Read along in Chrome

What you need

• Chrome 111 or later.
• The Readio extension. It is coming soon to the Chrome Web Store; the Download page will have it.
• A Readio account. It is free: sign in with Continue with Google, or with a 6-digit code sent to your email. There is no password.
• An Amazon account with Kindle books. See which books Readio can read.

Start reading

1. Open a book in the Kindle web reader at read.amazon.com. If the tab was already open, reload it.
2. Press the blue play button at the bottom right of the page.
3. The first time, the player says “Sign in to Readio to listen.” Click Sign in next to it. Your Readio account opens in a new tab. Sign in there, go back to the book and press play again.
4. Readio reads from the page you are on and turns the pages for you.

The code in the email works for 10 minutes. You can ask for a new one 30 seconds after the last.

The player

The player is a small pill at the corner of the page. Folded, it shows play and the face of the voice. Move the pointer over it to see more:

• Volume, with a button to turn the sound off.
• Settings.
• Speed, from 0.5× to 3×.
• Back 10 s and Forward 10 s.

Click the face to choose a voice. Choose a voice and speed has the steps, and Keyboard and media keys lists the keys.

Drag the player to any corner of the window.

Word highlighting

The word being read lights up on the page. Click any word to read from it. To turn the highlight off, open Settings in the player and turn off Word highlighting on the Reading tab. Click-to-read works only while the highlight is on.

Free account or Readio Pro

With a free account, your computer’s own voice reads the book. In the voice list it is called System, under Free, and the other voices carry a Pro mark. Click one of them and the plans open.

Readio Pro reads the book in the voice you pick. One plan works in Chrome and in the Readio app. Your plan is in Settings, on the Account tab.

The computer’s voice needs a voice for the book’s language. If your computer has none, the player says “This computer has no voice for the book’s language. Readio Pro reads it.”

When Readio stops

The player shows a short message above itself. These are the ones you may see:

• “Reload the page, then press play. Readio must see the reader load.” Readio did not see Kindle load the book. Click Reload.
• “Readio was updated. Reload the page to go on.” Click Reload.
• “Close the reader dialog, then press play.” Kindle has a dialog open over the page. Close it first.
• “Offline. Readio goes on when the connection is back.” Readio waits up to five minutes for the connection, then stops.
• “Kindle’s session timed out. Reloading…” Kindle ends its session about every 40 minutes. Readio reloads the page and reads on from where the voice was.
• “The computer’s voice stopped. Press play to try again.” This one is for a free account only.
• “This book is made of pictures. Readio cannot read it yet.” A comic or a picture book has no text. The play button is off for that book.
• “This book uses a font Readio cannot read yet.” Readio stops there.
• “You reached the end of the book.” Readio stops on the last page.