This is an overview of the accessibility features of eBook readers and eBook apps for blind and partially sighted people, to give you a useful starting point if you are interested in trying eBooks out for yourself.
Our Getting Started with eBooks Guide (Word, 58kb) is also a good place to start.
If you are interested in more general information on ebook readers visit the Which? website.
Read specific information about:
Reading with text-to-speech (TTS)
Reading a book with synthetic TTS is not the same as listening to a human-narrated audiobook. To find out more and to hear some samples, visit Text-to-speech in eBooks.
If you want your eBooks read with a synthetic voice, there is one eBook reader with built in speech, and a number of options for phones, tablets and computers which can be used with a screen reader.
Kindle for PC with accessibility
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Although very popular as hardware eBook readers, Kindle is also available as an app for Windows, Mac and most mobile phone platforms. While you can read the controls with an external screen reader on some of these platforms, most of them do not allow speech access to the content of a book.
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However, Kindle for PC with accessibility, which works on Windows computers, includes the same TTS as Kindle Keyboard for reading the content of books. You still need to have a screen reader on your PC to select and open a book, and then the built-in TTS is used to read it.
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Kindle for PC with accessibility will read any book bought from the Kindle website, regardless of whether the publisher has turned off the TTS feature.
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Kindle for PC with accessibility is available from the Amazon website.
iBooks
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iBooks is available on the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. All three are touch screen devices with a built-in screen reader called VoiceOver.
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VoiceOver will allow you to buy books from the iBookstore, browse the books on your device, and open and read them. You can read a book from start to finish with a single gesture, or read by line, word or even letter if you want to check the spelling of a word. Facilities like dictionary definition, search, highlight and annotation are also accessible.
Adobe Digital Editions
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Adobe Digital Editions 2.0 is available for Windows PCs and Macs. It works with most recent versions of screen reader on both platforms, although support is best with JAWS on Windows XP and above, and NVDA on Windows Vista and above.
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Adobe Digital Editions 2.0 is available from the Adobe Digital Editions Home website.
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A lot of online bookstores and libraries provide books that can be read with Adobe Digital Editions.
Kobo
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The Kobo app for iPhone and iPod touch (but not for iPad) works with VoiceOver. It's possible to read up to one chapter with a single gesture. The Android Kobo app also works with the TalkBack screen reader, but you can only read one sentence at a time.
Nook
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The Nook app for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad is the latest to be launched, and it works with VoiceOver. You can read anything from one character at a time up to one chapter at a time. There is also contains an accessibility tutorial giving useful tips on using the app with VoiceOver.
Kindle Fire
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All Kindle Fires have text-to-speech for book content which requires sight to switch on, and so is of limited use. The Kindle Fire HD 8.9" has two further functions called Voice Guide and Explore by Touch which, once turned on, which requires sight, allow you to find and open a book without sight too. In early April 2013 the Kindle Fire HD 7" got a software update which gave it the same two new features.
Kindle Keyboard
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In March 2013 Amazon confirmed the Kindle Keyboard was no longer part of their range. It may still be possible to buy from smaller retailers until stock is exhausted, or second hand.
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As well as text-to-speech (TTS) for the content of a book once opened, which some other eBook readers have, the Kindle Keyboard also has a feature called VoiceGuide which gives access to the menus and, crucially, to the list of books on the device.
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Amazon allow publishers to turn off TTS on their books, but this is happening less and less frequently. Information on whether TTS is available for a title is explicitly stated in the information for each book on the Kindle Store.
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Navigation within a book is poor while TTS is running, and it is not possible to use the dictionary or search facilities.
Reading with magnification
For magnification users, there are many more choices.
Font size
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All eBook readers and apps allow you to change the font size within a book. When the font size is altered, text 'reflows' to make best use of the screen size. For documents whose font cannot be altered, such as PDF documents, there may be a 'zoom' feature which does not reflow text.
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For eBook readers, font size options and zooming are only available for the content of a book, so the process of getting books onto the device, or finding and choosing a book from those available on the device can be tricky or impossible. You can use a hand-held or video magnifier for this, and Kindle Keyboard owners can use VoiceGuide to find and open a book, then enlarge the font size to read it.
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For eBook apps, there may be magnification on your device that will work for the eBook app.
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The screens on many smartphones will not show much text if you enlarge the font. The iPad and Kindle DX have large screens, but this can make them more difficult to hold for long periods of time. Using an eBook app on a computer allows you to use both magnification software and a large monitor.
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Although the iPad has been around since 2010, this year has seen the arrival of a number of other tablets. Many of these have high definition 7 inch colour screens which are proving very popular for reading.
Colour
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The eInk displays used on the basic Kindle, Kobo and Sony eBook readers work very well for text, but cannot show colour. They are restricted to dark text on a light background, and many need an external light to be visible, but do work in bright sunlight .
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One of the innovations of 2012 was the arrival of the "front light", on eReaders like the Kindle Paperwhite, Kobo Glo and Nook Simple Touch GlowLight. A low level light is shone onto the screen from under the surrounding rim. While this is intended simply to make the screen visible in low ambient light, the effect is often also to enhance screen contrast withouth producing the glare of a back-lit LCD screen.
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The new tablets like the Kindle Fire, Kobo Arc and Nook HD, and all computers and phones on which you can run an eBook app, have bright colour screens which may suffer from glare, but they don't need an external light source. They all offer dark text on a white background ("day mode") or white text on a dark background ("night mode"). Many also offer a third option of dark text on a sepia background.
Reading with braille
There are no eBook readers that allow a braille display to be connected. But a number of eBook apps do:
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The iOS devices - the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch - are touch screen devices with a built-in screen reader called VoiceOver. You can connect a Bluetooth braille display to them and use it to read contracted or uncontracted braille using the iBooks, Kobo or Nook apps.
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Adobe Digital Editions is available for Windows and Mac computers.On Windows, it supports the latest versions of most screen readers, including JAWS, NVDA, Window-Eyes and System Access. On the Mac, it works with VoiceOver, although navigation is very limited. Any braille display that works with these screen readers can be used in Adobe Digital Editions.
Other factors to take into account
Accessibility is crucial, of course, but there are other factors you may want to consider when thinking about which eBook reader or app to use. These include:
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Portability - eBook readers fit in your pocket or hand bag. They are small and light, and have good battery life. They also have small screens and keyboards. Multi-function devices like tablets are larger and heavier than eBook readers, while phones have even smaller screens. A device may seem light when you pick it up, but remember you may want to hold it for some time if your book is gripping!
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Flexibility - an eBook reader does one thing well, but only one thing. Phones and tablets are multi-function - they may not be brilliant at reading, but they allow you to do a lot more besides, such as make phone calls or use the internet.
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Buying books on the go - all eBook readers have a Wi-Fi or 3G connection so that you can buy and download a book anywhere you can get an internet connection. Large font and TTS options do not extend to the online features, so you may need sighted assistance to purchase books using the device. Some eBook apps have the capability to buy books from within them. You can always use a computer to buy books and have them delivered to your eBook reader or app.
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Cost - eBook apps are almost always free. eBook readers cost from £60 upwards.
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Ease of use - eBook apps require you to be able to use a keyboard, mouse or touch-screen gestures. eBook readers differ in their weight (most are under 200g but some are twice that) and the size and placement of controls - older devices have physical buttons while almost all the new ones are fully touch screen. Stands are available for some eBook readers and tablet computers.