Simply lift lever to play music
Plug-in. No Wi-fi.
MP3 sound quality with quality wooden enclosure
Unintimidating retro, familiar look recognizable for playing music
Our smpl Music Player allows seniors, even those with very significant cognitive decline from dementia or Alzheimer’s, to listen to music they love.
Healthcare professionals and neurologists agree that listening to familiar music produces demonstrable increases in awareness, lucidity and recall. The smpl Radio & Music Player can be the lynchpin of a home-based music therapy regiment, giving caregivers an easy way to improve the quality of life for the ones they care for.
Caregivers can rest easy knowing that the smpl Music Player will entertain their loved ones in a safe & constructive manner while they attend to other tasks.
Clinical testing has shown that our smpl Music Player is easy to use for persons with a wide variety of cognitive, sensory & mobility conditions. All the user needs to do is lift the lever to start the music playing. There are no menus to navigate, no wireless connections to manage, no accounts logins to remember.
The Player comes preloaded with 40 beloved American Classics in mp3 format. Caregivers can add up to 1,000 additional songs, or audio books, using the included USB cord connected to a computer to load most beloved songs of the end user. You can even add audio books.
The retro housing is constructed from wood to last a lifetime, while the player’s volume control is located on the bottom of the unit to prevent accidental changes. The red art deco housing evokes an earlier era while being more visible to those with visual impairments.
The Gift of Music Made smpl.
Problems…Solved.
- Extremely simple to operate
- Retro, familiar look recognizable for playing music
- Download up to 1000 songs or any recording- often 30-40 songs is sufficient
- 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
- Highly durable consisting of a strong wooden enclosure with a high strength plastic covering.
- Out of the box pre-loaded with 40 big band hits from formative years.
Technical Features
- Music file format: MP3
- User controls: ON/OFF and NEXT TRACK
- Volume control: for caregiver use only on base on unit
- Ancillary controls: User controls can be mimicked using remote switches via the back panel
- Headphone socket
- Power: AC 120 Volts
- Power consumption: less than 700mA at 9V
- Amplifier: 6W Class D mono audio amplifier
- Dimensions: 11.8″ x 7.5″ x 4.3″ weight: 3.7 lbs
Problem
Solved
Memory declining
Listening to music shown to improve cognizance and lucidity Stopped listening to music
Retro styling and extremely simple operation engages any senior Intimidated by technology
Nothing new to learn. Simply lift lever to play music. Listens to familiar music from formative years
Drag and drop mp3 files of their favorite songs. Pre-loaded with 40 big band hits form decades ago Q. I use an Apple MAC. I’ve deleted some files but they still play. How do I delete them?
A. For Apple users only, the process of deleting files is quite SIMPL, although this issue has to do with how Apple works and nothing to do with the SIMPL Music Player (or any other standard MP3 player for that matter). The SIMPL Music Player looks for 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:
- Preferred: Re-format the SIMPL Music Player memory card (this will delete everything on the SIMPL Music Player) and then drag and drop the music you want back onto it again. How to reformat? The SIMPL 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 many 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)
- Empty the trash folder. There is information how to do this here (as one example of instructions) www.thexlab.com/faqs/trash.html#Anchor-Force-1148
Q: Does it work in the USA, UK, Europe, Asia or 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: No. The unit comes pre-loaded with up to 40 big band tunes, but we are unable to add additional music to the player 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, SIMPL 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 SIMPL 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 ’SIMPL 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 ensure the lid to be in the down position.
Q: Do you know if/how to change the order of the songs the player plays? Does it always go back to the first song? Any way it can “shuffle?”
A: We purposely don’t have a shuffle function due to our front end research. The intent of the music player is to leave it permanently plugged in so that it plays in a complete loop (and doesn’t require the additional operation of plugging the power in to make it work, for the person with dementia). Generally we have found that most people with dementia only require between 25 and 40 tunes and the familiarity of the cycle is more positive than a random choice. When it is stopped by lowering the lid, it will restart from that position (i.e. not from the beginning).
Obviously, as a cognizant person, if you keep switching it on at the mains and it starts playing the same tune it becomes monotonous, but this isn’t what we’ve found with people with dementia. The continual loop of familiar music is far more associative than a random shuffle facility. The requirement for ‘shuffle’ tends to be the desire of a fully cognizant person, not the intended user.
