something while listening              Great

YES Finally a truly portable way to play BARD titles For those who want the player to play in the background go to Apps audiosettings and enable background play For those long downloads I went to settingsgeneral and moved the autolock from 1 min to never for the duration of the crazylong downloads 23min per hour 3060 min total for normal length books Sleep timer would be nice Downloading content quickly in the background would be nice Fully functional as is Me thinks I am ready to return the NLS digital player as this App allows such a handy and EASY change over to iPod Touch and iphone that can go with me almost anywhere              YES Finally a truly portable way to play BARD titles

The UI design is typical governmentbuilt nonsense and the tonespeed slider doesnt show up on my iPad mini 2 Still considering the last time these lazy goodfornothings updated the app was almost TWO YEARS AGO I suppose I should be thankful it works at all           Meh

Its a shame this app hasnt been updated since 9192013 It works when it wants to U cant load the wish list past the first 50 books if u do it kicks u out     Needs Work

As other people have pointed out the app stops playing when the screen darkens Even better when you unlock the iPhone and restart the player it does not begin where the reading left off These flaws make the app almost entirely worthless     Disappointing

Excellent option for audiobooks though as with others would love to have the sleep timer too                 Top notch

I love this app I use it all the time There have been some issues on the site sinze the release of IOS 8 Hoping this will be fixed very soon                 Love it

This app has changed everything I love about books I now read on the train bus and in public places with ease My only recommendation is Syncing I use the app on my iPad and iPhone but books dont sync between devices like the Kindle app That feature would boost app quality                 Excellent

Please check the settings tab in audio you will find some of the answers you are looking for                 Fabulous app

I absolutely love this app It has opened up my possibilities as a blind person being able to take my books where ever I want on both my iPhone and my iPad The one thing I really miss is a sleep timer on this app If you could add that I would give it all the stars Thank you so much for this opportunity              Great Option

Please put in a sleep timerIts the greatest App Ive ever put on this phone thats way too smart for me Amazing and very easy to use All it needs is a sleep timer              Brittany

This is really cool The app works great on both iPhone and iPad Im hoping for a couple of things in a following update a sleep timer and also the ability to sync between devices Thanks NLS                 Great

A year and a half and still no update What is the deal here Is this a dead project or did the LOC just count the initial release a fulfilled obligation with no intention of doing any further work Please listen to what the people want I know the government is slow but this is ridiculous           Please update

I am thoroughly enjoying this app I hope they get a sleep timer soon                 Bard Mobile raking

Im so grateful this app exists That said downloads take forever and dont continue when the app is not open           Great app but

Is anyone else having a log in problem I have never been able to log in for the last few times I tried I really loved this app and want to use it              Log in not working

I was excited to see the mobile app and have the ease and portability of a mobile app But five reinstalls fifteen or twenty failed attempts at downloading books or magazines and two weeks of non response from their tech help have left me bitterly disappointed Id give it zero stars if possible for being a complete failure     Complete Failure

This app is a joybut why does it take sooooo long to download a boolon my good wirelessit almost always stops and sits for HOURS without resumingit is not my Internet connectionthis is my iPhone 4G Im speaking ofAPP SUPPORT takes me nowhere for helpHELP              So grateful for BARD

This app is perfect I really really like it It is better then another app that I know a bout For those of you who are Bard users I recommended very very much Love it Love it Love it                 Love it

I have been using BARD Mobile for some time Recently it quit being able to download books failing at the end with failed to extract I thought it was a bug maybe it is related to the new iOS As there are no recent updates I tried going to SettingsBARD MobileSetting Initialization and turned that on Next time I launched I had to reenter my sign in and password Thereafter my downloads worked just fine So that seems to fix this It may be that BARD should do an update some day soonthanks to LoC for making this great app available                 Fix for failed to extract

Having this app available is fantastic Having such convenient access to books has literally changed the life of this blind user The only things that I have found that could be improved are the ability to download books in the background without the need for the BARD app being on top and active and sync of the downloaded library across devices Those things are minor though and I assume the development team is working on them for a future release Overall this is a very well executed and wonderfully functional initial release One minor bug that I have encountered is that the speed of the voice that announces player functions is greatly reduced maybe as slow as one tenth the rate it should be when playing the audio out through AirPlay AirPlay still works fine for the actual book content though This app has changed the world for the blind Absolutely fantastic Thank you                 Love it

but Im having trouble transferring titles through iTunes The app no longer functions correctly under iOS 83 but I have a feeling that is Apples fault not the apps           Love the App

