I would like to build a music player / device for an older person, not tech savvy user.
I have the MP3s on my linux desktop/laptop, but not all the metadata and cover art.
I’ve worked with RPi before, jailbreaking iPhones and roku. So I have some limited experience with small devices.
I’m wondering if I could obtain some kind of old/used android phone, remove all the apps so the home screen is completely empty, transfer via USB or ssh/scp the MP3 files (and metadata + cover art), then have some kind of music player app which would be the only app on the phone/device.
Then shutdown any wifi or internet connectivity, but still allow bluetooth to pair with an external speaker.
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An old phone with clean home screen seems perfect.
Yep, solid idea, could be done. And then you can get one of these to hook up to an old stereo.
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They never actually stopped making offline MP3 players, they just went out of style.
Not that you should buy off Amazon, just to give you an idea – https://www.amazon.com/touchscreen-mp3-player/s?k=touchscreen+mp3+player
Tons of name-brand options from days of yore, too, that weren’t just iPods. RockBox supports a pretty good selection if you need some model numbers to look up: https://www.rockbox.org/
I recall people liked their Archos players a lot, I had a few Sansas and Creatives over the years, they were pretty alright.
Probably a bit hard to justify the price for this purpose, but there are a few really high end dedicated music players out there that run Android. I know Sony make one, and I believe some of the Fiio players run Android too.
bunch of not that high end dedicated music players when I looked on amazon just now - around the $40 - $70 price range
I use a Fiio M6 to run Spotify, by downloading playlists through my home wifi before going out. It’s not the cheapest option, but I’ve had it since before the pandemic and it still works like a charm.
The device comes with an app to play MP3s, so that should work easily as well.
One possible solution is to use any old phone to run Plexamp app. Used to require paying for Plex Pass, but it is now free. Check it at https://www.plex.tv/plexamp/
How it works: You would need to run a Plex server on your machine. Plex allows you to also get missing metadata and cover art, some of it automatically, and to have the Plexamp app to pull all the music you want from your machine and can fit in that phone.
Then turn off WiFi and all music will be on that device with cover art and metadata. I think, not sure, the only thing that it may not have while off of the internet is lyrics, but I might be wrong.
Leave Bluetooth on and you have the device with all your requirements: music with art cover on intuitive interface, off the internet and Bluetooth capability.
Others reading this can vouch for or make additional suggestions.
Let us know if you try it.
I think you’re over thinking this a lot. Why not buy a cheap MP3 player with Bluetooth? It’s bound to be infinitely more usable and stable for an older person. Physical buttons is king for the elderly.
