In the first post in this in-depth series, we looked at LeaseyWord, the new accessible writing and document reading environment coming in Leasey version 11.5.
This time, we move to another large and very important part of the Summer 2026 update: Leasey Media Centre.
The main overview post gave you the broad picture of Leasey 11.5. These in-depth posts are intended to slow down, take one feature at a time and show why each new area matters. Leasey Media Centre deserves that treatment because it is not simply a renamed radio player or a light refresh of an existing feature. It is a substantial media environment for radio, podcasts, local audio files, video soundtracks, playlists, recordings, audio conversion, sound control and the new Leasey Media Player.
It brings together parts of Leasey which many people have used for years, particularly LeaseyRadio and LeaseyCast, and places them into a more modern, more flexible and more consistent application.
It also does something which is extremely important for many users: everything spoken by Leasey Media Centre is also sent to a Braille display if the user has one. This applies throughout the app. If Leasey Media Centre speaks status information, selected items, progress messages or player information, that same information is made available in Braille. This is not an afterthought. It is part of the design.
Leasey Media Centre is a vehicle for working with radio stations, podcasts, audio files, video soundtracks and playlists.
It can be launched with the Leasey key followed by R, or the Leasey key followed by Shift+P. These keystrokes are familiar to existing Leasey users, so the new application does not force people to start again with an entirely unfamiliar entry point.
When Leasey Media Centre opens, the first control is a Task combo box. This contains four main areas:
Radio.
Podcasts.
Audio and Playlists.
Sound Control.
Use Up and Down Arrow in the Task combo box to choose the area you want. Focus remains in the combo box as you move between the choices, so you can easily change your mind before tabbing into the selected area.If you pressed Leasey key then R, Radio is automatically selected in the Combo Box. If you press Leasey key then Shift+P, Podcasts is automatically selected.
You can also move directly to an area with shortcut keys. Alt+1 moves to Radio, Alt+2 to Podcasts, Alt+3 to Audio and Playlists, and Alt+4 to Sound Control. As you press one of those keystrokes, JAWS speaks the area you have moved to.
This is one of the main themes of Leasey Media Centre. You can use it in a calm, exploratory way by pressing Tab and Shift+Tab through the controls. But if you want speed, many direct keystrokes are available. The app is not dependent on remembering them, but it rewards users who like to work quickly.
Escape does not close the program. That is deliberate. Escape is used to return to a previous part of the interface, especially in Podcasts. Alt+F4 closes the Media Centre. Control+Comma opens Options. Control+O opens a local audio file, supported video file soundtrack or playlist from the computer. Control+Shift+I is Where Am I, which gives a short description of the current area, focused control and selected item where appropriate. Control+Shift+C opens Leasey Command Centre.
It is important to mention one requirement clearly. Leasey Media Centre is part of Leasey. A user must be running JAWS and specifically Leasey version 11 for this application to function. Both JAWS and Leasey must actually be in use. This is particularly important if someone is thinking about registering file types with Windows, because Leasey Media Centre is not intended to be a general media player outside the JAWS and Leasey environment.
There is one question which is likely to arise: why cannot Leasey Media Centre play YouTube content?
The answer is that doing so would not be in line with YouTube's terms of service. YouTube content should not be reproduced outside the YouTube framework. If content were played directly through a separate media application, it could bypass parts of the YouTube experience, such as advertisements, which is not appropriate.
Leasey already has an interface to make the YouTube web site easier to use. That is the correct way to approach YouTube content, because the user remains inside the YouTube framework. Leasey Media Centre is for radio streams, podcasts, local files, video soundtracks from supported files and playlists. It is not intended to be a YouTube playback system.
Leasey Media Centre contains many commands. That can sound intimidating, particularly in an application with radio, podcasts, playlists, a media player, sound control, recording, conversion and global shortcut keys.
To make this easier, Leasey Media Centre includes Leasey Command Centre.