Q. How do I delete the pre-loaded music?
A.The SIMPL Music Player looks for and plays all the comparable files it finds on its internal memory regardless of which directory of folder they are in.
The problem arises when some operating systems (i.e. certain versions of Apple iOS and Linux) don’t actually delete the files when you press the ‘erase’ button, but create a hidden sub-folder called ‘.trash’ (or similar like ‘.trash100’,etc) and simply moves them into that folder. Whilst you can’t see the files, they still exist and so the music player is finding them and playing them. To resolve the problem you have two choices:
1) Empty the .trash folder that’s been created on the music player by your computer. In MAC OS X v10.3 or later, you can securely delete items by choosing Secure EMPTY TRASH from the Finder menu. There is information on how to do this here:
http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/trash.html#Anchor-Force-11481.
2) Reformat the SIMPL Music Player memory card (this will delete everything on the SIMPL Music Player) and then drag and drop the music you want back on to it again. See below for reformat instructions.Q. How do I reformat the SIMPL Music Player memory card?
A.The SIMPL 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. You must reformat using fat32 option – other options will not work.
Music Player
Reviewer: Priscilla Larson from Iron Mountain, MI United States
Recreation Therapist loved the item and said that it was working for its purpose.
The gift of music
Reviewer: Anonymous Person
Mother is thrilled to have her favorite music so easily accessible. All she has to do is “open” the music player to listen and “close” it when she’s done. Loading mp3 files from my computer onto the player’s drive was easy, and she now has several hours of personally curated tunes. It brings so much comfort with no confusion about which button to press. I highly recommend this product.
Music Player
Reviewer: Anonymous Person from Dunwoody, GA United States
My Dad is in Assisted Living and does not want to “do” much anymore. His caregiver recommended this music player so he can listen to familiar music. This is a perfect gift for him
Worth Every Penny!
Reviewer: Christopher Green from Centerville, MA United States
I bought one of these for my Dad. The unit arrived quickly, it was easy to add a library of my Dad’s favorite tunes, and he loves it! No problem getting him up to speed with the unit. Sounds great. We are very happy!
Great product
Reviewer: scott Hunsicker from Rancho Cucamonga, CA United States
The plyer was easy to set up, easy to load new music and it sounds terrific. Very happy with our purchase!
My dad was beaming with joy
Reviewer: Anonymous Person from Wilmington, DE United States
The music player is a wonderful gift for someone that has sight challenges! My dad was beaming with joy as realizing he could easily function it and bring his favorite big band music to fill the room. Customer service (notably with communication and shipping) was excellent .
Best Gift Ever!
Reviewer: CAROLYN SANTOS from GERMANTOWN, TN United States
We gave this gift to my mother for her birthday in July. She is still raving about it. She loves to listen to the music and its ease of operation allows her to do so on her own whenever she pleases. I would recommend this product for sure.
Exactly What We Needed!
Reviewer: Karrie Nesbit from Zionsville, IN United States
This was exactly what my grandma needed. Although she does not have Alzheimer’s she is unable to manage most music players. We needed something basic that we could upload her beloved country hymns to and this is it! One thing to note is that if you are using a Mac, to delete any songs you must empty the trash on your computer while the player is connected, otherwise, the songs stay on the player.
simpl music player
Reviewer: Daryl Hart from Paulding, OH United States
I CARE FOR A NON-RELATIVE WHO LOVES MUSIC . I THOUGHT THIS PRODUCT WOULD HELP HER WITH THE FRUSTRATIONS OF LISTENING TO SOME OF HER FAVORITE SONGS.
Simple music player
Reviewer: Beth Allen from Berlin, VT United States
My dad loves this. He can use it himself.
Music Player
Reviewer: Anonymous Person from Freeport, IL United States
We are very happy with it so far. Mom is able to turn it on and off easily. Now that she can have her music easily accessible she is very happy.
Christmas present
Reviewer: Joanna M. from DELAND, FL United States
A member of our family has early stages of dementia. The symptoms she displays the most is repeating herself, short term memory is poor, and when younger was the best cook, now she cannot do this anymore. The one thing she has always loved to do is sing to the old tunes. When I found this radio I thought I was going to have load music, which I can, but it comes with great big band music and the sound is fantastic. Easy to use out of the box, plug it in and lift the lever. It looks old fashion which may make it appealing to her.
