When relying on volunteers, getting all or even most of these requirements is very difficult. There is often a considerable time lag between requesting a particular book or piece of printed material to be recorded and receiving it. This can be a major problem when a specific text is required for a course of study where time is crucial. These recordings are very rare, expensive and often heavily abridged which is not appropriate for study purposes and puts you at an additional disadvantage with other people. There is usually a long delay between requesting the material to be transcribed into braille and receiving it.
Braille is very bulky and unwieldy.
The tactile quality is variable and deteriorates with time and use. There are often difficulties in obtaining copyright for this to be done and there are sometimes delays. At present there is very little material of straightforward printed text available in this format. I have used all of the above mentioned alternatives to print and to some extent still do. It mainly depends what format is most readily available at the time I require it.