Press Control+Shift+C to open it. Focus lands in the Command edit field. Type part of a command name, shortcut or related word, such as radio, podcast, favourite, settings, bookmark or search. The Matching commands list changes as you type. Press Tab to move to the Matching commands list, use Up and Down Arrow to review the results, and press Enter or Numpad Enter to run the selected command.
This means you do not need to remember every keystroke immediately. If you know the kind of thing you want to do, you can search for it. Where Am I also works inside Leasey Command Centre with Control+Shift+I.
This is especially useful in a large application. It gives users a way to discover features without searching through documentation every time.
Options are opened with Control+Comma.
The first important setting is the radio player preference. You can choose between Winamp, Foobar, VLC and Leasey Media Player. The new Leasey Media Player is highly recommended because it is designed specifically for this environment and has many advantages which we will come to later.
Options also contains the volume step percentage. This controls how much the volume changes when using volume shortcut keys. The minimum step is 1 percent, which is very gradual. Five percent is a good working setting for many people. Volume can be adjusted inside the application or through global shortcut keys.
The Recording folder setting determines where radio recordings are saved. You can type a folder path or use Browse. A Recording Format combo box lets you choose MP3 128K, MP3 192K, MP3 320K or WAV.
There is also a Data location field. This is where Leasey Media Centre stores writable data such as settings, podcasts, playlists, cached station data and presets. You can type or browse to a base folder. Leasey Media Centre then creates the required LeaseyData\MediaCentre structure under it where appropriate. If the data location changes successfully, JAWS announces that the data location has changed. This is useful for people who want to keep Media Centre data in a cloud-synchronised folder or another drive. Leasey's Backup and Restore Manager described in the previous blog post also facilitates this.
Minimise to system tray on exit is another important option. If this is checked, closing Leasey Media Centre keeps it running in the Windows system tray rather than closing it completely. This is useful if you want scheduled recordings to take place. When this option is checked, Leasey Media Centre can also create a Windows startup shortcut so it can start automatically when Windows starts. If the check box is unchecked, the startup shortcut is removed.
Player Only Mode is designed for people who usually launch audio files, video file soundtracks or playlists from File Explorer, Windows shortcuts or Leasey shortcuts, and do not want the full Media Centre window to appear every time. When this option is checked, opening an audio file, supported video file or playlist displays only the Leasey Media Player window. The full Media Centre remains available when opened normally.
Player Only Mode does not remove functionality. You can still play and pause, stop, change volume, skip, change speed where appropriate, hear elapsed or remaining time and use other player commands. If you are in the player window and need Options, press Control+Comma.
Options also includes features for submitting streams, adding private streams to favourites, importing from the previous LeaseyCast interface, importing and exporting OPML podcast feeds, selecting the audio output device and registering File Explorer entries.
Register File Explorer entries allows Windows to recognise Leasey Media Centre so supported file types can be opened with it. It can add entries such as Play with Leasey Media Centre and Open With choices. However, users should be careful about associating Leasey Media Centre with audio and video file types, because it only functions when JAWS and Leasey are running.
The Shortcut Keys tab deserves special attention.
Leasey Media Centre provides many shortcut keys by default. But the Shortcut Keys tab gives the user much more control. It lists Media Centre actions, including application shortcuts, player shortcuts and global hotkey actions. You arrow through the Actions list, Tab to the Description field to hear what the selected action does, then Tab again to the Shortcut key edit field.
You can type a shortcut such as Control+Alt+P, Shift+F6 or Alt+Left. If you check Make this shortcut global, the shortcut can work from anywhere in Windows while Leasey Media Centre is running. If it is unchecked, the shortcut is intended for use while Leasey Media Centre has focus. You can Assign, Clear, Reset or Restore Defaults as required.
There are two big advantages here.
First, you can set global hotkeys. That means you can control important Media Centre actions even while working in another application.
Second, and perhaps more importantly, if an action exists but a shortcut key is not provided by default, the user can assign one. If necessary, that shortcut can be made global. A good example would be checking whether podcast subscriptions have new episodes. If that is something you do frequently and there is no default keystroke you like, you can create one.
