First, I’m not sure where to post, so apologies if it is in the wrong place.
I would like to throw something out for any of you to ponder to see if there is a workable tech solution. I am a Speech Pathologist and I am working with a young woman who is cognitively and physically challenged. She is positioned in a bed all day and loves music. She currently has an MP 3 player, hers is a RCA. In order for her to have her music someone has to put it on for her. I did some checking quickly over in the RCA spot, but I haven’t been able to contact them yet. What I want to do is give her switch access so she can independently turn on her player and let her music list play. I have a switch she can use and there is a system called the PowerLink that will allow this to occur. The problem is that it requires the music system to have a plug or a battery. I need some sort of an adaptor that the player could connect into and then be plugged into my system. It is similar to a battery interrupter concept, but can’t use that because there is no “battery” that is accessible for that to work.
I just attended a seminar today with one of the major switch and environmental control companies and in talking with their representative he didn’t have any solutions currently on the market or in development. There is one adapted MP 3 player out there, but trying not to have to purchase that. Right now she is going to have to purchase a mounting and switch system and none of this stuff comes cheap.
Is there anything out there I might be missing that could help?
If you need more information please let me know as I wasn’t sure what would be helpful. She’s a neat gal and it would be nice for her to have this ability.
I thought of a few ideas. The first is to get a low priced AAA battery powered player such as the Sandisk m200 series players(these are disconued but you can still buy them on the net).or the Sandisk Slotmusic or Slotradio To Go player… . You could have a 1.5 volt adapter hooked to the battery contacts, and have it playing all the time, or you could get a Clip+ or Fuze and an ac usb adapter and have it play all the time. The switch could then be used to control the power to the powered speaker system(which is plugged into an ac adapter.)The problem with this is that I don’t know how long the player would last playing continuously. .
The next idea is to use a Sandisk Fuze or Clip+. The player could be hooked up to an AC usb adapter With these players, the power saver could be turned off, and the player left in standby.Then wires would need to be attached to the play/pause button to hook up a switch. It won’t be easy accesing these contacts. Then have a powered pc speaker system attached which is connected to an ac adapter plugged into your switching mechanism. Instead of adapting a player, perhaps you might want to get a Fuze and a speaker dock http://alteclansing.com/im413-inmotion-home-and-office-portable-speakers-for-sansa.html and modify the speaker dock to accept your switch. I’m not sure if it will work having the dock pugged into your switching device with no batteries in the dock…
I have an old Creative Muvo (sorry Sandisk fans!) which has a single button for Power, Start and Pause. If you are willing to disassemble the device and wire a switch she could use into the front panel switch then she could be able to use it. Be aware that the button has to be held for 4 seconds to turn it on and it only runs on batteries (a single AAA cell). Volume control, forward and back buttons are separate, but I get the impression that they aren’t so important.
