The USB stick player system has been used by many talking newspapers and audio distributors. It means listeners can plug into a device a USB stick and it will play the audio contents through a built in speaker. The ability to re-use the media with very high speed duplicating abilities with cheap costs has established it now as the leading media for audio distribution. Subsequently the number of USB memory stick players has surged in the last few years especially in the under £15 price tag. Memory stick players allow listeners to simply insert a standard USB stick and press the play button. Any mp3 files contained on the stick will start to play. Here is our current list of USB stick players. :
Mifine portable Speaker
Approx Price : £14
Chargeable battery : Y
Chargeable : By USB lead
Replaceable Battery: Y
Mains : No
USB socket : on side
File formats :
Battery length :
Scan forward through individual tracks : NO – only forward/back to next track
Speaker Quality : Good
Size of buttons : Large
Remote : No
Alternative colour from Amazon
Trevi DR 740SD Portable Rechargeable FM Radio and MP3 Player
Approx Price : £14
Chargeable battery : Y
Chargeable : By USB lead
Replaceable Battery: No
Mains : No
USB socket : on side
File formats :
Battery length :
Scan forward through individual tracks : NO – only forward/back to next track
Speaker Quality : Good
Size of buttons : Large
Remote : No
August MB30o Clock and USB Speaker
Approx Price : £14
Chargeable battery : Y
Chargeable :
Replaceable Battery: Y
Mains :
USB socket : on top
File formats :
Battery length :
Scan forward through individual tracks : NO – only forward/back to next track
Speaker Quality : Good
Size of buttons : Medium
Remote : Yes
Current live Amazon prices below :
Music angel Speakers with USB sockets
Approx Price : £7 (non branded £5.70)
Chargeable battery : Yes
Chargeable : Through USB lead only
Replaceable Battery: No
Mains : None
USB socket : on top
File formats :
Battery length : 90 minutes
Scan forward through individual tracks : NO – only forward/back to next track
Speaker Quality : Good
Size of buttons : Small
Remote : No
Current live Amazon prices below :
(**check from the description that they take a USB stick. Connection type may vary)
The Music angel speaker is available under a few other brand names, sometimes as a cheaper price. Searching for “Digital Portable Mini Speakers” on Amazon we found the same product with the same packaging un-branded :
(**check from the description that they take a USB stick. Connection type may vary)
August MB400 – DAB/DAB+ / USB Radio Player
Approx Price :
Chargeable battery : Yes
Chargeable : Through mains lead
Replaceable Battery: Yes
Mains : Yes
USB socket : on top
File formats :
Battery length : 90 minutes
Scan forward through individual tracks : NO – only forward/back to next track
Speaker Quality : Good
Size of buttons : Small
Remote : Yes
GOgroove BlueSYNC BX with USB socket
Chargeable battery : Yes
Chargeable :
Replaceable Battery: Yes
Mains :
USB socket : on side
File formats :
Battery length :
Scan forward through individual tracks : NO – only forward/back to next track
Speaker Quality : Good
Size of buttons : Small
Remote :
Concerto 2
Approx. Price : £240
Chargeable battery : No
Chargeable : No
Replaceable Battery: Yes
Mains : Yes
USB socket : on Top
File formats :
Battery length : several hours
Scan forward through individual tracks : Yes (confirmed on the Amazon website)
Speaker Quality : Very Good
Size of buttons : Large with Braille
Remote : No
(available from wireless for the blind)
HY-101FM with USB socket
Approx Price :
Chargeable battery : Yes
Chargeable :
Replaceable Battery: Yes
Mains :
USB socket : on side
File formats :
Battery length :
Scan forward through individual tracks : NO – only forward/back to next track
Speaker Quality : Good
Size of buttons : Small
Remote :
3rd Generation Boom box with USB socket
Approx Price : £25
Chargeable battery : Yes
Chargeable :
Replaceable Battery: Yes
Mains :
USB socket : on side
File formats :
Battery length :
Scan forward through individual tracks : NO – only forward/back to next track
Speaker Quality : Good
Size of buttons : Small
Remote :
available from LapLock
Sapphire 3 MP3 player with USB socket
(available from RNIB shop)
graff diamond player with USB socket
graff sapphire card player with USB socket
Graff crystal radio card player with USB socket
Supplier for ordering over 500 USB speakers.
For orders over 500 speakers, direct manufacturer of the HY-101FM model is available from alibaba at :
List of current wooden speakers
The following USB player speakers are no longer in production and are here for reference only.
