remote control

[jan griff]

Hi

I purchased the Brennan B2 for my son who has autism and is also blind. The brennan is amazing as i can store all his cd collection on it and i am currently in the process of doing this.....320 done and over 250 to go!! The only thing that creates a problem for my son (not myself or other users) is the remote control. There are a lot of buttons on a small remote. Would it be possible to get a different remote or have one made with fewer control buttons on? All he would need on it are volume up and down, play, forwards and backwards. Would this be possible at all?

Janet

[Daniel Taylor]

My first thought is to look for a universal remote that can be taught IR codes.  I doubt there is one that already has the B2 codes in it, unless the B2 is using the same codes as some major electronics manufacturer.  I'll bet Paul from Brennan can shed more light on this for you.  I'll bet there are others who's be interested too.

[PMB]

Hi Jan,

I'll have a word with Martin about the remote codes with a view to programming a universal remote.

Please email us on thebre...@gmail.com (the  brennan  b2  (at)  gmail  .  com) with your request.

Paul

Brennan Support.

[Lia]

Hi there all,

I’m very interested in this experience as I’m looking at purchasing the Brennan B2 for my husband who is blind.  We would want to load up his CDs then yes he should find it much easier to use a remote control then to use a computer.  My question is, would be be able to scan through his CDs using the remote in a fixed order or does pressing the ‘next’ button on the remote mean a random choice of CD?  

Effectively he would want to use the Brennan like he did his old Sony 300 CD stacker.  Plus he would like to incorporate his iTunes music to the B2.

I look forward to any replies.

Regards,

Lia 

[PMB]

Hi Lia,

As yet we have no alternative to the small credit card remote for the B2.

Have any other Forum members looked at 'learning remotes'?

Pressing NEXT within an Album plays the next Track.

Pressing NEXT from pause plays a random track and turns Random mode on. Subsequent presses on NEXT will skip to another random track.

Music from iTunes can be transferred to the B2 providing it has been stored in a compatible format i.e. FLAC, MP3 or AAC/ALAC (Apple formats).

Paul

Brennan Support.

[Lia]

Thanks so much for the replies Paul and Patrick.

It looks like yes the remote control will be no good to us as there are no raised buttons plus the NEXT button does not give us the functionality to move between albums in a specific order.

I suppose there is no way for the B2 to link to Airplay 2 or the Google or Amazon equivalents so as to be able to ask Siri, Google or Alexa to play specific music?  My husband would have great difficulty navigating a web menu but no trouble talking to digital assistants.

Any other ideas welcome.

Regards,

Lia

[Russell...@hotmail.com]

Hi Lia - I do not use this but there is a "Speak to B" app I believe - maybe this might be of some assistance & your husband when using the B2. There's probably a lot of "ifs and maybes" but have a look at the link below. Cheers Russ

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=uk.co.brennan.speaktob&hl=en&showAllReviews=true

[Rik]

Yes, there is the Speak to Brennan and also the buttons on the remote are raised.

[lesliebr...@gmail.com]

Would be good if anyone using the "Speak to Brennan" app facility, could give their findings so both Jan & Lia could get an idea of its capabilities.

[Lia]

Thanks all,

Yes "Speak to Brennan" may work (although we run iPhones and iPads not android in our house).

As I understand it also the B2 will hook up to Sonos.  Therefore if we were to purchase a Sonos One for example, could my husband also potentially control his B2 music using Alexa or Google Assistant?  If anyone has tried this I would greatly appreciate if they could let me know.

One quick question as well - if we purchase the B2 we can bring down our beautiful Tannoy speakers currently gathering dust in the attic and plug into the B2 without need for another amplifier?  Then we can potentially have beautiful sound like we used to when we had actual CDs with CD player (300 CD Sony stacker) and speakers all plugged into a huge Onkyo amp (also currently gathering dust in the attic).

Currently we just use iPhones or iPads plugged into whatever Bluetooth speaker might be around so we are looking to be able to access more of our music (through our old CD collection).  Plus if we could have some of the listening pleasure we used to through the Tannoys that would be a huge bonus.

Regards,

Lia

[PMB]

Hi Lia,

The B2 will drive the Tannoys OK but we don't have a ready solution for the remote controller, unless some one on the Forum has one.

As I understand it the B2 will not work with Alexa or Google Assist.

Paul

Brennan Support.

[Jeff]

Hi Lia, don't want to be patronising, but could you not put some small Araldite glue dots on the remote commands, as in braille, N for next etc, just an idea. 

[Rik]

The buttons on my remote are definitely raised.

[Lia]

Hey thanks Jeff not patronising at all.  It looks like the buttons are raised after all so that's fine, it would just be orienting the control in terms of which way is up and we can do that with blu tac or some such.  The real problem is that my hubby won't be able to scan through his CDs in order as the NEXT button only offers a random selection when pressed.  When we had the Sony 300 stacker he knew exactly where he was in the system when he heard a particular CD. 

[PMB]

Hi Lia,

I did a test and if you select an album to play, NEXT skips to the next track in the album (if Random is off) as expected BUT at the end of that album pressing NEXT starts Random playing from there on.

Maybe a Playlist of Albums would work like the CD changer - any comments from other Forum members?

Paul

Brennan Support.