Listening to audio at night when boarding

[ArtHistory]

Appreciate that this is a niche question, but DS starts at Eton next September, and I'm trying to find an option that will allow him to listen to podcasts, music or audio books at night. He's not allowed any internet enabled devices at all at night so I thought we could load up an MP3 player at weekends to get him through the week. We're not allowed to give them decommissioned phones so guess that rules out an ipod touch as well.

I feel that there must be a solution but i've reached the limit of my technical abilities.

(I realise that i've probably answered my own question, but just wondered if anyone had any better ideas! Bonus marks if your DS is at Eton and you know its an approved solution!)

Personal CD player and discs? eBay might be a good place to find some bargains.

Why does he need to listen to audio at night? (Lo-tech here so curious)

Can he have a radio or Discman with earphones? Presumably, he'd need to put it away at lights-out time?

My DH was at a similar school back in the 80s and they definitely listened to music but I think it was LPs and cassettes.

he likes to listen to podcasts as he falls asleep - always has! I was the same (walkman and mix tapes) - i only stopped when I started going out with a long term partner at the age of 27 :)

I hadn't thought about going fully lo-fi, but maybe a cd player is the right solution.

Old style MP3 player? I'm an exams officer and we now have these for ND pupils who need to listen whilst they do exams. We pre load with authorised music etc.

They are still on the market. Then I'd speak with housemaster to get the OK.

DD boarded elsewhere (obvs!) but at 6th form so was allowed phone all night.

OR their laptop? Presume they will have a surface pro or ipad? Once the WiFi goes off its not enabled for Internet.

An old iPod nano? Or embarrassing if anyone saw it but the yotos are good and you can make your own “cards”.

But I’d also just ask the school what they’re allowed to take?

Shokz headphones with an mp3 option would work. They do have wifi but to use wifi they need to be connected to a device which if he doesn’t have won’t work.

...or spend the next year getting used to falling asleep to the good old fashioned radio

Roberts Pillow Speaker and a radio

Clock radio and radio 4 book at bedtime ?!

Do you have a kindle and audible? My daughter loads audiobooks onto hers and listens to it through bluetooth earbuds.

I think Alexas might be allowed...will have to dig out the policy. Laptops/ipads are no good as you have to hand them in at night to be locked in the cabinet.

If it's just music, DS1 has a turntable (that has bluetooth for headphones) and a load of vinyl records! Vinyl has bonus points for coolness apparently.

Both my DSs have old-school MP3 players as well but it's a pain to get the MP3s to load onto them. I've had to just load everything I have from uni on to them (all the files I ripped from CDs and downloaded on Napster and Limewire and still have!!)

these are all good ideas, thank you. I'll have to check with the Dame as the policy does clearly say no internet enabled devices, which would rule out both Kindles and Alexa speakers. I like the idea of a turntable though - not that we have any vinyl yet, but nice retro touch!

How many sharing with in year 1?

We have a Yoto player for my 4yo that can be loaded with books or podcasts that work offline. This is in Australia so not sure if they are a thing in the UK? We play hers out loud but it also works with Bluetooth headphones

No-one - individual rooms from year one, so it's just a question of finding a solution that meets the policy.

I wish I still had all my old music files, lovingly ripped from CDs that I owned, but I don't seem to be able to access them since I switch to an Apple Music subscription. (At the risk of sounding old fashioned, I hate this stupid move to subscription only and never owning anything!)