To turn on the player push the red round power button located on the top left side of the player as it faces you. You will hear a beep when it turns on and the player will announce, "Player on."

The volume control is located on the top right side of the player as it faces you. Push the top volume button to raise the volume and push the lower volume button to lower the volume. When you push one of the buttons, the player will announce when the volume has been raised or lowered.

Plug the cartridge or flash drive in, you will hear a beep and the book will start to play. To stop the book, push the Play/Stop button. If there is more than one book on a cartridge you can use the bookshelf to go to a specific book OR the cartridge will play the books in order as they are finished.

If you are signed up for more than one magazine subscription from NLS and get their magazines on cartridge, receive the library's Books On Demand cartridges or download from BARD more than one book to a flash drive or cartridge, the player has a "Bookshelf" mode that will allow you to listen to all of your items. Use the following directions (adapted from the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh's  February 2016 newsletter) to help you.

Here's how to use the Bookshelf mode:

1. Insert the cartridge or flash drive into your player.
2. Hold down the Play/Stop button (the large square shaped button in the center of the bottom row of buttons, just above the cartridge slot) until you hear a beep and the phrase "Bookshelf". You are now in the Bookshelf mode and can release the button.
3. Use the fast forward or rewind buttons (the triangle shaped buttons directly to the right and left of the Play/Stop button) to move forward or backward along the bookshelf to each title. The player will beep and read to you the title selected.
4. When you find a title you want to hear, press and release the Play/Stop button. You will hear a beep and the title will begin to play.
5. To switch to a new title, hold down the Play/Stop button until you hear a beep and Bookshelf. Then navigate backwards or forwards to a new title and push the Play/Stop button to listen.

You can also - Listen to the Audio How-To version

Navigating the Digital Talking Book version of the popular King James Bible, DB68777, or any other religious text, to it's fullest extent requires the use of an Advanced Digital Player (DA1). We recommend if you listen often to books with lots of detail or broken down into multiple sections, such as cookbooks and bibles that you request a DA1. Here's how to navigate by "Level" using a the Advanced Digital Player or DA1:

Navigating by Level Using the Advanced Digital player or DA1:

1. Set the way you want to navigate by choosing from the sections or “levels” listed at the <Menu> button, which is just above the <Sleep> button that’s shaped like a crescent moon.
2. Then use the <Previous> or <Next> buttons on either side of the <Menu> button to move to the next testament, chapter, etc..

Levels of Navigation

Use the <Menu> button on the DA1 to navigate between the following levels:

• Front Matter (Table of Contents, Introduction)
• Testament
• Book
• Chapter
• Phrase
• Bookmark—to create a specific spot other than those listed so that you can return to it.  (Bookmark lists time elapsed in the book before starting.)

Press <Menu> until you hear the level you want.

Note, when you get to the Book of Psalms you can then jump by psalm.  In the King James Bible, DB68777, psalms are not listed as a navigation level until you get to the Book of Psalms.

The NLS Digital Talking Book player will play ANSI/NISO Z39.86 and DAISY 2.0 standards that are the format of NLS digital talking books. Digital Talking Books are recorded in AMR-WB+ format. It will also play common non-proprietary audio formats, MP3, MPEG, RIFF, WAV. If you wish to "play" these common formats, place these audio files in a folder named "audio+podcasts". This will allow the player to read them. Please note that files other than digital talking books will have no navigation within them and the player will only announce the file in number order in the folder. You can use a convention of letters and numbers to name these files and put them in order. The player will only use these to order things but will not actually announce them. More complicated indexing structures such as, ID3 tags, will not work with the player. The player is intended only to play NLS digital talking books. Any other audio use is incidental.

If you wish to "play" MP3, MPEG, RIFF, WAV formats, place these audio files in a folder named "audio+podcasts". This will allow the player to read them. Please note that files other than digital talking books will have no navigation within them and the player will only announce the file in number order in the folder. You can use a convention of letters and numbers to name these files and put them in order. The player will only use these to order things but will not actually announce them. More complicated indexing structures such as, ID3 tags, will not work with the player. The player is intended only to play NLS digital talking books and the ability to play other audio formats is coincidental.

The sleep timer allows you to have the player turn off automatically based in 30-minute increments. It is a cresent shaped button located just above the Play/Stop button with the player facing you. Each time you push the sleep time button the player will announce, "Sleep" and then the amount of time added to the counter, in increments of 30 minutes. When the counter gets to zero (0) the player will turn off automatically.

Pull the power cord out of the space at the back of the player. Plug it into a wall outlet and player will charge. While turned on, the player will run on outlet power and charge the battery until full. To preserve battery life and for safety the player will not start to recharge until it gets below 18 hours of charge. A battery takes about 2 hours to fully charge and the charge will last 30 hours or more depending on use. Please note, that time announced will be lower when using a flash drive in the side USB port on the player, because of power used for that purpose.

Key Describer mode makes the player say or describe what a key does when pressed. Your player is shipped with this feature turned on so that you can learn how to operate it. Once you are comfortable you can turn this feature off.

To turn off Key Describer - make sure the player doesn’t have a cartridge/thumb drive in it. Press and hold down the Fast Forward and Speed Down buttons simultaneously for 2 seconds.

To turn on Key Describer - hold down the Fast Forward and Speed Up buttons simultaneously for 2 seconds.

To have the player tell you the Serial Number, press the Sleep button 10 or more times. The player should then start saying the serial number.

Keep your player updated with the latest features and problem fixes by downloading the latest digital talking book player software from https://www.loc.gov/nls/enrollment-equipment/technical-help-with-bard-nls-equipment/nls-dtbm-firmware/. Read the page carefully and follow the instructions.