Description
Simple Music Player For Dementia – Open Box Units
We have a limited supply of music players that have been used for demonstration purposes at conferences or have opened boxes. They are now being offered to you at a reduced price. Full one year manufacturers warranty applies. Only available as supply lasts.
Playing music to people with dementia from their formative years vastly improves their cognizance and lucidity – the effects are dramatic, and are widely recognized by dementia and Alzheimer professionals.
Research has confirmed both the benefits of providing people who have dementia with music they remember, and the need for easy operation that such people require. The restorative effect of music therapy vastly improves the quality of life at home, mental well-being, and promotes independent living rather than relying on institutional resources.
The beneficial effects of music for people with dementia are quite outstanding; both for improving the quality of life, especially when living alone, and for its healthy restorative effects on cognizance and lucidity. A recurring problem however, has been the difficulties people with dementia face when trying to operate modern music playing equipment. Remembering how controls operate or manipulation of knobs, non-tactile buttons, and an array of confusing symbols all limit access to this well proved benefit.
Available in Green, Red and Walnut….
The ’Simple Music Player’ has been designed to be as easy as possible to operate for the end user; that is, the person with dementia.
Setting up the player is undertaken by friends, family or carers, as a one time process.
Extensive trials have verified that the operation is highly intuitive and does not require any prior knowledge or memory to start and stop the player.
The styling is also reminiscent of old radios and is instantly recognizable as something which plays music.
This could lead to the music being far too loud and disturbing, or too quiet so it may appear to be ’broken’ if hard of hearing or confused.
To adjust the volume, using a pencil or similar, press and hold one of the buttons underneath the player.
Only after holding the control for 5 seconds the volume will begin to increase or decrease, so it can be set to the appropriate level.
Simple Music Player’ is a preloaded MP3 player which comes in three versions: Green, Red, and Walnut. They are functionally identical so they all operate in the same way. The intention is for the player to be installed and left powered on, allowing the user to operate it at will without any other requirement than to lift or lower the lid to start or stop the music.
The only other control available to the regular user is a large button which skips onto the next tune when pressed.
Their construction is highly durable consisting of a strong wooden enclosure with a high strength plastic covering. The loudspeaker grille is cloth finished but reinforced with a steel mesh to avoid any damage to the speaker. Rubber feet ensure that the player does not slip. It can be wiped down with a damp cloth if required.
A Music Player for Alzheimer’s and Dementia can be used anywhere in the world and is automatically configured to suit your national power supply.
Frequently Asked Questions:
Q. I use an Apple MAC. I’ve deleted some files but they still play. How do I delete them?
A. This is easy, but it has to do with how Apple works and nothing to do with the Simple Music Player or any other standard MP3 player for that matter.
How to I delete music files – for Apple users only
This is easily resolved but it’s an issue that occurs with many Apple users on many different devices and it really is a computer issue, not a Music Player one. Just by means of explanation … the Simple Music Player looks and plays all the compatible files it finds on its internal memory regardless of which directory or folder they are in. The problem arises because Apple iOS doesn’t actually delete the files when you press the ‘delete’ key, but creates a hidden sub-folder called ‘.trash’ or ‘.trash-1000’ and simply moves them into that folder. While you can’t see the files, they still exist and so the music player is finding them and playing them.
To resolve the problems you have two choices:
1) empty the .trash folder. There is information how to do this at www.thexlab.com/faqs/trash.html#Anchor-Force-1148… for example.
2) (***** Preferred *****) reformat the Simple Music Player memory card (this will delete everything on the Simple Music Player) and then drag and drop the music you want back onto it again.
How to reformat? The Simple Music Player acts exactly the same as if it’s a USB stick or flash drive plugged into your machine, so formatting is just the same operation.
There are lots of tutorials on the web (again this is a ‘how to operate your computer’ problem) – try this one www.pcadvisor.co.uk/how-to/storage/how-format-usb… and your problems should be solved. There’s a very clear video at youtu.be/ac3jaZ7DjGg if you prefer video help.
(PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU ONLY POWER UP THE MUSIC PLAYER ONCE WITH THE USB CABLE PLUGGED IN, OR ELSE IT WON’T OPERATE IN USB MODE)
Q. Does it work in USA/UK/Europe/Asia/Australia?
A. Units are supplied anywhere in the world. They are configured to have the correct mains adapter to suit the dispatch address on our order.
Q. How many tunes can be uploaded?
A. The internal memory is set at 4GB. Obviously the length of individual songs has an influence on the capacity. To some extent this is an academic question since most people with dementia are more than happy with a much smaller song list of say 25 to 40 tunes.
Q. Can the tunes be preloaded?
A. YES. We are most pleased to program your ’Simple Music Player’ with your music for a nominal charge. Just communicate with us at the point of order and we’ll be happy to sort it out for you.
Q. Can it use headphones?
A. There is a headphone socket provided in the rear of the unit. Plugging in headphones immediately cuts out the main speaker. The socket is the light green one, the same as on your computer.
Q. Dad can’t move his hands very much. Is there any way he can use it?
A. We have provided two sockets in the back panel which over-ride the ’ON/OFF’ and ’NEXT TRACK’ controls. Switches from OT suppliers are readily available but please remember this does require a higher level of cognizance to operate than many people with dementia.
Q. Does it upload from Apple devices?
A. Yes, Simple Music Players bought since June 2015 have an Apple compatible USB interface. It can handle the .m4a file format directly from iTunes (Please note that it is not an Apple device so it cannot play ‘Apple protected’ .m4p downloads).
Q. I’ve reformatted the player, transferred the disk and now nothing plays?
A. If you reformat the player, you must choose an MSDOS-FAT format option, NOT an Apple IOS format.
Q. I do not have files in MP3 format. What do I do?
A. MP3 is a generic term for this type of player; the Simple Music Player can handle several popular file formats such as: .mp3 “MP3 format sound”; .m4a “MPEG4 Audio”; .wma “Windows Media Audio”; .aac “ADTS Audio”; and .wav “WAVE sound”
There are many free file converters which can be downloaded from the internet, which convert your music into MP3 format. Don’t be too concerned about which version of MP3 file you have, the ’Simple Music Player’ handles them all. However, for best results convert you files into mono and choose a higher bit rate (greater than 125kHz). Here is a short list of third party providers (we have no responsibility for their operation): Koyotesoft; Online-convert.com; DVDVideoSoft; and NCH Switch MP3
Q. When I use remote switches it stops when I press switch but starts when I release is again?
A. You have the main lid open. To use external or remote switches you need the lid to be in the down position.
Q. Why is the walnut version more expensive?
A. We have to use a special technique and a more expensive production process to achieve this attractive finish. The casing is vacuum formed not injection molded for the-walnut version.