Most similar applications expect you to physically press the keystroke you want to assign. That can cause conflicts, particularly with JAWS. Leasey Media Centre takes a more predictable approach: you type the shortcut text. If you want to remove a shortcut entirely, clear the field. If a global shortcut cannot be registered because something else already uses it, Media Centre reports the problem without closing.
This shortcut system is one of the hidden strengths of the application. It means Leasey Media Centre is not only accessible by design; it is adaptable.
The Radio area is one of the core parts of Leasey Media Centre.
It contains a category combo box, search edit field, search button, Shoutcast Categories button, station list, Play, Stop, Add Favourite, Add Preset, View Favourites, Most Recent, Scheduled Recordings and Close.
The first control in the Radio screen is the category list. You can always reach it with Alt+C. It represents the ten LeaseyRadio categories within the existing product. Use Down Arrow to select a category. You can press Enter to move to the station list, or press Alt+L. Stations are arranged alphabetically, and pressing Enter on a station begins playback.
Radio searching is designed to feel like one directory even though more than one source is checked. Leasey recommended stations are checked first, Radio Browser is checked next and Shoutcast is checked after that. This means you should not need to worry too much about where a station comes from. If you search for classical, country or a station name, results from available sources are placed in the same station list.
The Shoutcast Categories button lets you browse categories supplied by Shoutcast. Choose a category and press Enter, and the stations in that category appear in the station list.
Favourites are simple. Select a station and press Alt+A or activate Add to Favourites. You do not need to be listening to the station first. Selecting it in the list is enough. View Favourites is Alt+V. From the favourites list, use Down Arrow or first-letter navigation, then press Enter to play.
Presets are also supported. Move to a station and press Alt+P or activate Add Preset. The Presets dialog contains preset numbers 1 through 20. If a preset is empty, the button after the list is Add Preset. If it already contains a station, the button becomes Change Preset. You can also press Enter on an existing preset to play it and check that it does what you expect, or press Delete to remove it.
The standard LeaseyRadio preset keystrokes continue to work. The Leasey key followed by Windows+1 through Windows+0 gives access to presets 1 through 10. The Leasey key followed by Alt+1 through Alt+0 gives access to presets 11 through 20. Pressing a preset keystroke begins playing the assigned station and announces "Connecting to" followed by the station name.
Scheduled radio recording is one of the strongest Media Centre features.
Leasey Media Centre can record radio stations as MP3 128K, MP3 192K, MP3 320K or WAV files.
There are several advantages. You do not need to listen to the station while the recording is taking place. You can listen to another station while a recording is being made. If the computer is restarted and Media Centre is configured to keep running in the system tray, the recording can still take place. If the stream is disconnected during the scheduled time, Media Centre checks periodically to see whether it can recover the stream, and if it can, recording continues in a separate file.
Scheduled recordings are based on stations in your favourites list. If you want to schedule a station, first add it to favourites.
To create or review schedules, activate Scheduled Recordings in the Radio area or press Control+Shift+R from anywhere in the application. Scheduled Recordings can also be assigned as a global hotkey in the Shortcut Keys tab, and it is unassigned by default.
The Scheduled Recordings dialog contains a schedules list, Add, Edit, Delete and Close. When adding a schedule, you choose the station, date, time, duration, repeat settings and recording folder. The date and time fields use controls rather than requiring you to type everything manually. The recording folder can use the default folder from Options or a folder specific to that schedule.
When the scheduled time arrives, JAWS announces that recording has started. When it finishes, JAWS announces that the scheduled recording has finished. The file is saved with the station name and start date and time in the appropriate recording folder.
For anyone who regularly records radio programmes, specialist shows, interviews, internet broadcasts or music features, this is a very powerful tool.
The Podcasts area brings podcast management into the same Media Centre environment.
It contains a podcast feeds list, Add Feed, Search Directory, Delete Feed, Refresh Episodes, a search episodes edit field, episode list, show notes edit field, Show Notes in Browser, Play episode, Download and Close.
