For several years my 85year old father has used an old I-pad (via Cyrus USB DAC) to stream IDAGIO. However, the I-pad has just about given up and walking over to the HiFi stack for either him or my mum to control it is becoming more inconvenient - age etc.
Therefore, there seem to be two main options:
the simplest - purchase a Presto Streamer, switch subscription from IDAGIO to Presto and control the Presto from my mum’s much newer I-pad - mum will not want her device physically plugged into the HiFi. This would have to run on Wi-Fi which I understand can be problematic for the Presto Streamer. In total this would cost £80 or so for the Presto streamer.
Keep IDAGIO and purchase a streamer that runs IDAGIO. I understand the choice is very limited and Bluesound seems the obvious ‘reasonably priced’ solution. I’m weary of buying a used streamer (product obsolescence) so a new Nano at £300 could be worth a shot.
Has anyone compared these two options? It must be as simple as possible to use - though still a pianist my father is registered blind and therefore relies on my mum to operate things like I-pads and put records on - he can manage CDs though. Everything else being equal the Presto, if it works properly, would appear easier because it only supports one service. However, if it is unreliable it will just sit there gathering dust - the last thing either of my parents want or need is something that is unreliable and/or requires work arounds to get it to work.
Information on other options would be appreciated too!
I think Presto fixed the WiFi problem on their streamer with a firmware update several months ago. I’m using it on WiFi without problem and the router is about 20 feet away with two brick walls in the way.
The Presto app is easy to use, but it’s just classical and jazz, which may well be fine for him. And the Presto app has always worked well on iPhone and iPad, so far as I know.
Thank you for your replies. It sounds as if the Presto Streamer is a great option. Being limited to just classical is actually a major bonus - that’s one reason he has IDAGIO - he doesn’t really countenance any other music types, except some film music and the odd solo female vocal or electronic music played to him. Rock, metal or anything with any swearing in are major no no’s😉
Favouriting albums he likes in the Presto app would be a good way to make it easy to get back to things he particularly likes. You might have to explain to mum how to do that, but basically it’s just tap the heart icon on any now playing screen. Also the app keeps a list of recently-played albums, that could be a handy way of going back to “that one I listened to half of yesterday”.
If it’s not too much trouble/does not show any of your personal information, would you mind uploading a picture of what the app looks like when up and running please? That would give me a good idea. The IDAGIO app has nice big icons on the Home Screen but everything gets a bit too small when you get into albums etc.
I’ll do so later. But you can download the app for free and play with it without a subscription or streamer if you want. But you would need an iPad to run it on if that is what your parents will use.
I’ve downloaded the app - just need to decide the best way to set up an account. IDAGIO is under my name as dad does not have an email address - will probably have to set it up in my name as with IDAGIO but I better discus that with him first. Is the Presto app similar to the IDAGIO app in that I could also have a desktop version to use at my house on my laptop?
I’m not sure about the desktop version but it will tell you on the Presto website. Also as the app is free, you can play with it on an account you setup especially for you and then abandon that and set up another one for him.
It’s a bit more complicated with the actual streamer as connecting to the account over anything directs the audio to that device rather than the streamer. But not if the streamer is already playing something. As I say, more complicated.
Those are fantastic thank you very much. It does indeed look like thing are significantly larger than on the IDAGIO app which I’m sure will make it much easier to operate.
A bit of an update on this - as mentioned in the other Presto thread (worth merging if possible?) I ordered a new Presto streamer for my father.
Once installed it worked fine for about 4 days and then the interaction between I-pad and streamer (streamer won’t appear as an option for playback despite constant blue light) became very unreliable. A few days later it stopped altogether. The app works on the I-pad (latest software etc.).
I contacted Presto who suggested trying a range extender - as my parents don’t have one of those lying around we’ve tried several times to place the streamer within a maximum of 4 metres of the BT hub - this seems to work for one play and then the streamer vanishes from the options.
My next step is to return the unit to Presto and see what they suggest. In addition, my father much prefers the way you can search for classical music on IDAGIO.
Presto may send out another unit and we will see how that behaves if that’s the case, otherwise I might look at ordering a Bluesound Nano (£300) as I believe that the Bluesound IOS runs IDAGIO.