Love the TBBL NLS and this Appcant remember the last time I ever finished a book until recently with this service                 I can read now

LOVED this app but last week the Browse BARD feature just quit working So I can no longer select and download the specific books I want The Get Books feature still works and titles selected from that auto generated list download just fine BUT that means I can only retrieve books on that list meaning I cannot search for anything After the very important Browse BARD feature quit working I tried restarting my iPhone even uninstalled and reinstalled the BARD app but to no avail All I get when I try to access the Browse BARD feature is a black screen and the Wheel of Death Please fix my BARD app so I can select and download my preferred books again        Quit working

It is so great to bring my book in my pocket where ever I go This is my favorite app Thank you for this                 Great app

Thank you development team for your work Is there a way to add a sleep timer to this app Or is there a way to use the timer on the phone Otherwise this app works great                 BARD is awesome but

Like everyone i was stoked when this app came out And it truly lives up too Its very good for a first app Just like the real player I cant say enough good about how great this is for those in need Now keep it that way please Please dont fix what aint broken in future updates like so many make the mistake of People NEED this app Weve waited forevs for it too Its really helpful for college students researchers etc Especially if you tend to require a lot of books for research remember how we used to wait weeks or longer for mail ordered books which was still much needed appreciated This is one nonprofit who puts their patrons first are always so nice helpful Cant find a book Call ask Tbabs If they dont have it or cant find it theyll request it to be added for you Granted a lot of the permissions are reliant on the author nowadays so dont blame bard or tbabs if they dont have it But you can always write the author publisher tell them how their decisions affect you Sometimes they just dont even stop to consider who needs books A few lil glitches Id like to see improved 1 In recent ios 8 update i suddenly am having trouble hearing the audible time marks called out when fast fwd or rewinding to find a spot It used to say back 20 secs back 1 min back 5 mins back 15 mins Now it seems to be missing part so it sounds like back secs back min back mins Thank God I have all those time marks memorized so could count how many to get to 15 mins etc but its a bit of a pain 2 Searching still needs improved on the main site as well One day Ill search for an author like Jim Butcher get 0 hits The next day Ill get 15 Same with a ton of authors or titles Ive searched I dread looking for new books cuz idk what exact combo of names titles may produce any results Usually I have a specific author or title or genre in mind It seems bard doesnt really consider multiple search strings or ways a patron may reword a search to try to cover most of the main ones You have to know just the right one bard used at the time they cataloged it we aint mindreaders If youre a browser of featured titles then you likely have no issues here I dont just wander thru catalogs for something that looks good though I know what titles I need to look up for something in my project 6070 of time I cant find them 3 Id like to see more paranormal fiction ok this is just my own personal request due to a long term research project But amirite guys Lol So many titles I hear about arent available now that authors tend to grant rights to certain websites under exclusive contracts 4 It also seems I tend to find only partial series where half or more of the books are listed Like the Trylle series of 3 only has one The Vampire Files only has Vol 1 but not 2 It seems bard has also fallen behind even in series they keep up on I still cant find Richelle Meads new Silver Shadows sequel in the Bloodlines series almost 6 months later But her last book before that was added the month after it was released by the pub Now i try to be patient cuz i know this is a nonprofit relying on volunteers For that its amazing how many titles bard has But I think they could add more if they made contracts with like amazonaudible to incorporate their titles maybe after theyve been out a few months arent brand new Granted I know audible tends to be kinda greedy cows about that stuff its only been recently that I actually encountered such a title recorded by amazon incorp I was like wow so amazon finally realized libraries need access too Idk if bard or tbabs is paying for that privilege or what but hopefully well see more of that since amazon scooped up a majority of new authors when they started out requesting elusiveness 5 Server issues seem to still occur in the new version which is obviously affecting downloads I had 3 such server issue error messages just last night when attempting to download 2 new titles I gave up after trying to dl a new title 3 times This issue seems to come go idk why I know bard recently also sent out messages of problems they were trying to fix It got fixed after 34 days But those issues arent constant the app still is pretty darned good Im so glad after waiting 10 years we finally have an app like this for those who need it Technology is amazing sometimes I thank God every day for this app So thank you so much for it                 So WonderfulFew Glitches

