We make our recordings available in as many different ways as possible. Listeners aren’t limited to just one choice, and you’re free to use as many as you like. We currently offer the following options for Listeners:
Please read the notes below for guidance about each option:
USB Audio Player
The most popular way to listen to FATN Talking News’s recordings is via a USB Memory Stick and a portable audio player.
We copy our recordings onto USB Memory Sticks, and the Post Office then delivers them free of charge each week to our visually-impaired Listeners. Our USB Memory Sticks contain the following recordings:
- Weekly news stories from your area;
- A monthly magazine edition, covering our whole region (distributed once a month);
- TNF Soundings’ suggestions for the forthcoming week’s radio and audio-described TV programmes;
- The latest copy of the BBC’s “In Touch” Podcast.
The recordings on our USB Memory Sticks are divided into tracks, which you can step through in the same way as playing a Compact Disc. You can listen to our USB Memory Sticks on a dedicated memory stick player, which is lightweight, small, and portable. The memory stick player’s controls are specially designed to be easy to use for people with visual impairments. FATN Talking News can provide you with a player free of charge.
Downloading our editions
If you’re a family-member or friend who’s supporting a Listener who doesn’t have internet access, you can download the current edition via its Embedded Audio Player and put it on a USB memory stick for them.
You can also download the current edition from Dropbox – here’s how:
- Click Here to go to FATN Talking News’s Dropbox online file-store;
- Click on the name of the edition you want. This will open another page containing more information about it. This page also provides an audio player, which you can use to play the edition immediately if you wish;
- Click the down-arrow to the right of the “Download” button (at the top-left of the page), and select “Download” from the menu that appears;
- The audio will be downloaded to your PC as a single MP3 file, which you can then copy onto the listener’s USB stick.
Connected Devices
These are devices that are self-contained, but rely on internet access to retrieve the content that you wish to play.
Smart Speakers
Our editions are available on the following voice-activated assistants and smart speakers:
Amazon Alexa
You can listen to our editions with the Amazon Alexa app, or an Amazon Echo smart speaker. You can find out how by clicking HERE.
Apple Siri
Our editions are available via the Apple Siri voice assistant, and Apple HomePod smart speakers. We’ve provided some more information HERE.
Internet Radio
All our current editions are fully-registered Stations on the TuneIn Internet Radio portal, and can be played on any compatible Internet Radio device. The TuneIn portal allows you to listen to our recordings in many different ways, including:
- Web browsers;
- Mobile apps for Apple and Android devices;
- A wide variety of devices such as smart speakers, internet radios and media streamers.
To listen to one of our editions, search for “FATN Talking News” on the TuneIn portal, and select the edition you want. If you wish you can add the edition to your list of favourites.
If your Internet Radio device isn’t compatible with TuneIn, it may be possible to listen to one of our current editions by adding its BWBF Playlist to your list of custom Stations.
Online
We make all our current editions available online. You can listen to our recordings via the following methods:
All of our current news & magazine recordings are available on the British Wireless for the Blind Fund’s (BWBF) Streamed Service. BWBF provides three methods of listening to our editions: the Web Player; the Mobile App; and Amazon Alexa smart speakers. We also provide links to each edition’s BWBF Playlist. Each method allows you to step through each track, in a similar manner to using our USB memory sticks.
BWBF Web Player
To listen to a recording on our website, simply go to our “Recordings” page and click the button near the top of the page for the edition you want. This takes you to the BWBF Web Player, and provides you with controls that are similar to those on a CD player. When you’ve finished listening, use your browser’s “Back” button to return to to the “Recordings” web-page.
BWBF Talking Newspaper App
If you’d prefer to listen on a mobile device, our current weekly & monthly editions are available via the BWBF’s Talking Newspaper mobile apps for both Apple and Android devices. Please visit the BWBF Streamed Service website for more information.
The mobile app accesses the same content as BWBF’s Web Player, and works in exactly the same way. Our editions are listed in the Talking Newspaper app under the South East region – just look for “FATN” to find our recordings.
Smart Speakers
You can listen to our BWBF-hosted editions via Amazon Alexa smart speakers. Please refer to our Smart Speakers guidance-section for more details.
BWBF Playlists
If you’d prefer to listen via a media program on PC or use a device that we don’t support directly, we provide the following links to the Playlist for each current edition on the BWBF website:
- Alton Weekly News: .PLS | .M3U
- Farnham Weekly News: .PLS | .M3U
- Fleet Weekly News: .PLS | .M3U
- Haslemere Weekly News: .PLS | .M3U
- Monthly Magazine: .PLS | .M3U
The Playlists are in .PLS & .M3U format, which can be used with many media programs and devices. Please refer to your program’s or device’s user-guide to help you decide which playlist format to use. Here are some examples:
- To use a Playlist with a media program that can use web-addresses (e.g. VideoLAN VLC on PC), copy the Playlist’s Link Address (URL) and then open it in your media program.
- To use a Playlist with an Internet Radio device that isn’t compatible with the TuneIn Internet Portal, copy the Playlist’s Link Address (URL) and then add it to your list of custom Stations in your radio’s web portal.
- To use a Playlist with a media program that can’t accept URLs (e.g. Foobar2000 on PC), download the Playlist file and then load it into your media program.
Embedded Audio Player
We also provide our editions as a single continuous track, which is similar to listening to a tape recording. To listen via this method, follow the “Play or download the current edition as a single track” link from our “Recordings” page, and then click on the embedded audio player’s “Play” button in that edition’s web-page. The player is extremely easy to use, and provides simple play/pause, timeline & volume controls.
The Player also allows you to download the recording to your own device – click on the icon that looks like three dots (at the right-hand end of the Player), and then click “Download“.