Simple CD player for a person with Alzheimer's
July 18, 2016 9:39 AM Subscribe
My mother-in-law has Alzheimer's. She loves (and has always loved) music. But her old CD player just broke. I need to find a new CD player that is as simple as possible to use. Ideally, it would have just three buttons--open/close (to insert the CD), play, and stop--and it would be possible to connect it to external speakers (with or without a receiver is ok). She has excellent speakers and a huge CD collection. Can you suggest a specific player that meets these conditions?
MP3's are not the answer (too complicated). Neither is having someone turn the music on and off for her. She is independent enough that if I could find a simple player for her, she could use it.
MP3's are not the answer (too complicated). Neither is having someone turn the music on and off for her. She is independent enough that if I could find a simple player for her, she could use it.
What about something like a discman? You can plug real speakers into it and just leave it on a shelf. It doesn't get a whole lot simpler than that.
Every purchasing mistake we've made with my grandma has been to give her something more complicated because it's "nicer". Doesn't matter how great the sound quality/etc is if she doesn't use the damn thing.
posted by phunniemee at 9:47 AM on July 18, 2016 [2 favorites]
Every purchasing mistake we've made with my grandma has been to give her something more complicated because it's "nicer". Doesn't matter how great the sound quality/etc is if she doesn't use the damn thing.
posted by phunniemee at 9:47 AM on July 18, 2016 [2 favorites]
You might have some luck looking for kids' CD players, because they will be simple and rugged. This one (link), for example.
posted by xo at 10:31 AM on July 18, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by xo at 10:31 AM on July 18, 2016 [2 favorites]
Best answer: Polycarp has the right idea, I think.
In my experience with people who have Alzheimers, familiarity is often more important than simplicity. If she's used to having things laid out a specific way, your best bet is to keep any replacement as close to that as possible. Actually, your very best bet would be to keep it the same, either by repairing or replacing it with an identical model.
This is just my wild-assed interpretation, but it seems to me that people with dementia often have trouble actually forming new memories and learning new things, so if you're wanting to retain life skills, you want to work with retaining existing knowledge rather than trying to teach something new.
posted by ernielundquist at 10:52 AM on July 18, 2016 [1 favorite]
In my experience with people who have Alzheimers, familiarity is often more important than simplicity. If she's used to having things laid out a specific way, your best bet is to keep any replacement as close to that as possible. Actually, your very best bet would be to keep it the same, either by repairing or replacing it with an identical model.
This is just my wild-assed interpretation, but it seems to me that people with dementia often have trouble actually forming new memories and learning new things, so if you're wanting to retain life skills, you want to work with retaining existing knowledge rather than trying to teach something new.
posted by ernielundquist at 10:52 AM on July 18, 2016 [1 favorite]
Best answer: > Actually, your very best bet would be to keep it the same, either by repairing or replacing it with an identical model.
I agree with this. I would hit up Ebay and try to find the same model that she had, if it cannot be repaired.
posted by Too-Ticky at 11:11 AM on July 18, 2016 [2 favorites]
I agree with this. I would hit up Ebay and try to find the same model that she had, if it cannot be repaired.
posted by Too-Ticky at 11:11 AM on July 18, 2016 [2 favorites]
Somewhat related previous question.
If you can't find an exact replacement, consider one of these:
Portable CD Player from Lakeshore Learning. I'm sorry, I don't know if it can be plugged into external speakers. You can put a large sticker on the "Play" button to make it even more user friendly.
And I know she enjoys cds, but perhaps if that changes in the future and she needs something even more user friendly, one of these pre-loaded mp3 players might be worth a try. It's pricey, but looks like it would be very easy to use. I wish you luck. Music is so important and it's kind of you to help her out. I know I have found a real gap in the market for easy to use music players that don't sound terrible.
posted by areaperson at 12:09 PM on July 18, 2016 [1 favorite]
If you can't find an exact replacement, consider one of these:
Portable CD Player from Lakeshore Learning. I'm sorry, I don't know if it can be plugged into external speakers. You can put a large sticker on the "Play" button to make it even more user friendly.
And I know she enjoys cds, but perhaps if that changes in the future and she needs something even more user friendly, one of these pre-loaded mp3 players might be worth a try. It's pricey, but looks like it would be very easy to use. I wish you luck. Music is so important and it's kind of you to help her out. I know I have found a real gap in the market for easy to use music players that don't sound terrible.
posted by areaperson at 12:09 PM on July 18, 2016 [1 favorite]
In my experience, finding new CD players is difficult today. However, DVD players are all over. And DVD players will usually play a CD, and they'll have a remote, too.
posted by Rash at 10:03 PM on July 18, 2016
posted by Rash at 10:03 PM on July 18, 2016
I just went through a similar thing with my father. Over a period of several months I tried a couple of simple CD players/boomboxes, a one-button iPod shuffle, and an iPad with just one icon, plugged-in so the screen never turns off. All these turned out too hard for my father to operate, for a variety of memory/vision/hearing/fine motor skills loss-related reasons. This is what worked: Jensen Mr-550 Portable AM/FM Radio set to his preferred classical radio station. The key here is that it is a 1960's design with just ONE on/off/volume knob on the front. My father used to be an obsessive audiophile but he is happy as a bug to have something he can operate without help and he calls the sound quality "great". FYI, it comes in several colors, and though it looks like it's just battery powered, there is a power cord hidden under the back cover. Shop around, it's $15 at Target vs. $25 at Home Depot and $40 at Amazon.
posted by rada at 9:23 AM on July 19, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by rada at 9:23 AM on July 19, 2016 [1 favorite]
When faced with the same problem with my grandmother, we painted the play button green, the stop button red and the eject button white. It worked remarkably well.
posted by Lame_username at 11:10 AM on July 19, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by Lame_username at 11:10 AM on July 19, 2016 [1 favorite]
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Polycarp at 9:45 AM on July 18, 2016 [1 favorite]