The answer is yes you do need that to get your designs.It is a compact flash card reader that hooks up to your computer via usb port.You put your compact flash card into it then a box will come up  with several options.click on take no action.Now you can load designs into it from your computer.Hopefully you have some kind of software that you can open the designs with.Your machine should have something with it such as janome customizer plus. Once you get your designs on the card ,in the bottom left hand side of your computer you will see a little icon that looks like a card with a green arrow.left click on it to remove your card from it,you will need to know what letter it is using within your computer ex: mine is K. it will ask you if you want to remove it click ok then the red light on your card reader will go out then you know it is safe to remove it.If you remove it any other way you will lose all you have put on it. You can get these card readers any where like best buy or online any where.

Really since your dealer is out of business I would deffinatly reccomend you find some one in your area that gives classes to help you understand it better. It is really hard to explain it like this and works better if someone shows you .I will try to help as much as I can and if I can.