I would like to build a music player / device for an older person, not tech savvy user.
I have the MP3s on my linux desktop/laptop, but not all the metadata and cover art.
I’ve worked with RPi before, jailbreaking iPhones and roku. So I have some limited experience with small devices.
I’m wondering if I could obtain some kind of old/used android phone, remove all the apps so the home screen is completely empty, transfer via USB or ssh/scp the MP3 files (and metadata + cover art), then have some kind of music player app which would be the only app on the phone/device.
Then shutdown any wifi or internet connectivity, but still allow bluetooth to pair with an external speaker.
If you don’t need a touchscreen, AGPtek, Fiio, and Sony make music players with bluetooth for $40-80 that are great for everything except Audiobooks.
A refurbished Ipod Touch goes for about $100-200 dollars depending on gen. Generally speaking you will want 7th gen ($200+) or later for Bluetooth. The quality of the refurbishment does tend to vary wildly on these though.
Sony’s Walkman NW-A306 will do pretty much everything you want for about $300 and has a touchscreen. This is what I use for my daily Audiobook player.