2nd Generation Boom Box
Chargeable battery : No
Chargeable : No
Mains : Yes
USB socket : on side
Battery length : No battery
Scan forward through individual tracks : NO – only forward/back to next track
Speaker Quality : Average
Size of buttons : Small
UPDATE : 2nd Generation is no longer in production
ArtDio Sound Orb USB Flash Stick Player/Speaker (available from kings audio) UPDATE: Kings audio have stopped selling. More details are available from reading talking newspaper
Sceptre 2-usb memory stick player UPDATE: Discontinued but the instruction manual is still available
Mini MP3 Musicbox with FM Clock Radio (available from daffodil)
Mini MP3 Musicbox with FM Clock Radio (available from play.com)
FM Radio/MP3 Speaker. (available from clas ohlson)The USB stick has been used by many talking newspapers and audio distributors. The ability to re-use the media, very high speed duplicating and cheap costs has established it now as the leading media for audio distribution. Subsequently the number of USB memory stick player has surged in the last few years especially in the under £15 price tag. Memory stick players give listeners the ability to simply insert a standard USB stick and press the play button. Any mp3 files contained on the stick will start to play. Here is our current list of USB stick players. :
August MB30o Clock and USB Speaker
J Mart digital
Emhan
Heathfields
What life does the memory stick player have?
Cassettes lasted over 50 years, starting in 1962 before being slowly phased out. Many talking newspapers still use them. The memory stick started to become wildly available from 2000 onwards following an introduction in 1999. Memory sticks and physical devices will eventually get phased out with the technical industry push for cloud computing, on demand services, internet and mobile devices. Like all these changes the talking newspapers around the UK have to make difficult decisions on when to make changes to the distribution of their publication. As the next generation of people who will be of need to such services come to organisations like TNs, they will embrace more the technology that they have grown up with. With this in mind I’ll take a guess that the USB stick will hang around for until 2030 working along side internet downloads, app delivery and cloud computing before getting phased out. Once the USB stick gets phased out there will be no more postal delivery and delivery which will see a huge cost reduction. They’ll be one copy made, placed online and accessed via a different amount of online equipment. With this in mind the pace of change is expected to be quicker with the life of the USB stick likely to last half the amount of time than the faithful cassette tape.
Boombox released : report from 2011
World Sight Day was celebrated recently on 13th October to raise awareness of blindness throughout the world, and to mark this important occasion the local supplier, Laplock in Coventry, very generously made one of these super little machines available to every Visually Impaired Association with a Resource Centre in the UK. The talking newspaper for Coventry has it's studios within the Coventry Resource Centre for the Blind from which we produce our weekly programme. However,many of our listeners may not be fully aware of all the services available through the Resource Centre
It is open to anyone with a visual disability three days every week – Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, with plans in hand to extend this to a full 5-day opening in the future. Within the centre are all sorts of help, services, equipment and training available specially for the visually impaired. For those not familiar, the Boombox is a small unit, about the size of a half pound of butter (!), which plays memory sticks – the modern, durable alternative to cassette tape for audio recording, already used extensively by Calibre, and progressively being introduced for the weekly Coventry talking newspaper programme. The Boombox on which the memory stick – which is the size of a lipstick – can be played is very easy to use, gives excellent sound quality and is not expensive. More information is available by talking to Rosie Brady here at the Resource Centre, and the Centre will benefit from a generous donation of £5 by Laplock for every Boombox they sell.
Information taken from laplock website :
Boom Box Plus Introduction Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDoight7JjE
Introduction to Boom Box Plus (Boom Box 3)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ck-KB-eY4wI
Introduction to Boom Box Plus Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAhU3MudE
Comparison between Boom Box plus and 2nd Generation Boom Box
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UdKmS7xQG4
Comparison between Boom Box Plus and 2nd Generation Boom Box Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vL5CPNgOUQ
Boom Box Plus and 2nd Generation Boom Box Book marking manual. Please click on the link below
Boom Box Book Marking facility
Rechargeable batteries for the Boom Box Plus
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6CbBJVYHTk
Other FAQ
Can listeners move back and forth within a track (i.e repeat telephone numbers)?
Boom Box plus (or any of the other USB playback system) can’t fast forward or backwards within a track. Although when the sound technician is editing the recording you can break up the mp3 into smaller segments or a mp3 file can be created just for telephone numbers. To include this function will require far more superior processors (increasing the cost) but also it will add more buttons increasing the complexity.
Easy Copier provide a complete solution for recording, transferring and sending out digital information using USB memory sticks.Easy Copier specialises in helping TNs to upgrade to digital technology. Gradually as cassette players and recorders are being phased out the argument for going digital grows stronger.
Portable speaker with mp3 player and usb socket on Alibaba
MP3 speaker with record button
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