Is it still possible to get a cassette player?

Best Buy has some models available.

Thrift shops. Pawn shops. Goodwill. Value Village. Home shopping network has all in one stereos for $300.

I sold my fostex 4 track two years ago. #Biggestregretever The local goodwill or thrift store is your best bet. I also had to check amazon

Here

Remember they need to be cleaned out now and then. If you buy a used one you might want to clean it before putting a cassette in.

Yes, I see the portable ones at stores all the time, plus some boomboxes still have them. Less common now though of course.

Three thrift stores and one vintage music store didn’t have one.

Most of the ones I’m seeing on eBay are listed at $40 or more, or are broken. Walmart had a CD/Cassette boom box for $50. WAY more than I want to spend.

The one on Amazon – the newfangled version – gets bad reviews, saying that audio is slow and distorted, “like it doesn’t have enough oomph to turn the wheels”.

How could it be this hard to get a tape player?

Well, we tried.

Another idea. A cassette recorder, while not suitable for music, might be fine for audio books. You could then, if you like, maybe read/record some of his favorite books for him to listen to. I did that for my blind mom.

Any old/used one likely won’t work. Most of them used really crappy rubber drive belts that are long dry rotted by now. A new one is probably your best bet.