You can add a podcast manually by feed, or search the iTunes directory. Activate Search Directory or press Alt+Y, type the name of a podcast and press Enter. A list of matches appears. Move through the matches and press Enter on one which sounds promising. Leasey Media Centre retrieves a preview, including the podcast description and sample episodes. If it is the podcast you want, activate Add.
Once you have podcast feeds, press Up or Down Arrow to move through them. Press Enter on a feed to retrieve its episodes. Enter on an episode plays it. Escape clears the episode list and returns focus to the podcast feed list. Escape never closes Leasey Media Centre.
New episode handling is much clearer than in the older podcast system. As you move through a feed's episodes, new episodes are identified. You do not need to move into a separate area just to find out what is new. JAWS might say something like the episode title and date, followed by "New Episodes". If you have played part of an episode, you will also hear an estimate of how much of it you have played.
As you move through the list of feeds, Leasey Media Centre can also tell you which feeds contain new content. For example, it might say "1 new episode: NPR News Now" or "2 new episodes: Access On." This is extremely useful because you do not have to enter every feed just to check.
Show notes are available in an edit field after the episode list. Many podcast show notes contain links, so Alt+B can render the show notes in a browser, which is often the best way to handle them.
Episodes can be streamed from the web, or downloaded to the computer. To download, move to an episode and activate Download or press Alt+F. You choose where to save the file, and JAWS announces when the download starts and completes.
This is where the Shortcut Keys tab becomes particularly interesting. If you frequently want to check whether podcast subscriptions have new episodes, you can assign a shortcut key to that action if one is not already provided in the way you want. You can also make that shortcut global if appropriate.
The Audio and Playlists area is for local audio files, supported video file soundtracks and playlists.
It contains a playlists list, New playlist, Delete playlist, Add files, Add Folder, Remove track, Move up, Move down, tracks list, Playlist order combo box, Open file, Play track, Play playlist, Edit tags, Batch tag editor, Audio converter and Close.
Control+O opens a local audio file, supported video file soundtrack or playlist. Alt+P moves to the playlist list. Alt+L moves to the tracks in the playlist. Control+N creates a new playlist. Alt+A adds one or more files. Alt+F adds a folder. Enter on a playlist starts playing it. Enter on a track plays that track. Delete on a track removes it from the playlist.
Creating a playlist is straightforward. Activate New playlist, type the playlist name and press Enter. Add files or a folder. If adding a folder, Leasey Media Centre asks whether files in subfolders should also be included. You can also copy a file in File Explorer, return to the Playlist Viewer and press Control+V.
Tracks can be moved up and down with Alt+U and Alt+D, and JAWS confirms where the track has moved. The Playlist order combo box offers Sequential, Shuffle and Repeat. Sequential plays in displayed order. Shuffle plays randomly. Repeat begins again when the playlist reaches the end.
Leasey Media Centre can edit tags for MP3, M4A and FLAC files. Fields include title, artist, album, album artist, track number, genre, year or date and comment. You can edit tags for a track in a playlist with Control+Shift+E, or edit tags for the file currently loaded in the Leasey Media Player with Control+E.
Tag editing is only available for local MP3, M4A and FLAC files. It is not available for radio streams, podcast streams, playlist URLs or other audio formats. If the file is playing, you can usually edit tags without stopping playback. After saving, the player title and spoken track name should update to reflect the new title and artist.
The Batch Tag Editor is useful when reviewing or changing tags for a group of MP3, M4A or FLAC files. You can load a folder, load specific files, include subfolders, move through the files list, edit tags for the selected file and save. You can also apply the same artist, album, album artist, genre or year/date to selected files. The Batch Tag Editor does not rename files, does not change album art and preserves unrelated metadata where possible.
The Audio Converter is available from the Audio and Playlists area. You can load individual files or a folder, choose whether to include subfolders, choose the output folder and choose the output format. Available output formats include WAV, MP3 128K, MP3 192K, MP3 320K, FLAC and M4A AAC 192K.
If File Explorer entries have been registered, you can convert one file directly from File Explorer by focusing the audio file, opening the Applications menu and choosing Convert with Leasey Audio Converter. This Explorer command is separate from Play with Leasey Media Centre and does not change your default audio player.
