There are three steps to making and using an audio label.

1. You start by requesting a sheet of audio codes from the Digit-Eyes website and print these on sheets of address labels using the printer attached to your computer system.   When you initially print an audio label, it is just an empty serial number.
2. When you want to label something, you'll remove a label from the sheet of labels you printed, stick it on the item you want labeled and scan it with the Digit-Eyes application on your phone. The first time you use the Digit-Eyes application on your phone to scan an audio label, the Digit-Eyes app will ask you to make a voice message to be associated with the label and will save the message on your phone.
3. When you use the Digit-Eyes application on your phone to scan the same label later, the message you recorded on your phone is played back to you.

Recordings stay on your phone until you erase them.  You can re-record the message for any label as many times as you wish.  You could, for instance use an audio label to record a 'post-it' note to yourself and re-record it and change it every day.

More about audio labels...

When are audio labels useful? Audio labels are useful when you don't know exactly what you will be labeling or in cases when you want a lot of content on your label.  The content associated with an audio label is naturally private because it is stored on your phone and only accessible from your phone.

What is involved in this training section? The purpose of this exercise is to acquaint you with the process of requesting and printing an audio code from the Digit-Eyes website, scanning the audio label with the Digit-Eyes application on your phone, making a recording on your phone and then using the Digit-Eyes application on your phone to play the recording back. You do not need to have a phone connection or an Internet connection for this process to work because Digit-Eyes stores the voice recordings on your phone and plays them back from your phone.

There are three steps to this process:

1. You'll start by requesting a worksheet that contains a new audio code.  You will use the printer attached to your computer to print this worksheet just as you will later print a full sheet of audio labels.
2. You will then be able to practice using the Digit-Eyes application on your phone to scan the worksheet and 'capture' the bar code image. The first time the code is captured, Digit-Eyes will ask you to record a message for that label. 
3. When you scan the label again with the Digit-Eyes application on your phone, you'll hear that message and can then re-record or delete it. 

You should repeat this exercise until you are able to scan and record the sample audio label dependably.

Lets get and scan an audio code.  Click here to open a new window with a worksheet in it that contains your code.   

Print the worksheet and place it on a flat surface in reasonably good light. Ordinary indoor light is fine and Digit-Eyes will advise you if the light is not bright enough to get a good scan.

The Digit-Eyes code that appears on the worksheet is about 1 inch / 2.5 cm square. The top left corner of the code is located .25 inch / 5 cm from the top corner of the paper and is aligned to the left side of the paper.

The scan distance for Digit-Eyes codes increases with the size of the code. Using an iPhone 3GS, the smallest codes should be scanned at a distance of 2-4 inches (5-10 cm).  A code of 4 inches / 10 cm can be scanned of a distance of 2 feet / .66 meter. If you have an iPhone 4, you'll be able to scan at about twice the distance (4-8 inches for a small code) and with the iPhone 5, the distance increases to 8-12 inches for a small code.

Start the Digit-Eyes application on your phone and click the 'Scan' button on the screen. Hold your phone between 4 and 6 inches / 10 - 15 cm. away from the worksheet. Start at 4 inches / 10 cm. You will hear a tone when Digit-Eyes starts to scan, clicking while it is scanning and a tone again when it finds the code. If you do not get a scan immediately, slowly move your phone a little farther away or move it to the right or the left.

After the tone sounds, double-tap the screen to start recording, record your message and double-tap the screen again to end recording.

After you have your recording, use the Digit-Eyes application on your phone to scan the code again. When the code is captured, the message you recorded will be played back to you.

The screen that appears after you've played back a recording has three buttons.  You can identify these by running your finger over the screen on the phone or using the "flick" gesture to tab through the fields. 

• The top one allows you to scan another label;
• the one in the middle allows you to delete the current recording;
• the one in the bottom allows you to re-record your message.

Activate any function by locating it on the screen and then double tapping to execute the function like you'd do with any other link when using VoiceOver.

Deleting a recording: To delete any recording, touch the delete button twice.

Re-recording a message:  You can record new content for a label as many times as you like.  Simply click the 'Re-record' button twice to start recording.  Tap twice to end recording and your message will be saved.   The next time you scan the label with the Digit-Eyes application on your phone, your new message will be played.

Congratulations! You have now practiced scanning all three types of labels. All you need to do now is to check and make sure your printer is set up correctly.

Have you already bought some labels? If not click here to read about buying labels.

If you already have your labels, click here to check the setup on your printer.

Did this section answer your questions?  If not, please click here to contact us.