Getting started
Have you just signed up? Find out how to get started with RNIB Reading Services.
Have you just signed up? Find out how to get started with RNIB Reading Services.
First of all, you need to sign up and register - from the home page follow the register link in the navigation menu.
Once you have registered, you will receive an email from RNIB confirming your account is active and ready to use. Go to the Log in page, and log in with your username and password.
Once logged in, you can:-
Your search results will be displayed in a table. If using a screen reader (such as JAWS), you can navigate through the book titles with the screen reader’s table navigation commands.
Once you have chosen which book to download, the book is prepared for you. This may take a minute or two, depending on the speed of your internet connection. You can check in your pending downloads list that the book is ready for you to download.
Each title is downloaded as a zip file. The zip file contains all the files for that book.
Beneath are instructions for downloading and playing books using:-
For the best experience it is recommended that Dolphin EasyReader should be used to find, download and listen to books if using iOS or Android.
Please note, EasyReader will be available in the new year.
There are some similarities between iOS and Android when using the Reading Services site.
In Android and iOS from any page, press the toggle navigation button to bring up menus. If not logged in, this will bring up the register and log in links. If logged in the toggle navigation button will bring up options for title search, help and advice, account and log off.
Once logged in, there is a search box at the top of each page. You can use this to search for title, author or keyword. There is also an advanced search option available from the title search link after pressing toggle navigation.
When you search for a title, the results are displayed in a block of between 10 and 100 depending on which option you choose in the entries pop up list.
Select the link for the title you want to download.
Press the download link. The book is prepared and after a few minutes press the download link again and the title should begin to download.
The title can sometimes take several minutes before it is available.
You can also download your title from the pending downloads link available from the account menu after expanding the toggle navigation button.
In iOS 13 the book will be downloaded to your downloads folder. At the top of the web page is a download button which will take you to that folder.
From there you can open the downloaded book in apps such as Voice Dream Reader and Dolphin EasyReader.
You can manage your downloads from the files app already installed on your Apple device.
In older versions of iOS there is no option to save the file. The book is downloaded to a temporary location and you have the option to open it in other apps.
In Google Chrome, after selecting download the book is downloaded and progress should be spoken. Once downloaded press the options button and select downloads.
Find the book in downloads. Next to each file is an options button. Select it and choose share. A list of apps is displayed, and you can choose which one in which to read your downloaded book.
As there are many versions of Android, you may see slightly different results.
Audio and Braille titles can be downloaded using a number of operating systems and devices.
This guide discusses using Microsoft Windows to access the Reading Services site.
For the best browsing experience it is recommended to use Google Chrome rather than Internet Explorer.
Internet Explorer is proving problematic on many web sites.
Google Chrome works well with Screenreaders.
There are several ways to download a book:
When viewing search results, your read later list or download history, the books are displayed in table form. If using a screenreader, you can use your table commands to move through columns and rows quickly and efficiently to get to the title you want to download.
Once downloaded, books appear in the Downloads folder on your computer. If using Google Chrome in Windows press shift-F6 to go to the downloads folder.
Each book is downloaded in a zip file. The zip file will contain a number of files which make up the DAISY book. The contents of the zip file are the same as you will find on an RNIB Talking Book DAISY CD or memory stick.
Some books have sub folders named part1, part2 etc. Each part relates to the files you would find on the physical Talking Book CD.
In Windows 10 to unzip the book:
This will extract the files into a folder with the same name as the zip file excluding the .zip extension.
You can then copy the contents of the zip file onto the player of your choice whether a specialist player such as the Victor Reader Stream, Victor Trek or Plextalk players. On Victor players, copy each unzipped book into the $vrdtb folder. On Plextalk players copy the unzipped book onto the SD card.
You can also listen to books on your computer by using players such as Windows Media player or VLC Media Player.
For an easy and powerful Windows DAISY player try the free SpeakOn Media Suite available from http://www.speakon.org.uk/SpeakOn.html
SpeakOn Media Suite is a self-voicing application giving access to services including Internet Radio, RNIB Newsagent and playback of DAISY audio.
When you set up SpeakOn Media Suite, a folder is created on your computer called My SpeakOn Media. In this folder is a sub folder called Audio_Books.
Copy each unzipped book folder into the Audio_Books folder. In this way you can have multiple books available to read in SpeakOn Media Suite. SpeakOn will remember your position in each book. You can change playback speed, set bookmarks etc.
A full manual is available as SpeakOn.
SpeakOn Media Suite works well with Windows 10.
Windows Media Player is included with Windows 10. VLC Media Player is available to download for free..
In VLC Media Player you can play the book directly from the zip file. Highlight the zip file and right click or press shift-F10. Select “open with” then play in VLC Media Player. Note: VLC and Windows Media Player won’t remember where you left off in a book.
When you download a book from RNIB Reading Services, there is no need to return it when you have read it. There is also no borrow time limit on the book.
You can delete the book but can re-download it again in the future if you want to read it again.