Portable screenless music device

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mdf

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#280437 15-Dec-2020 10:06

I suspect I know the answer to this, but I've been surprised before, so throwing this to GZ.

I am after an offline portable music device (perhaps once an "MP3 player") that can be loaded with music from a streaming service relatively easily. I want one with no/monochrome/minimal screen. If such a thing exists, I'm not fussed about which service and will subscribe to whichever - we currently have Amazon Prime Music and Youtube Music, but happy to shift that if necessary.

The objective is to allow a child to have access to music, without also constantly having a screen within 60 cms of her retinas. So the obvious solution - an old phone w no SIM card - won't meet the objectives for this one. The other thought that occurred to me was "ripping" (gee, really bringing out some archaic language for this post!) to make an offline copy, but that is likely to involve too much oversight from me to make it workable.

This is the only one I have been able to find so far, but the reviews seem pretty mixed about whether it does or does not actually work with a phone: https://www.amazon.com/Mighty-Spotify-Music-Player-Zazzy/dp/B07KJY8QMK

Any other thoughts?

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#2621754 15-Dec-2020 10:27

The easiest and cheapest solution is the old ripping method. Or itunes type thing with a shuffle or somesuch type device.

The problem with streaming services is how do you get the content to the device...it needs navigation = screen. And access to wifi or something.

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davidcole

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#2621756 15-Dec-2020 10:31

Though that said there must be ways of doing it, as Garmin forerunner devices - the music variants are able to download music for offline use. But I don't know if a similar technology has been implemented in a standalone device.

freitasm

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#2621846 15-Dec-2020 11:03

Rip your CDs and copy to a MP3 player. Some services will allow you to download music you buy - including Amazon and others.

Then copy the music to a mp3 player.

deadlyllama

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#2621847 15-Dec-2020 11:04

If you can cope with ripping there are cheapie MP3 players with no/small screens. There's a whole category on Trademe for them.

We let our kids put CDs in the CD player. They're 6 and 7; the whole "put a physical object in another physical object" makes way more sense to them than using a tablet/etc. The 7 year old loves poring over the track list on the cheap Warehouse generic Christmas collection CDs we bought last week, working out which CD is which, switching to the correct track, squabbling with her brother over which song to listen to...

Also, I used to buy heaps of CDs and intensely dislike the idea of paying someone to stream music I've already paid for.

davidcole

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#2621852 15-Dec-2020 11:13

I specifically bought a mp3 player years ago that took a single AAA battery, and had a small amount of storage, but took an SD card. Just gave me a better option for transferring files to it.

I think you'd find kids are happy with a reletively static list of files..

kobiak

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#2621877 15-Dec-2020 11:40

What I've done last year for holiday trips:

- old android phone
- youtube music subscription
- download offline playlist/albums/whatever you want
- BT speaker

Works really well and I got anything from 6-10 hrs of playtime with screen off

helping others at evgenyk.nz

Senecio

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#2621895 15-Dec-2020 12:00

The Sony ZX and A-100 series Walkmans are built on Android and can run Spotify and other streaming apps. They're not cheap but I don't know of many other options.

They do have more elaborate screens than what you are wanting but you can't do much on them except look at CD artwork.

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Eva888

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#2621950 15-Dec-2020 12:30

Interesting this should come up as I had a similar feeling about too much screen time so just bought a well rated boombox radio and CD player from Kmart Oz for the grandchild to try out and get off the screen. I figured she may be chuffed with some CDs of Taylor Swift etc when they go on holiday and it doesn’t require any searching You tube or iTunes which they already have and which require screens and WiFi to set up. Uncomplicated.

A lot of spluttering from the parents that they have family iTunes etc. Am curious how she will take to it thus didn’t buy anything too expensive. A bit of simplicity in their lives doesn’t hurt.

davidcole

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#2621967 15-Dec-2020 12:45

Eva888: Interesting this should come up as I had a similar feeling about too much screen time so just bought a well rated boombox radio and CD player from Kmart Oz for the grandchild to try out and get off the screen. I figured she may be chuffed with some CDs of Taylor Swift etc when they go on holiday and it doesn’t require any searching You tube or iTunes which they already have and which require screens and WiFi to set up. Uncomplicated.

A lot of spluttering from the parents that they have family iTunes etc. Am curious how she will take to it thus didn’t buy anything too expensive. A bit of simplicity in their lives doesn’t hurt.

Itunes you can still write cds can't you? Or load the mp3 files on to an SD card....I've not looked at their subscription model to see what restrictions that applies.

Eva888

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#2622070 15-Dec-2020 15:15

The parents won’t bother to write CDs and it’s a faff no one has time for. Easier just to buy a few favourite singers and then enjoy the radio part. Maybe daughter can collect her old CDs she left back here at home and pass them on to the child. Anyway, the whole point of buying it was to make life simple. Turn on the radio or stick a cd in and forget about screens sometimes.

xpd

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#2622074 15-Dec-2020 15:28

Want a holiday project ? https://www.reddit.com/r/raspberry_pi/comments/acnvy9/a_guide_for_pi_jukeboxheadless_media_player_with/

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neb

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#2622228 15-Dec-2020 20:35

Possibly a bit more work than you want to do, but Google "mp3 module", you can get infinite varieties of these from the usual crapvendors, you'd just need to add a case and plugs/buttons.

freitasm

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#2622237 15-Dec-2020 21:05

After reading all the replies I would just go back to my suggestion. Rip or buy tracks online, copy to the mp3 player I linked, done.

mattwnz

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#2622238 15-Dec-2020 21:13

If using spotify to download music, then I am guessing it needs to be a smart device, which then need a screen. As above Sony do some devices like this, but they are essentially like android ipods. I think they still do some mp3 player types too.

What about an apple watch? You can sync music to them from an iphone, and minimal screen, and pretty sure they can be used offline, as it gets stored on the watch? Can get cheaper models too. But needs you to use bluetooth headphones. I have done this myself and seem to work okay.

landcruiserguy

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#2622553 16-Dec-2020 11:20

This is a common problem "but dad I need my tablet in my room to listen to music". An easy soluton is a google home mini. They just tell it to play whatever music they want to listen to.

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