There are quite a few good higher models out there, as well as many cheaper ones. If you are looking online for recommendations, you should search for DAP (digital audio player). Nearly all of the modern devices play mp3, flac, aac, and other formats these days. You can find done perfectly usable devices cheap on Amazon or other sites like that. If you wanted something nicer Fiio makes some decent DAPs as does Sony under the Walkman brand, but these are probably too expensive to consider for a seventh grader.
Honestly I can't give you the reason for the seventh grader, I think she probably just thinks its cool/aesthetic haha. I on the other hand am a strong lover of gadgets and gizmos and would love to add a music player to my repertoire
To add a little more, a while ago I got an XTEINK mini e-reader and I haven't read this many books in this short a time since I was much younger. Wondering/hoping having a dedicated music ,listening device will do the same for music (I hardly listen to new music even though I really want to!!)
Man, are there no limits to Gen Z/Alpha's appropriation of late 90s and early 00s culture? Just the other day I ran into a kid wearing a small quicksilver shirt, tight necklace, and jnco sized jeans. So help me god, if nu metal makes a comeback...
I mean, Linkin Park recently got a new lead singer, released a new album, and went on tour. They are more relevant now than they have been in many years.
This one is gonna be a bit of a long shot for you, but I'll throw it out there anyway.
I serve up something like 1 month and 9 days worth of MP3 music from my local Plex server, and then I use PlexAmp on all the satellite devices. Phones, computers, TV's- it does it all. Where the rubber hits the road, though, is that you can download content locally so you can play it anywhere off your network. Your phones become MP3 players and you just download whatever you want from the server and go about your day. PlexAmp handles all the playback and syncing. If you're REALLY enthusiastic, you can set up for remote access too, but I don't really do that.
Been a few years since I set it up on mine, but you basically just create a library, set the library type to music and then install plexamp and it should auto-detect any music libraries. If you want multiple libraries (like music, podcasts, audiobooks), you can organize it that way but I believe only one library at a time can be used with Plexamp.
I don't have hands-on experience with this, but someone I follow on the Fediverse seems to love their SnowSky/FiiO Echo thing. No internet and you just load music via a microSD card. By default, it looks like a cassette, but I think there are different themes and stuff? I've really thought about getting one, too, but I'd miss out on scrobbling to ListenBrainz :(
I didn't mention the model specifically, but this is one of the ones I was alluding to when I recommended Fiio.
I actually own a wacky DAP your seventh grader would probably love called the Mixxtape. It is actually playable as a cassette in a cassette player! The gimmick works and is fun to show off, but the price has gone up since I got it and the Fiio is probably the better device as an actual DAP.
Edit: My kids in similar age range are also weirdly into cassettes at the moment. I got one of them this for Christmas https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DXFFKG8N . It is a Walkman style portal cassette player, but it can also play MP3s and such from the SDcard and anemic internal storage. As a pure DAP, it isn't as strong as the FIIO Echo Retro though.
If I was to recommend a very budget digital audio player (DAP, look it up), I'd probably go with the Hiby R1 or the Fiio Echo. They are very cheap, low entry points for people who never ventured into the space. I have a preference for the Hiby because it supports sd cards up to 2 TB whereas the Echo has a 256 GB limit, but that might not affect you.
If you want more functionality, definitely look into android-based DAPs though. They basically function like an android phone, letting you install any app you want, while also giving you dedicated hardware for audio listening. Some even have a button/toggle that switches off the android interface and turn it into a regular music player (Fiio's DAPs I believe all have this). I loved my Fiio M11S back in the day, was my first enthusiast player (cost me 600 euros back when it came out).
There are some game emulation systems that are under $50 on your import sites like the R36S that can be loaded with custom firmware that can allow music playing in addition to retro games. Not exactly boutique, but they can do the job.
Companies like Anbernic and TrimUI make what are called Single Board Computers, often on the cheaper end of the spectrum. They tend not to have onboard memory, running off of SD Cards, so one could load custom firmware onto the SD Cards such as MuOS, Rocknix, Knulli or others. From there you can have apps, usually emulators or ports of games that could run on PC, but also if you’ve ever used the Rockbox firmware on your mp3 player back in the day, that could be recompiled to that hardware as well. It being a very tinker heavy scene, other people make their own apps, and one called Songo Number 5 has gotten popular for music. I’m using a RG35XXSP that’s a Anbernic build shaped like an old Gameboy SP, on latest MuOS, and it’s a little underpowered for games, but can handle MP3 and Flac just fine.
If she is into the retro aesthetic, an iPod is a great choice. An iPod Mini 2nd Gen is extremely easy to mod to use an SD card and a fresh battery (I have one I still use today on occasion). Alternatively, an iPod Classic 5th gen (iPod Video) or newer would handle videos and such too; though they're much more annoying to swap the battery and storage on.
zod000 | 9 hours ago
There are quite a few good higher models out there, as well as many cheaper ones. If you are looking online for recommendations, you should search for DAP (digital audio player). Nearly all of the modern devices play mp3, flac, aac, and other formats these days. You can find done perfectly usable devices cheap on Amazon or other sites like that. If you wanted something nicer Fiio makes some decent DAPs as does Sony under the Walkman brand, but these are probably too expensive to consider for a seventh grader.
Pistos | 9 hours ago
I think I need an explanation as to why your phone can't do the job here. (Or is it because the seventh grader doesn't have a phone yet?)
[OP] eggy | 9 hours ago
Honestly I can't give you the reason for the seventh grader, I think she probably just thinks its cool/aesthetic haha. I on the other hand am a strong lover of gadgets and gizmos and would love to add a music player to my repertoire
To add a little more, a while ago I got an XTEINK mini e-reader and I haven't read this many books in this short a time since I was much younger. Wondering/hoping having a dedicated music ,listening device will do the same for music (I hardly listen to new music even though I really want to!!)
