Computers & Electronics

How to give 8yr old access to music?

  • Last Updated:
  • Sep 7th, 2018 2:01 pm
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Jun 12, 2007
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ds2chan wrote: ..

I have not heard of a way to access a NAS from an Android phone though. ...
VLC app on Android will stream directly from windows shares on NAS. Put a new battery in the Nexus 5, install VLC and stream away

In fact, you can even stream tv shows and movies directly from the NAS
Last edited by l69norm on Sep 5th, 2018 2:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Dec 20, 2009
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For music my son uses an old cracked iphone 5 that is also on Speakout for emergencies. We use Apple Family Sharing and he also borrows his favourite artists from the library and downloads them to itunes. And, because we have Shaw, he plays free Stingray music on the app. The app has more channels than the channels on tv, and is pretty good. We have an extra bluetooth speaker, but he prefers his wired Skullcandy Crushers. His brother uses the same setup.
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Nov 10, 2002
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You already have a NAS or you wouldn't mind buying one?

Synology NAS has audio app which can be streamed or save on device for offline listening. Can be used on Windows, MacOS, iOS, Android.

I think person audio player would be great for kids. Sandisk MP3 players, they still sell those. like $50 for 8GB
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Jul 15, 2003
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i have a non-smart NAS. So no plex.

Someone just showed me the paid version of spotify. holy crap it does everything. has a MASSIVE library. i was assuming if i searched for older stuff it wouldn't have it. And it lets you make playlists from specific songs ( i was under the impression even the paid version only let you do whole albums or random genres). And it lets you download local copies to a device for offline listening.

Usually i can find a major (or at least major to me) flaw in nearly every service but this one seems to be just about perfect. It means $15/month and i hate unnecessary monthly fees. But i'm almost starting to think it's wroth it.
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Nov 25, 2002
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yeah, it's easy to get sucked into monthly subscriptions. If you're that into music and want your kid to be too, then I suppose it's worth the cost. FYI You should probably find some friendly RFDers and split a family plan to reduce the monthly cost.

I would also echo the plex option if you want a little more control over what music your son has access to. Plus it'll have TV and Movie capabilities which you can also control access to. If you buy the lifetime sub ($100CAD), that still works out to less than <1 year's worth of spotify cost. You'll need to to get local syncing of media onto the device and user management. Also, it'll be relatively platform agnostic. Get an old iPod Touch (not too old or the iOS plex client won't be compatible), or Android phone/tablet, and you're good to go. Kid can also connect via web/browser from the laptop via windows or chrome or tablet or whatever. You can even setup and easy way for your kid to add music too. Setup a network share for your kid to dump MP3s into and as long as the filename and mp3tag meta data is good, plex will scan and add it to the library easy peasy. No need to touch itunes. Also, you can segregate your library from theirs.
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Jul 15, 2003
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Does plex work only as a client? Like assuming i have a dumb NAS on the network you can use the plex client on a device and use it kind of like a media library organizer? Or does it require a smart NAS that can run the plex media server?

After soliciting advice from others someone also mentioned simple youtube plalylists. Without paying for some enhanced android youtube app you have to leave the app with the screen on playing the videos but if you tuck the device away with the screen on the dimmest setting it does act as a music playlist. Probably wouldn't work for my kid though since he's enamored with music videos and would just end up watching them.
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No.... Plex can't work without the server component running somewhere. It doesn't require a lot of resources. If it's just streaming MP3s and Videos and not transcoding, then the hardware requirements are pretty low and you could easily run it on a Pi or Atom server. What NAS do you have? It may actually be supported.

You can check out the options in the dropdown here:

https://www.plex.tv/media-server-downlo ... dia-server

RE: youtube playlists, don't forget about the ads that get played. I'm not sure how to prevent inappropriate ads to be played.
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Dec 10, 2004
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Kevinck wrote: Does plex work only as a client? Like assuming i have a dumb NAS on the network you can use the plex client on a device and use it kind of like a media library organizer? Or does it require a smart NAS that can run the plex media server?

After soliciting advice from others someone also mentioned simple youtube plalylists. Without paying for some enhanced android youtube app you have to leave the app with the screen on playing the videos but if you tuck the device away with the screen on the dimmest setting it does act as a music playlist. Probably wouldn't work for my kid though since he's enamored with music videos and would just end up watching them.
Look up youtube vanced.

https://forum.xda-developers.com/androi ... n-t3758757
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May 20, 2012
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TIL an 8yr old needs to listen to music on his own and of his choice. Are we talking disney or kanye?
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imothum wrote: TIL an 8yr old needs to listen to music on his own and of his choice. Are we talking disney or kanye?
His favorites are heavily influenced by the randomish playlists that my wife and i listen to. Right now his favorites include Weird Al, imagine dragons, the cars, the bangles, pearl jam, Frozen soundtrack, Faster pussycat by brittany murphy, ok go, the eagles, and AC-DC thunderstruck.

He spends a lot of time playing with lego and likes to listen (and sing) to music at the same time.
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Oct 13, 2002
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I would stick with something simple .... Ipod/MP3 player + 2.0 speakers.
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Jun 26, 2011
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old phone or ipod is best for a kid. if they are just listening in their room, it's no trouble to keep the phone plugged in.
MP3 players weren't user friendly - no screen, can't browse through music, etc.

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