nbotticelli
July 25th, 2009, 10:25 PM
Hello, recently my grandfather had a terrible accident and hit his head and had to have brain surgery. He is now out of the home and living in an assisted living situation. He has alzheimers and has really lost a lot of functionality but can still do some basic things.
He is very upset though to be out of his home but right now he needs to be in assisted living and has to go through physicaly therapy to learn how to walk/talk again.
My father and I are trying to get together some music for him that would be familiar and hopefully ease his anxiety somewhat. I'm thinking sending him a bunch of cd's and a cd player wouldn't necessarily be the best idea.
What I would like to do is find a very simple, elegent, mp3 player that he could use either hooked up to headphones or some sort of dock/speakers.
Now I haven't really used or looked into mp3 players in about nine years though on a recent trip I did borrow an 8GB Ipod Nano which was the first time I've ever used an Ipod before. I must say that I was quite impressed with the elegance and design, quite simple, but definitely not what I'm looking for with my grandpa, plus it's too expensive too.
I've heard that the Ipod Shuffle is quite simple without any kind of menu/screens. I'm under the impression that you basically just press the "Play" button and that's it.
I'm told though that the shuffle may be too small and even then somewhat complicated, and that there may be a more simple solution than that.
Basically what I would like to do is load up a bunch of Jazz and classical from the 40's/50's/60's and send it to him in California. It won't be hooked up to a computer again in a very long time if ever so it should hold a decent amount (I think 8GB is quite sufficient, maybe even 4GB would work).
So, what solutions are out there that are very basic and would work for someone with limited motor skills?
Also, price is a factor, under a hundred dollars would be ideal, and as far as the technical merits of the device, it doesn't have to be the best technically, just super simple that an 80yr old with alzheimers can use it.
Thank you for your help!
He is very upset though to be out of his home but right now he needs to be in assisted living and has to go through physicaly therapy to learn how to walk/talk again.
My father and I are trying to get together some music for him that would be familiar and hopefully ease his anxiety somewhat. I'm thinking sending him a bunch of cd's and a cd player wouldn't necessarily be the best idea.
What I would like to do is find a very simple, elegent, mp3 player that he could use either hooked up to headphones or some sort of dock/speakers.
Now I haven't really used or looked into mp3 players in about nine years though on a recent trip I did borrow an 8GB Ipod Nano which was the first time I've ever used an Ipod before. I must say that I was quite impressed with the elegance and design, quite simple, but definitely not what I'm looking for with my grandpa, plus it's too expensive too.
I've heard that the Ipod Shuffle is quite simple without any kind of menu/screens. I'm under the impression that you basically just press the "Play" button and that's it.
I'm told though that the shuffle may be too small and even then somewhat complicated, and that there may be a more simple solution than that.
Basically what I would like to do is load up a bunch of Jazz and classical from the 40's/50's/60's and send it to him in California. It won't be hooked up to a computer again in a very long time if ever so it should hold a decent amount (I think 8GB is quite sufficient, maybe even 4GB would work).
So, what solutions are out there that are very basic and would work for someone with limited motor skills?
Also, price is a factor, under a hundred dollars would be ideal, and as far as the technical merits of the device, it doesn't have to be the best technically, just super simple that an 80yr old with alzheimers can use it.
Thank you for your help!