I have been using Learning Ally so long that when I was first introduced to this great program it was called recording for the blind and dyslexic. So during this post I will be using recording for the blind and dyslexic because that is what I grew up using. Even though they are now Learning Ally.
I am writing about this program because I have used them through out my life. When I was in middle school I was given the gift of recording for the blind and dyslexic. At that time in my life I know it was going to help with my school work and I would be more independent . I think and believe that my parents wanted me to be self-sufficient. I could get all my school books on tape. There was four sides on one tape, so I had to use a special tape player. I had a tape player at home so I was able to take my tapes home and do my homework at home and was very much a normal kid. During the summer I was able to order books to listen to just for fun. This was the first time that I was able to read books on my own. Up until this time my mother would tape books for me to listen to on my own. She was always willing to read out loud to me. Being able to listen to a book with out my mom was something I was excited about. There was one down side to getting books on tape. There where no trending books like the baby sitters club.
My family moved the summer of my 8th grade year. I thought I was going to have to give up this new found independents. I was told that I would not have to give this up at all I got to keep my tape player and I was able to continue using recording for the blind and dyslexic through high school. I had to still use the tape player at home to get homework done. When I graduated I ones again thcought I would have to stop using my membership. I did not understand how a life time membership really worked.
Through College recording for the blind and dyslexic played a smaller part of my life. It was hard to get my textbooks on tape because the schools would always be using the up to date textbooks. I didn’t have much time to sit at home and listen to books on tape. However, the new thing was buying a CD player from recording for the blind and dyslexic and getting books on cd. I did that for a few years. I was disappointed that I could not get books that where on the New York best seller list. So I spend my own money to get books to listen to. In my mind this was just one more thing that I did to keep my love of reading books. After college I started using Audible to listen to books. I only had to take my phone with me where ever I went. No more tapes or cd’s.
It has been about 18 years since college, and I still had my tape player. During this last time I moved I was going to send my tape player back to the state. When I called recording for the blind and dyslexic I learned that they where now called Learning Ally and they were not using the tape player any more. The person on the phone told me that I could just get rid of my tape player. I thought that was weird, but I did what they said.
This past summer when Harry Potter and the chosen child came out. I learned that the book was not going to be on audible and there was no way I was going to be able to read it. I was very disappointed at the whole thing. I started to read other books from Nora Roberts, Ally Condie, Diana Gabaldon and many other books. I work at a job that I can listen to music and books all day. I have a lot of books through audible. I get to listen to them over and over again. It’s the best thing I have ever bought
Last week I was thinking about Learning Ally just because. I went looking on the App Store and Oh my goodness there was an app for Learning Ally. I down loaded it and I was very happy to see it was very different from what I remember. It is all Digital now. The big question was “does learning Ally have the new Harry Potter book?” The answer was YES!!! so for the last week I have been able to follow along and listen to Harry Potter and the chosen child. I still can’t get a lot of my favorite authors, full Series of books, or more trending books for adults. So I will be keeping my membership for Audible.
