Best way to get my elderly mum some audiobooks

[Frenchfancy]

I'm struggling to work out the easiest way to get some audiobooks to my DM. We live abroad and won't be seeing her until Easter. She has had cataract problems and is struggling to read.

She doesn't have a smart phone and her computer skills are limited especially now her sight is bad.

Is there a good device I could get her that would be easy to use? Or should I just stick to CDs? Or is there another option I haven't thought of.

The one I had didn't have a touchscreen which made it better for people with sightloss, let me find it somehow for you.

My DM has some hearing loss and isn't interested in any technology so things like an Alexa are out as she simply can't hear them well enough and a smart phone and MP3 player would be out just like your DM.

Does your DM have a CD player and does she use it? Just wondering if you could get her done CDs?

Ultimately though, if she's not really interested, she probably won't listen to them

Creative Zen Stone, the one without a screen. 1 GB 😆

How about a yoto, they are aimed for children but do come with recordable 'free' cards. You could order some to your house, record her favourite books onto them and then send them to her. All she will have to do then is pop the card in the top. She would probably need a neighbour / friend / other family member to connect to WiFi though to download the cards before they are played.

@PritiPatelsMaker she definitely is interested. It is just the tech that gets her confused. Once she knows how to use something she is fine.

CDs may be the best place to start then I can set something else up for her when I'm over next.

The to looks really interesting. It is a shame they don't do something similar for adults with adult books.

You have to download Audible books from Amazon so you need to put your password in. Anyone sharing your account could only buy more if they knew your password.

You'd have to tell her what is on there though.

My children can't purchase anything with this set up and they know what is on there.

I've often thought that as I love audio books and would quite happily listen to a yoto if they had adult books. Although I do have to admit listening to DSDs famous 5 books 😁

she definitely is interested. It is just the tech that gets her confused. Once she knows how to use something she is fine.

CDs may be the best place to start then I can set something else up for her when I'm over next.

It's good that she's interested.

I have a DF who is older, around 80, with sight loss.

She gets a memory stick with books on each month from the RNIB. Her DS has set up an old laptop with a huge icon, just the one and a huge cursor. She can manage to move the cursor to the icon and click and it will then play the books for her.

She posts the memory sticks back to the RNIB and does need some assistance if anything goes wrong with the laptop.

@Frenchfancy I would just stick to the cds and "press and play " type of thing until you can get to see her and maybe help her. The simpler the better.
Honestly, older people , especially with sight problems can have such difficulty, they can't see little buttons, icons etc , they think they might break things or do something wrong and end up not using the device. Then they feel useless and guilty for not using your thoughtful present. I know there are older techy wizard people too but you know your mum.
Audio books are brilliant though, I love audible but my elderly mum would sadly not have a clue . We just got her a nice, simple but good quality radio in the end. Good luck.

I download books for adults from BorrowBox and upload to a make your own Yoto card. I love it

How do you do this??

My local library has cd audiobooks available to borrow . They also run a housebound service where books or audiobooks are delivered and collected to customers by volunteers. Her local library might offer a service like this and all she’d need is a cd player. Might be worth checking the library website.

My MIL really loved the RNIB service - and she absolutely cackled with laughter when she set her fiction preferences and they asked her if she wanted to receive any racy books.

They did an unlimited audio option where you paid to listen to any book but didn’t own them. It was the same price as the one book a month option.

You can put any book onto the yoto cards-inc adult. Also podcasts and radio stations if that would be useful to her too. You'd have to make the cards yourself from the app on your phone, but it would be easy enough to do for her.

You can get them free from RNIB and another company that begins with c that I can't remember. My partially sighted mum gets them every week.

My mum also uses the RNIB CDs through the post service. She's in her 90s and it works brilliantly for her.

Audio books are free via the RNIB for anyone with sight issues. www.rnib.org.uk/living-with-sight-loss/independent-living/reading-and-books/talking-books/

they can be accessed via an Alexa or smart phone. Or they will send out on memory sticks and you buy something like this for her to play them on shop.rnib.org.uk/rnib-communiplayer-usb-2547

the RNIB do not send out books on CD, the daisy cds referred to on their websites will not play on a normal CD player and daisy players are hideously expensive.

most of the elderly people I work with have them on a memory stick and have a communi player. Depending where she lives, her local talking newspaper may even give out a free machine for the talking news which will also play the talking books. tnf.org.uk

Email or phone her local library. Many libraries do home deliveries and they'll help you to set it up for her if you explain the situation.

Different libraries have different audio book options; for example, my local library uses Libby for audio and e-books, but also has CDs and Playaways (individual MP3 players).

Could you buy an Alexa/ echo type device and get it sent to you to set up and then post it to her ready to plug in and go?

You need to download the mp3 onto a laptop. Open up the MYO section on the Yoto website (after logging in). Select on existing or create a new MYO card and upload book/music by selecting the files you want. Put a MYO card into the Yoto, go back to app and click on make your own, select the MYO card you created earlier and then click on the 3 little dots on the top right hand side (in the app) and press ‘link card’. You should get a green tick on the screen. Hope that makes sense!