I would like to build a music player / device for an older person, not tech savvy user.
I have the MP3s on my linux desktop/laptop, but not all the metadata and cover art.
I’ve worked with RPi before, jailbreaking iPhones and roku. So I have some limited experience with small devices.
I’m wondering if I could obtain some kind of old/used android phone, remove all the apps so the home screen is completely empty, transfer via USB or ssh/scp the MP3 files (and metadata + cover art), then have some kind of music player app which would be the only app on the phone/device.
Then shutdown any wifi or internet connectivity, but still allow bluetooth to pair with an external speaker.
I’m totally with you on this. But I want her to see the cover art. And I want to transfer my downloaded MP3s. Is there a device that does this?
Any of the old colour screen iPod classic models did this, I’d be very surprised if there aren’t modern equivalents.
Any MP3 player that has ever existed will play mp3s no matter where they come from.
And I’d bet if it’s got a screen, it’s going to show the album art.
And flashmodding a classic iPod can give you 500gb of storage, if you want.
Quick search for a product that satisfies your use case that is available in my region:
https://www.westerndigital.com/products/mp3-players/sandisk-clip-sport-plus?sku=SDMX28-016G-G46B
There’s bound to be a plethora of cheaper and more expensive alternatives. And probably a lot on the used market as well.