Simplest Possible Audiobook Player
Discussion
In the past my sister was very into Audiobooks, but that was in the days when you ordered a CD, it arrived in the post & she played it on a portable radio/CD player. That seems to have fallen by the wayside now so I'm looking for the simplest possible way to enable her to use Amazon Audible. The key issue is that she has great difficulty with screens & technology in general due to some cognitive issues - she doesn't have & cannot use a mobile phone for instance. That immediately eliminates a lot of the portable players as they look like mobile phone screens.
She might (& it's a big might) be able to get on with something like an Echo Show but it's not a perfect solution as you can't just pick it up & take it into the kitchen or to bed as it's not battery powered but maybe Echo Dots could be an answer? Some questions that posters may be able to help with:
Echo Show 5 or Show 8? The show 8 has better audio quality but it's considerably more expensive.
Is the Echo 5 laggy? I've seen some reports that say it is
Could we link a couple of Dots located in the kitchen & bedroom to the Echo Show & if so can they be used to control the Show so that she can be in bed & tell Alexa to stop playing the audiobook?
Are there any other potential solutions?
She might (& it's a big might) be able to get on with something like an Echo Show but it's not a perfect solution as you can't just pick it up & take it into the kitchen or to bed as it's not battery powered but maybe Echo Dots could be an answer? Some questions that posters may be able to help with:
Echo Show 5 or Show 8? The show 8 has better audio quality but it's considerably more expensive.
Is the Echo 5 laggy? I've seen some reports that say it is
Could we link a couple of Dots located in the kitchen & bedroom to the Echo Show & if so can they be used to control the Show so that she can be in bed & tell Alexa to stop playing the audiobook?
Are there any other potential solutions?
Mr Pointy said:
Because she needs a control interface to select the audiobook?
You just say "Alexa, play ##### from my Audible library" and it plays #####. xxeny thinks there may be a tickbox somewhere in the Amazon account page which she had to set to start with. Never used a touchscreen to select a book. I think you can buy books this way, but we have all Echo purchasing disabled.Maybe look at the Yoto player?
https://uk.yotoplay.com/yoto-player
It's designed for kids, so is really simple to use and straight forward with big buttons. You can buy blank cards and put whatever you want on it up to about 600 hours of audio. It can also use bluetooth headphones. There is a mini version too, and it's portable.
Just a thought.
https://uk.yotoplay.com/yoto-player
It's designed for kids, so is really simple to use and straight forward with big buttons. You can buy blank cards and put whatever you want on it up to about 600 hours of audio. It can also use bluetooth headphones. There is a mini version too, and it's portable.
Just a thought.
xeny said:
Mr Pointy said:
Because she needs a control interface to select the audiobook?
You just say "Alexa, play ##### from my Audible library" and it plays #####. xxeny thinks there may be a tickbox somewhere in the Amazon account page which she had to set to start with. Never used a touchscreen to select a book. I think you can buy books this way, but we have all Echo purchasing disabled.I'll have to look at pausing & bookmarks next.
xeny said:
Might be worth signing your Amazon account up for the surely existing free trial? Alexa pause or stop works and she remembers where you have got to.
Trouble is she is four hour's drive away so support is tricky - I've got her used to Teamviewer for PC support but Alexa would be trickier. There's hope though.You can get battery bases for the Echo Dot devices (about £30, by a 3rd party). We have some, they are very handy for moving an Alexa around the house. I believe you can also get them for the Show devices. Battery life is typically 8+ hours, so will need to be recharged periodically / at least overnight.
The Alexa Audible interface is perhaps the easiest you will find? Small children aged 6 have no problem at all in using it.
The Alexa Audible interface is perhaps the easiest you will find? Small children aged 6 have no problem at all in using it.
Edited by biggiles on Monday 8th January 15:10
As a watch out, don't go down the route of Spotify and Echo / Alexa. The Spotify skill keeps dropping connected connected Echo devices, as often as every two - three days in my case, and the same for many others. It's been happening almost since Echo Dot 1.0 and there is no sign of either Spotify or Amazon doing anything about it which is just snazzy.
vaud said:
Could she manage an ipad if audible was the only app showing on the screen?
Unfortunately not. It's a cognitive thing & once the screen changed because she'd swiped up by mistake she would be lost & it would just be abandoned. She couldn't get on with a laptop because it was too different to the 19" 4x3 screen on her PC (anyone know of a 19" 4x3 screen with HDMI/DP inputs?).She navigates Amazon easily enough so I'm hoping shouting at Alexa will be workable.
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