Lay My Hat

I am redesigning the an additional lounge seating area on a raised gallery level in one of my studio apartments for 2 persons in the main studio lounge area there is 2 x 2 seater sofas + a HD flat screen TV with satellite Channels so the additional " reading relaxing area has 2 wing back chairs as selection of magazines /books wine rack and i would like to add a small inexpensive media centre i had on the apartment originally a CD/DAB pure chronos radio however here in germany the reception for DAB Radio channels is poor ( and outdated now ) so i was thinking still something with a radio ( not sure if with internet connection ) however the apartment has free Wifi then the CD option ( who brings CD's now " on holiday ?? ) so maybe a connection for a USB stick or other media so basically guests can choose to listen to there own music or a favourite radio station , However there is radio channels available on the digital sat receiver if everyone wants to listen & is programmed though the TV set
but this media centre is really if you want to relax in a separate area & maybe also use headphones if the other person(s) want to maybe view the TV i also have to think if people have a variety of external media connections other than I POD docks
and has to be "idiot proof "

so any recommendation would be helpful

So many devices these days can act as your media player, it can be difficult to know which one is best. Many built in players in devices such as TVs have terrible user interfaces and are slow. For a rental, you really need to be able to try them out before committing.

A USB with media will be limited sometimes to the device to which it's connected. Another option could be a network drive, which is then reachable by any device on your network.

At home, I have very cheap surround sound system which came with a blue-ray player. The media software in that player is great though and I use that to access all the media on my network.

For rentals, I have previously used a WD Media player, which worked great but now have replaced those with Android media boxes. While these also work well, one has a normal Android interface, which I think is tricky for some guests and the other, a custom media launcher, which is really easy to use.

Whatever you offer, it can never be idiot proof. Even a TV and DVD confuses some people. It's well worth making a short video on how to use it.

Thanks Kev

it is all a minefield to me as to what to supply and i have a limited budget but it is just an idea to put in the apartment for guest to sit /read & relax in this nook listening to their own music as the days of CD/DVD player are gone and our apartments are really only for adults
but you have to draw the line sometimes with what technology you offer for guests
so maybe just a simple radio( something like a roberts ) with something for an USB/SD card etc to plug their own device in i liked a the WD Media Player before i changed to TV and Digital sat box in this apartment but decided on just a simple LG flat screen smart HD TV with a HD Receiver
and removed the old un used DVD Player

kevsboredagain wrote: It's well worth making a short video on how to use it.

And don't forget to make a video explaining how to play the video.

I've just come back from a holiday in an apartment (in Spain) where the only media player was a cassette player .

I do still have my old cassette collection (yes, really!) but strangely I hadn't taken them on holiday. I do, however, still take CDs and DVDs, although I've never yet (ever) watched any of our DVDs - though our guests do.

So basically, keep it simple, and flexible. We have combined DVD/CD players with USB and SD card slots and integrated iPod docks. Anything more complicated than that would lose me, and even our simple set up loses quite a number of guests. Anything that calls itself a media player, media box or network drive would just leave me music-less .

I provide an old 8Tape Cassette loop player & a BetaMax video recorder - never seem to get used...