How to read a DAISY text magazine on a computer

Overview

In this tutorial, you will learn how to download and read a DAISY text magazine on your computer. These are general instructions and may vary depending on the computer and DAISY text-to-speech reader program you use. The basic steps, however, should be the same.

Get started:

Download a DAISY text-to-speech reader
Find and download a magazine
Unzip the file
Open the magazine in a DAISY text-to-speech reader program
Get further assistance if needed

Download a DAISY text-to-speech reader

To read a DAISY text magazine on your computer, you need to download one of the following programs:

Capti (Free for Windows, Mac and Chromebook. Upgrade for $1.49 USD per month.)
Dolphin Easy Reader (Free on Windows.)
amis (Free on Windows.)

You may also connect a braille display to your computer and read the magazine in one of these programs or in the DAISY reader native to JAWS.

Find and download a magazine on the CELA website

The quickest way to find a magazine is to search for it in the Search box at the top of the page. After your search results appear, find the magazine you want, select DAISY text format and then select Get it!

Here are the step-by-step instructions:

Go to Magazines A to Z.
A list of magazines appears in alphabetical order.

If you would prefer to see a list of magazines by category instead

If you would prefer to see a list of magazines by category instead:

Go to Full-text magazines.
Under Full text magazines by category, select a category.
A list of magazines related to the category appear.

Select a magazine (Chatelaine, for example).
The Search results page appears. Each issue of the magazine is a separate search result. Issues are sorted newest to oldest.
Note: If the magazine is not in your search results, select the link Do not apply my saved search preferences. To always include these magazines in your search results, go to My account and select DAISY text as a format under Search preferences.
Find the magazine edition you want to read, select DAISY text in the Get it options menu and then select Get it!
If you are not already signed in to CELA, the Log in page will display. Enter your CELA account number and password. Select the Log in button to submit.
Select My account from the navigation menu.
The My account page appears.
Select Available ZIPs to download.
When the file becomes available to download, it will become available on screen.
Select the Download link.
Your computer will prompt you to open or save the file.
Choose Save.
Next, your computer will prompt you to choose a location where to save the file. By default, most computers save files to a Downloads folder. We recommend using this default unless you are familiar with managing files.

Unzip the file to your computer

DAISY text magazines are contained in zip files. A zip file contains multiple files that have been compressed so they are smaller to transfer over the Internet. You will need to unzip (decompress) the file before you can read the magazine.

To learn how to unzip the file on a Mac computer, read the instructions for Mac.

To unzip the file on a Windows computer:

Open Windows Explorer and go to the Downloads folder. Select the zip file you downloaded.
Right-mouse click or press SHIFT+F10 to display an options menu. Select the option Extract All.
Your computer will prompt you to choose a location where to save the unzipped (decompressed) files. Select the Extract button to save them to the Downloads folder.

To unzip the file on a Mac computer

To unzip the file on a Mac computer:

When the download is complete, open Finder.
From the left toolbar, select Downloads or go to Finder > Home > Downloads.
Open the file.
The file will unzip to a new folder with the same name. This the folder containing your unzipped DAISY magazine.
Open the new folder.

Open the magazine in a DAISY reader program

Open the DAISY reader program (Capti, EasyReader or AMIS) on your computer. Follow the instructions in the program’s user manual to open (import) a book from a local file.
Browse to the Downloads folder.
You will see two subfolders. One is the zipped file you downloaded. The other is a new one containing the files you extracted from the zipped file.
Open the new folder.
Select the file called ncc. Select the Open button or press ENTER to open the file.
If you are using Capti, select the file with with the magazine title, not the ncc file; you will be prompted to import the file.
The magazine will appear in the list of books available in your DAISY reader program.
Please note that AMIS does not have a book list feature – it plays one book at a time.
Select the magazine in the list and then select the Play button to open the magazine.
The content of the magazine will display.
Select the Play button on the media player in the DAISY reader program.
The program will start reading the text of the magazine aloud to you, beginning with the title and issue date. It will also highlight the line and word it is currently on. Explore the icons in the program or consult the user manual to learn how to adjust features such as font, contrast, voice and speed.
You can continue to read the full magazine or switch to table of contents view to see a list of articles in the magazine and select the ones that interest you.