BartHarleyJarvis | 8 hours ago
Man, are there no limits to Gen Z/Alpha's appropriation of late 90s and early 00s culture? Just the other day I ran into a kid wearing a small quicksilver shirt, tight necklace, and jnco sized jeans. So help me god, if nu metal makes a comeback...
thereticent | 7 hours ago
OoWAH AH AH AH
Raistlin | 50 minutes ago
I work at a university, and I saw a guy with a Linkin Park shirt. What the fuck! I had to listen to In The End after that.
PraiseTheSoup | 27 minutes ago
I mean, Linkin Park recently got a new lead singer, released a new album, and went on tour. They are more relevant now than they have been in many years.
Raistlin | 27 minutes ago
I'll be honest with you, I had no idea!
Thunderbolt300 | 10 hours ago
This one is gonna be a bit of a long shot for you, but I'll throw it out there anyway.
I serve up something like 1 month and 9 days worth of MP3 music from my local Plex server, and then I use PlexAmp on all the satellite devices. Phones, computers, TV's- it does it all. Where the rubber hits the road, though, is that you can download content locally so you can play it anywhere off your network. Your phones become MP3 players and you just download whatever you want from the server and go about your day. PlexAmp handles all the playback and syncing. If you're REALLY enthusiastic, you can set up for remote access too, but I don't really do that.
[OP] eggy | 9 hours ago
I will look into it!! I have a plex server already so I imagine it can't be that difficult to setup on it? Just adding a new library? Thanks!
sparkle | 7 hours ago
Been a few years since I set it up on mine, but you basically just create a library, set the library type to music and then install plexamp and it should auto-detect any music libraries. If you want multiple libraries (like music, podcasts, audiobooks), you can organize it that way but I believe only one library at a time can be used with Plexamp.
kari | 9 hours ago
I don't have hands-on experience with this, but someone I follow on the Fediverse seems to love their SnowSky/FiiO Echo thing. No internet and you just load music via a microSD card. By default, it looks like a cassette, but I think there are different themes and stuff? I've really thought about getting one, too, but I'd miss out on scrobbling to ListenBrainz :(
[OP] eggy | 9 hours ago
Hey this could actually be perfect, might have to pick one up now thanks!! The lack of scrobbling would be rough though I agree. Thanks!!
zod000 | 8 hours ago
I didn't mention the model specifically, but this is one of the ones I was alluding to when I recommended Fiio.
I actually own a wacky DAP your seventh grader would probably love called the Mixxtape. It is actually playable as a cassette in a cassette player! The gimmick works and is fun to show off, but the price has gone up since I got it and the Fiio is probably the better device as an actual DAP.
Edit: My kids in similar age range are also weirdly into cassettes at the moment. I got one of them this for Christmas https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DXFFKG8N . It is a Walkman style portal cassette player, but it can also play MP3s and such from the SDcard and anemic internal storage. As a pure DAP, it isn't as strong as the FIIO Echo Retro though.
Sheep | 9 hours ago
If I was to recommend a very budget digital audio player (DAP, look it up), I'd probably go with the Hiby R1 or the Fiio Echo. They are very cheap, low entry points for people who never ventured into the space. I have a preference for the Hiby because it supports sd cards up to 2 TB whereas the Echo has a 256 GB limit, but that might not affect you.
If you want more functionality, definitely look into android-based DAPs though. They basically function like an android phone, letting you install any app you want, while also giving you dedicated hardware for audio listening. Some even have a button/toggle that switches off the android interface and turn it into a regular music player (Fiio's DAPs I believe all have this). I loved my Fiio M11S back in the day, was my first enthusiast player (cost me 600 euros back when it came out).
moocow1452 | 9 hours ago
There are some game emulation systems that are under $50 on your import sites like the R36S that can be loaded with custom firmware that can allow music playing in addition to retro games. Not exactly boutique, but they can do the job.
[OP] eggy | 9 hours ago
Ooh interesting, do you have any names? I will do some research regardless!! Thanks!
moocow1452 | 9 hours ago
Companies like Anbernic and TrimUI make what are called Single Board Computers, often on the cheaper end of the spectrum. They tend not to have onboard memory, running off of SD Cards, so one could load custom firmware onto the SD Cards such as MuOS, Rocknix, Knulli or others. From there you can have apps, usually emulators or ports of games that could run on PC, but also if you’ve ever used the Rockbox firmware on your mp3 player back in the day, that could be recompiled to that hardware as well. It being a very tinker heavy scene, other people make their own apps, and one called Songo Number 5 has gotten popular for music. I’m using a RG35XXSP that’s a Anbernic build shaped like an old Gameboy SP, on latest MuOS, and it’s a little underpowered for games, but can handle MP3 and Flac just fine.
On Songo Number 5:
https://gardinerbryant.com/from-optional-app-to-built-in-songo-5s-expansion-across-firmware-and-android/
On Rockbox on gaming devices:
https://wavelengths.online/posts/the-gaming-handheld-to-ipod-pipeline
TheRtRevKaiser | 7 hours ago
I was going to recommend the SanDisk Clip Jam that my 7th grader keeps with him pretty much all the time, but it seems to not be available any longer.
largepanda | 7 hours ago
If she is into the retro aesthetic, an iPod is a great choice. An iPod Mini 2nd Gen is extremely easy to mod to use an SD card and a fresh battery (I have one I still use today on occasion). Alternatively, an iPod Classic 5th gen (iPod Video) or newer would handle videos and such too; though they're much more annoying to swap the battery and storage on.