Leasey Media Centre does not overwrite existing files when converting. If a file with the same name already exists in the output folder, a numbered file name is created.
The new Leasey Media Player is at the heart of the Media Centre.
It is used when Leasey Media Player is selected as the player, or when playing local files, playlists and podcasts. It can also play the audio soundtrack from supported video files, including MP4, MKV, M4V, MOV, AVI, WebM and WMV. Video is not shown; only the audio is played.
The player contains controls for Play or Pause, Stop, Mute, Record and Stop Recording when listening to radio, Previous and Next track when a playlist is active, Back, Forward, Bookmarks, Close, Skip amount, Volume, Speed where appropriate, and a graphic equaliser for podcasts, local audio files and local playlists.
The number of controls changes depending on context. For example, speed control is not shown when listening to radio because live radio cannot be slowed down or sped up in a meaningful way.
Important player keystrokes include Space for play or pause, Up and Down Arrow for volume, Alt+M for mute, Control+R for recording radio, Left and Right Arrow for skipping by the selected amount, Page Up and Page Down for previous and next playlist track, Control+Left and Control+Right for chapter movement where chapters exist, X to move back to the start of the file, and numbers 1 through to 9 to move to 10 percent through to 90 percent of the file where the length is known.
Alt+Shift+T speaks elapsed time. Control+Shift+T speaks remaining time. Control+J opens Jump to Time. Control+E edits tags for the currently loaded local MP3, M4A or FLAC file. Left bracket and right bracket decrease and increase playback speed where speed control is available.
Because spoken information is also sent to Braille, time announcements such as elapsed time and remaining time are available to Braille display users too. This is particularly helpful when listening privately or working in situations where speech may be muted or less convenient.
Manual radio recording is available in the player. When listening to radio, the player includes Record and Stop Recording buttons, and Control+R starts or stops recording. Recordings are saved in the Recording folder specified in Options, using the station name and date/time for the file name. JAWS announces when recording starts and when the recording has been saved.
Jump to Time uses separate fields for hours, minutes and seconds. For example, to move to 12 minutes and 30 seconds, leave Hours at 0, set Minutes to 12 and Seconds to 30. For 1 hour, 5 minutes and 20 seconds, set Hours to 1, Minutes to 5 and Seconds to 20.
Playback speed is especially useful for podcasts and audio books. Podcast speed is remembered separately from local audio files. Local audio files and playlists start at normal speed by default, but if you change speed for an audio book or similar file, that local audio speed is remembered for future playback. Control+0 returns to normal speed.
The graphic equaliser is available when playing podcasts, local audio files or local playlists. It is not applied to radio streams. The equaliser includes presets such as Off, Speech clarity, Bass boost, Treble boost, Warm, Brighter and Reduce bass. Bass and treble sliders can also be adjusted directly, creating a Custom setting.
Some podcast files contain chapter marks. If a local file contains chapters, the player title includes the words "chapters available." You must have downloaded the podcast to the computer for chapter marks to work; streaming it is not enough. Control+Left Arrow and Control+Right Arrow move through chapters.
Saved positions are file specific. When a local file is paused, stopped or closed, the current position is saved. If you open the same file later, you can return to that saved position. Inside the player, Control+K resumes the saved position. There is also a default global shortcut, Alt+Windows+K, unless changed in Options.
Bookmarks are also file specific. They are intended for important points in a long recording or audio book. Control+B sets a bookmark and asks for a name. Control+G opens the list of bookmarks and lets you move to one. Control+D opens the bookmark list so you can delete one.
To hear what is playing, press Insert+T, the standard JAWS command for reading the window title. The window title is kept free of unnecessary content apart from the name of the item playing, such as the song title and artist or podcast title.
The audio player contains a sleep timer which can stop audio after a specified period. Finally, an interesting feature is the Virtual Cart system. With the Virtual Convention season about to begin, some presenters are required to play out disclaimer information prior to the start of the session. A file can be assigned to a keystroke which can be played when pressed. This saves hunting for an audio file or playlist.
