Best Device for Listening to Audiobooks

November 7, 2014 1:33 PM

Challenges: Needs to be VERY easy to use. This is for a 99-year old who is forgetful, and has both hand mobility and vision issues. It needs to be something that is just very, very basic. She is hard-of-hearing, and also needs a good headset with clear audio at higher levels. I will be loading up audiobooks, probably from my local library, so she doesn't need to learn to do that, just the playing of the book.
posted by nanook to Technology (15 answers total)

Are you talking about a CD player type device or an MP3 player type device?
posted by rabbitrabbit at 1:37 PM on November 7, 2014

Devices like the Victor Reader Stream are designed for this market. If you dont need something quite as portable then devices like this Victor Reader Stratus may be more appropriate
posted by stuartmm at 1:40 PM on November 7, 2014 [1 favorite]

My 83-year-old dad loves his Sansa Clip MP3 player. Every few months he calls someone at Audible and the sainted help desk person spends an hour on the phone helping him download new books and put them on the player, but otherwise he manages it himself in spite of arthritis in his hands and a general aversion to technology.
posted by xeney at 1:45 PM on November 7, 2014 [3 favorites]

My grandmother used the Braille Institute Talking Book services for many years. This included a record player that played the books on vinyl at 15 rpm, and was extremely easy to manage, which she received on "extended loan" from the institute in Los Angeles. The record player was intuitive for her and of course this was in a time when cds and mp3s weren't available, but it was already deeply coded in her brain how it would feel to turn on a switch and move the arm to the edge of the record. It didn't harm the records to have the switch turned off in the middle and to have the tone arm left in place for the next time she wanted to listen. The machine was extremely durable and the book list was extensive. She used a headset that they provided, and was able to hear the books very well (and she had hearing issues as well as mobility and vision issues). And it was all free. The "books" were mailed to us in big hard cases and she could keep them as long as she wanted. Every time she sent one back, they would send her the next one available on her wishlist. About twice a year, my mother would sit down with her and read the list of books and she would pick out books for her wishlist. Pretty sure it's all still free. It was a lifesaver for my grandmother, who was a teacher her whole life and who loved literature and reading.
posted by janey47 at 1:45 PM on November 7, 2014

Came in here to recommend one of the Sansa devices. I had a Clip and it was small, easy to load, easy to navigate and sounded great.
posted by John Kennedy Toole Box at 1:48 PM on November 7, 2014

Response by poster: I am thinking probably mp3, to have access to more titles.
posted by nanook at 2:44 PM on November 7, 2014

Check with your library first because they may be using overdrive which requires an app and isn't just downloadable mp3s. Half of the audiobooks on my library have drm and can't be played except through the app itself. You may need to get the CDs and rip them.
posted by viggorlijah at 4:17 PM on November 7, 2014

In my experience, there are really no mp3 players which work flawlessly for audiobooks. They all require too many clicks to navigate, easily lose their place in a way that is difficult to recover, have problems with the order of the files making up the book, develop technical problems and need replacement way too soon, are designed for those without vision or hand/finger mobility problems.

Maybe there are some expensive high-end ones that are better than the ones I've tried. The one with which I have had the most success is a Sanza zip clip. (though after their tech support could not fix a problem with chapter ordering, I loaded rockbox on it and that fixed my problem). It is inexpensive, usually has good technical support over the phone (if you don't buy the refurbished ones) and keeps bookmarks (many, mainly designed for music, wont!).

If you don't require portability, a larger device will probably do a better job.
posted by Obscure Reference at 6:47 PM on November 7, 2014

I have no idea if it would actually work but Amazons new device the ECHO shows it responding to a request for audio, if it works as it says (mighty big if) then she could just ask the device to start playing. Again I do not have one so don't know how it would handle starting where the book left off or chapters or even where it get the audio files from. If she can just tell it to start playing book name and it starts where it left off this would be a super easy interface though.
posted by dstopps at 8:01 PM on November 7, 2014

What viggorlijah says upthread is not true.

