music/video streaming for elderly & visually impaired

[Midsmartin]

I'm hoping to help my elderly mother listen to classical music as her sight declines. she has a fair few CDs, but she can no longer read the labels easily.
I'm also aware of several online streaming options that she'd love to listen to, if only she could operate them.

I fear the whole thing will be beyond her. She can send/read email from their PC, but it really doesn't come naturally.

So far I'm looking at:

1) ripping her CDs (I can do that) with playback using Amazon Alexa. I'd like voice control for playback - she may be blind in time. Amazon Echo/Alexa can do this, with the addition of a special media server from http://www.mymediaalexa.com. An Amazon Echo Dot (I bought one to play with) can play back, I think, via Bluetooth, so I could add a bluetooth dongle to her TV/stereo. I'm intending to print out her album list on paper in large print for her to read from her armchair before she instructs Alexa, as well as trying to put it on their PC, or maybe a tablet/laptop.

Is there a better option than connecting an Amazon Echo to their speakers via Bluetooth? Sonos for example has voice control integrated - but would a Sonos be more useable or reliable for my Mum? My other worry is that the connectors and inputs on their TV/stereo setup may require inputs to be switched around in use, but I will have to go and pay them a visit to to check.

To me it would be good to be able to stream music to their speakers controlled from a laptop or tablet too, but I don't know the best way. They need big clear text and simple uncluttered controls. Foobar2000 allows beautiful clear huge text on a plain background, but not I think a reliable/easy way of streaming to their hifi (maybe laptop audio via bluetooth). Other media servers such as Logitech/Squeezebox would stream, but the controls are hard to read I think. Maybe Sonos can do this easily but I don't know. Perhaps I abandon this part of the plan.

2) streaming online music. There are great classical streaming services in Primephonic and Idagio. Neither can be used with Alexa or other voice control. The Primephonic app was too hard for her to use on an ipad with poor sight - some text is obstinately hard to read, the images confuse her fuzzy view of the screen, and crucially the main controls disappear off the screen if you (accidentally) tap on a track - a full screen info page pops up as an overlay, which she finds confusing.

Alexa can stream music by voice from Amazon music and Spotify though, which is a good start, though I believe the classical selection may be poor there.

3) Streaming video. They read about https://www.digitalconcerthall.com/ - a subscription app to stream classical concert videos. They'd love it if they can work it simply. It may be too complicated. They'd need a laptop or tablet connected to a Chromecast plugged into their TV, if it has a spare HDMI port. I think the interface may be simple enough for her to use for a while.

I wonder if a Windows laptop/tablet or an Android one allow bigger & clearer fonts? I've ruled out an ipad now because Teamviewer works on Android (&Windows)o help remotely but I can't find any remote control for iOS.

Sorry this post is so long now. I'd better stop! I just wonder if anyone else has any cunning ideas to explore.

[UncleEbenezer]

Use the Accessibility options on her operating system. And her browser, when it comes to Web-based services. Things like low vision and blindness are among the most obvious disabilities, and have been well catered for for many years. In the unlikely event that there's nothing built in, there are also tools you can download or buy, though my knowledge of them is too outdated to recommend anything in particular.

Just how much presentational nonsense on the web you/she has to disable will be for her to judge.

[didds]

[quote="Midsmartin"
Is there a better option than connecting an Amazon Echo to their speakers via Bluetooth?[/quote]

Is there a cabled (aux-to-aux cable?) option? My beatpill and the bose BT speaker we have both have cable aux inputs - and a quick google suggests that "The 3rd generation of the Amazon Echo Dot can output audio to other speakers via a 3.5mm auxiliary cord or wirelessly via Bluetooth."

that may be a simpler solution that a BT connection that may somehow disconnect itself?

didds

[xeny]

It may simply be worth paying for Prime Music - How are you proposing to play back the music you've ripped? I'm not certain it is trivial to upload it to Amazon any more.

for simplicity a relatively beefy Echo (the standard unit rather than the dot, or if they have a large room a studio) avoids any need to connect speakers or change inputs. You've just missed a sale, but Echoes are not infrequently available for £50-60.

Alternatively, it is possible to make Spotify the default music source for an Echo, and the free tier is ad supported with not too many restrictions, not too many adverts, and a very good selection of music. There is a web app, a tablet app, and most usefully you can redirect audio between any device associated with an account - I can start a playlist playing on my Echo at work, and then redirect it to the laptop I'm sitting with at home - very good for surprising anyone in the office. Similarly you could remotely view or change what is playing if they needed a hand.

Certainly my aged relative appears happy with Spotify free and an Echo - she can specify a composer and it simply works. Selecting music or a playlist from a GUI she has shown no interest in engaging with.

[Midsmartin]

Thanks for the comments. It all helps. Cost isn't really an issue if it works and they use it, so paying for Spotify or amazon Prime will happen if it helps.

Now I'm looking at audio quality. For test purposes I have a cheap Echo dot with a cheap Bluetooth dongle in the back of my amplifier - total cost about £60-£70.

I've compared the same mp3 file streamed by my Squeezebox, and via Alexa with the http://www.mymediaalexa.com skill (price $5 per year). I can't really tell the difference between the two, which is good news (though my hearing at the top end is rubbish too).

I was worried for a while as Alexa sounded awful on my hifi, but that was because I'd routed it through the unused phono input on my amplifier which obviously treats things differently. Fed through the 'CD' input it's just fine.

I thought Alexa on Sonos might allow native playback of local music, but it doesn't, so I crossed that off.

The only next question is what other skills Alexa has that might be useful to them. There's a TV guide skill that will tell you what's on telly today. I can't get a listing of what's on BBC Radio,m beyond the current program and subsequent program. Ocado? They might use that. Reminders to take pills etc might be useful.