The Shortcut Keys tab also controls global player hotkeys.
If Make this shortcut global is checked, the shortcut works while Leasey Media Centre is running, even when focus is in another application. If it is unchecked, the shortcut is only for use while Media Centre has focus.
Default global player hotkeys include commands for play or pause, stop, volume up and down, mute, skip back and forward, previous and next playlist track, previous and next chapter, elapsed time, remaining time, current track name, resume saved position, set a bookmark, move to a bookmark and delete a bookmark.
This is the kind of control many users have wanted for a long time. You can be writing an email, editing a document, reading a web page or working in another application, and still pause playback, adjust volume, skip back, hear the track name or resume a saved position.
And because the shortcut system is editable, users can adjust the keystrokes if they conflict with other software or if they prefer a different layout.
Sound Control gives you a simpler way to review and change common Windows sound settings using accessible controls.
You can reach it from the Task combo box or by pressing Alt+4.
The Sound Control area is arranged in two main groups. Output controls come first, followed by recording input controls.
Output controls include output devices such as headphones or speakers, Set default output, Set communications output, application output volumes, selected application output volume, mute and unmute application output, the Leasey Media Centre output device and Apply Leasey Media Centre output.
The output devices list contains the speakers, headphones or other output devices Windows can currently detect. If you want the selected device to become the normal Windows output, use Set default output. If you want it to become the Windows communications output, use Set communications output.
Application output volumes are also exposed. The Application output volumes list contains running applications which Windows exposes to the volume mixer. Choose an application, then adjust its volume or mute and unmute it. This can be very useful if you need to balance JAWS, a browser, a media stream or another application.
The Leasey Media Centre output device combo box lets you choose the output device used by Media Centre itself. This duplicates the same option in Options for convenience. Choose Windows default if you want Media Centre to follow the normal Windows output device.
Recording input controls include microphones or line inputs, Set default recording input, Set communications recording input, selected recording input level, mute recording input and unmute recording input.
At the end of Sound Control are JAWS-related controls, such as routing JAWS sound left or right, restoring sound balance, selecting the next or previous sound card and toggling audio ducking. These are the kinds of actions many JAWS users need from time to time, and having them inside an accessible Media Centre area makes them easier to find.
If you connect or disconnect a sound device, activate Refresh to rebuild the lists.
Pressing Leasey key then A provides direct access to Sound Control together with music recognition.
Music Recognition can capture audio from the sound source on your computer which you specify. If for example you hear a song and you would like to identify it for purchasing later, you can capturet.
When recognition is complete, results are produced in a browser because they can include links to sources where the song can be purchased or previewed.
Leasey Media Centre matters because it brings together a lot of audio-related work into one accessible environment.
It is for radio listeners who want searchable stations, favourites, presets and scheduled recordings. It is for podcast listeners who want feed management, directory search, new episode identification, show notes, streaming and downloading. It is for people who manage local audio files and playlists. It is for users who want to edit tags, batch edit tags or convert audio formats. It is for people who listen to audio books or long recordings and need speed control, saved positions and bookmarks. It is for users who want easier access to sound devices and application volumes. It is for people who want a media player designed around JAWS and Braille rather than one which merely happens to be somewhat usable.
The Braille support is especially important. When status information is spoken, it is also sent to Braille if a display is present. That includes player information, selected items, time announcements and progress messages. This helps make Media Centre a genuine speech and Braille application rather than a speech-only tool.
The shortcut system is another major strength. Users can rely on the provided commands, but they can also shape the application around their own habits. If a command matters to you and you want a keystroke for it, you can create one. If you need it globally, you can make it global where possible.
Leasey Media Centre is not trying to be a YouTube player or a general media application for everyone. It is a Leasey application, designed for JAWS users running Leasey version 11. Within that environment, it gives radio, podcasts, local audio, playlists, video soundtracks, recordings and sound control a new accessible home.
Leasey version 11.5 is scheduled for release in July 2026. In the next posts in this in-depth series, we will continue exploring the major new and redesigned features in the Summer update.