You can absolutely use Overdrive with an mp3 player.
posted by rabbitrabbit at 9:20 PM on November 7, 2014 [1 favorite]

For what it is worth, I've actually found that an iPod touch or nano is the simplest and best audiobook player. Presumably because it tags audiobooks as a different kind of media file it doesn't just apply "mp3 music" rules to the user interface. Pretty much every action you'll want to perform can be done with the headphone remote (pause/resume and volume) so you only have to look at a screen or navigate anything after you finish a book. It doesn't lose its place or switch to other media files randomly. It is as close to a fool proof, three button player as you can get for audio books.

Also, it is really easy to import Overdrive mp3 audiobooks into this interface. You just drag the folder containing the audiobook files (defaults to ~/Music/Overdrive) into iTunes and wait for the album to show up. Then alter the album's info to specify media type as "Audiobook" and it will get imported into the "Audiobook" area of iTunes and sync to your idevice next round.
posted by andorphin at 10:02 PM on November 7, 2014

I also would suggest an iPod, specifically the iPod Nano. It has a bright screen and simple touch interface as well as accessibility options.

Here's what Apple says about the accessibility features:

"A variety of accessibility features help you get the most out of your iPod nano. VoiceOver lets you navigate without having to see the screen by describing whatever’s under your finger — names of menus, songs, artists, or videos. Then you can double-tap, drag, or flick to control iPod nano. Or use the optional Apple EarPods with Remote and Mic to control your music. You can also change the display to white on black, or adjust the brightness to see playlists or album art in better contrast. And if you’re hard of hearing in one ear, use mono audio to hear all audio channels played in both ears, so you catch every note of every tune."

That honestly sounds ideal for what you need. Apple currently sells the 16GB 7th Gen on its site for $149. The screen is big enough to have all of the necessary icons on the main home screen so that no swiping needs to be done. There's even an audiobook icon that can be turned on in the settings to make it easier for her to find what she's looking for.

One nice feature of iTunes/iPods is there's a robust bookmarking feature. You might have to enable it manually for mp3 files, but it's easy to select multiple files and set it for them all at one time. It's in the Options tab in the Get Info dialogue box, a click box that says "Remember position" (on some versions of iTunes, it's "Remember playback position"). It will remember the position for each file that has the setting turned on, even if you listen to something else and then come back to the audiobook.

To touch on what Obscure Reference said, I've never had any trouble with iTunes or my iPods rearranging playlists or losing the place during an audiobook, not even once in the last 10 years. I don't think you'll have to worry about that. (In fact, I've never had any trouble with my iPods at all. Say what you will about Apple, but the build quality of their portables tends to be really good.)

A note on Rockbox: if you go with a different player, like a Sansa Clip or Fuze, don't install Rockbox on it. I've installed Rockbox on all of my Classic iPods (20GB 4G Photo, 60GB 5G Video, 80GB 5.5G Video) and while it's a great alternative when I need more control over volume or brightness, it's really not suitable for a non-tech savvy older person with vision problems. Sometimes I still forget how to navigate the menus when I haven't used it for a while and it's been almost 10 years now.
posted by i feel possessed at 4:07 AM on November 8, 2014

Make sure she can use a touch screen before you shell out for an iPod, though. My dad can't use one -- the movements need to be too precise for someone with arthritic fingers to manage. He does fine with the buttons on the Sansa Clip.
posted by xeney at 6:39 AM on November 8, 2014

Check if you library has or has access (through inter library loan) to Playaways. They are self-contained audiobooks (one title per device) that have very simply play/pause forward/back buttons.
posted by carrioncomfort at 8:26 AM on November 8, 2014 [2 favorites]

I checked and mine has DRM issues for some audiobooks so I'm having issues getting MP3 files through overdrive, with only a limited selection of the available audiobooks, but that could just be me, my computer and my library with overdrive and Adobe.
posted by viggorlijah at 3:01 PM on November 8, 2014