I have been using the BARD system on my computer with no login difficulty Recently found this app which I believe will work better for us When I attempted to login yesterday and try out this app I kept being timed out and unable to connect This morning when I attempted again what do you know SUCCESS So for all you new users do not give up I have to believe there is some glitch in the login software RalphnCheryl              Login Problem

It seems there are some issues after the upgrade to iOS 8 Fast forward audio messages arent working right                 LOVE IT

Even after getting a BARD username and password I cant get the app to even download It says it downloaded but I am unable to open the app or sign in     Cant use it

This is what Ive been waiting for Thanks so much for creating it                 Awesome

First let me say excellent app Second the only problem that I have is when you get any event that stops the book from playing you should be able to do a two finger double tap to resume it Not in this case You have to relaunch the app in order to make that gesture work properly I hope this will be fixed in the next update Cause that honestly is really annoying              One problem stops me from giving it a 5 out of 5

When it downloads and extract the book it works very well But it seems like there are more error extracting books than usable ones Once that is fixed then Ill be much closer to being able to read all the books I want Hope they write apps for all mobile platforms so I can choose anyone I want              Glad it is here

Great concept but this app needs serious help Background multitasking support needed majorly While going through the list of boons magazines etcif you switch applications or leave the app to go to the home screen you lose your place and takes you back to the beginning Which leads me to the next needed functions Search functions Lets just say your friend tells you about an awesome book Well good luck finding it Itd takes hours to comb through it all with little hope of finding it A list of genres would really be beneficial At least in the sense of finding books that are in your interst Love tge idea Keep up the good work     Meh

The mobile app is great but it is missing one feature that I would like to see in a future version I would like to sync my current library that I keep on my desktop computer Perhaps this can be accomplished through iTunes              Almost As Good As The Real Machine

I get an error message saying cannot extract file Apparently Im not authorized to listen to a bunch of books on the site Which would be nice to know before I waste all that time downloading them And by the way Why the hell arent I authorized to listen to them The more I try to use this app the more frustrated I get Im ready to give up on it     7 times out of 10

To most of the complaints mentioned here I suggest reading the help file that comes with the Bard Mobile app It is true the web site goes down for hours or sometimes days and then comes back up again I had all but stopped using the NLS system until Bard Mobile came along It is truly mobile I can get books anytime anywhere I can read the same book as long as I wish The books are high quality and free A glitch with Iphone 6 IOS 8 Stop playing built in clock timer function it doesnt work with Bard Mobile when voice over is turned on The stop playing function works fine on the iphone 4 IOS 6 with voice over turned on This glitch seems to only happen with bardmobile but then I dont use stop playing with any other apps on a regular basis                 Thank you NLS Bard

UPDATE 90415 I am unable to use this app since the last BARD maintenance on 82983015 Initially I was unable to use the Get Books function However I was able to listen to the books and magazines I previously downloaded I decided to delete the entire BARD app and redownload to see if that would improve the situation Sadly it did not now I am not even able to log in to the app     WAS a Great app

I love the fact I can download MLS materials books and magazines in my case to my phone However certain features dont work with iOS 8 and voiceover Specifically if one chooses the option to browse the bard website it is impossible to do a keyword search because the edit box doesnt work even after one double taps on the keyword search edit box Furthermore I couldnt do a search for a book by title since the combo box to select a title wouldnt come up even after I double tapped on the picker Please fix these iOS 8voiceover glitches number one In addition please add the ability to type in the name of and author and the title of a book when searching for a book number two              The Bard App

I hate hate hate this stupid app Each time I want to search by subject it freezes It is NOT my phone because I have the iphone 6 This app needs to die     I hate this app

I absolutely love this app it opened a bookheaven for me I experience just one problem I am using the app on my iphone and when I want to put the screen into secure mode so I am not able to touch any buttons by accident it shuts down the app completely so I already touched the wromg buttons just by handling the phone I am sure this is easy to be fixed                 Wonderful But 1 problem

So far I really like the app The only reason why I say its 99 perfect is I wish you can play it well the screen is locked Other than that its been great so far              99 perfect

I wish there was an in app sleep timerhaving to manipulate the iOS 6 timer is inconvenient           This app is okay but has a glaring omission