Does this type of portable music player exist?

[LightninBoy]

I'm looking for a product that may not exist. Basically, I want to get my elderly mom a product she can use to enjoy her music. The requirements are ...

1. Must be somewhat portable, to take between rooms or bring back and forth between home and cabin.
2. Must have built in speakers with decent sound
3. Must be able to play music from some physical media (USB drive preferred)
4. Must *NOT* require a mobile phone to use
5. Must be extremely simple to use
6. Nice to have standard radio reception
7. Nice to support at least one streaming service
8. Nice to support satellite radio
9. Nice if it doesn't look like it was designed for a gamer

Is there anything like this?

 

[AudiOhm]

Laptop?

Ohms

 

[dougi]

There will be plenty to meet your "musts" (check out euro market DAB radio such as Pure, Geneva Labs, Revo, others) but less so if you want 4 and 7. All streaming service support will generally be a Spotify connect client or the like, so will need a phone or PC to control.

 

[staticV3]

How about something like the Panasonic RX-D552?


+Battery powered and portable
+Receives both FM and DAB Radio
+Plays CDs or directly off USB sticks
+Easy to use
+No smartphone required
+No gamer aesthetics

-Inclusion of a CD player may be unneeded size and weight -> there should be other radios like it without CD player
-no streaming capabilities

 

[Somafunk]

What about a Roberts radio/wifi streamer or similar

 

[LightninBoy]

Laptop?

Ohms

Yeah ... No. I gave my Mom a tablet once. Might as well have sat her down in the space shuttle cockpit.

 

[LightninBoy]

What about a Roberts radio/wifi streamer or similar

That's perfect. But I live in the US.

 

[voodooless]

Sounds like a classic boombox

Something like this? Or any of these…

 

[Gorgonzola]

Yeah ... No. I gave my Mom a tablet once. Might as well have sat her down in the space shuttle cockpit.

And yet you what your device to have all these capabilities but want it as easy to use as '50s table radio -- do you really think that can happen?

 

[Gyrfalcon]

Tivoli Audio could be a good option

 

[LightninBoy]

And yet you what your device to have all these capabilities but want it as easy to use as '50s table radio -- do you really think that can happen?

Yes.

Looks like the UK/Euro market has many products that fit my criteria well enough. But in the US its just smart speakers (which don't fit my criteria) and boomboxes (ugly, but functionally viable).

 

[LightninBoy]

Tivoli Audio could be a good option

Thank you for reminding me of these. Tivoli nails the aesthetic, but doesn't have the physical media features needed. *However* searching Tivoli brought up Como Audio and that in turn lead to discovering other promising options. These are "off brands", but at least I'm finding products now that aren't just smart speakers or boomboxes.

 

[LightninBoy]

Sounds like a classic boombox

Something like this? Or any of these…

Yeah, I was hoping we'd progressed since the 1980s. But these still tick a lot of the boxes and are cheap and are made by reputable brands.

 

[staticV3]

Yeah, I was hoping we'd progressed since the 1980s.

We have. That's why everyone is using Bluetooth speakers and Sonos systems nowadays.

 

[Gorgonzola]

Yes.

Looks like the UK/Euro market has many products that fit my criteria well enough. But in the US its just smart speakers (which don't fit my criteria) and boomboxes (ugly, but functionally viable).

Then I gotta say that you should checkout "boomboxes". Room-to-room portability is there; I'm not sure whether streaming has come to this class of audio.

 

[LightninBoy]

We have. That's why everyone is using Bluetooth speakers and Sonos systems nowadays.

Ha. That's fair.

 

[clearnfc]

Yes, quite a number of them online. Check out all-in-one speakers.

 

[coonmanx]

This thread asking for an amazing do-it-all machine first made me think that OP is asking too much, which lead me here...

And then I was like "Yeah maybe such a thing exists, who knows"... Senior friendly... now that is a hard one. What would I gift to my own mom?