3.5 stars on Amazon

froogled

Wow. 256MB. Can we be any more stingy in providing memory for this thing?

This would probably be pretty Sirius GPP to any kid past kindergarten; I know a 6 year-old that has an ipod touch :-P

edit: l-a-m-e = Sirius GPP? hmm.

This review might save you some hassles:

"After fiddling with this for a long time, I realized that you have to turn it on (at the back) and THEN press the green play button to get it to actually power up."

clarkbhm wrote:Wow. 256MB. Can we be any more stingy in providing memory for this thing?

And no SD slot, even a hidden kidproof one? What does 256mb hold, 80-100 songs? Bah.

As if you couldn't drive the point of this week's shirt.woot derby on outdated CD's, Tapes, and Records home anymore, you guys are selling what I can only call "My First MP3 Player."

Should you need to contact Blue Hat:

Does anyone know how to contact Blue Hat Toy Company?

"The Blue Hat Toy Company brand is owned by:
MerchSource, LLC
19517 Pauling
Foothill Ranch, CA 92610-2619
United States
Phone: (949) 587-9207
Fax: (949) 707-2780"

clarkbhm wrote:Wow. 256MB. Can we be any more stingy in providing memory for this thing?

It *is* aimed at kids starting at toddler age. I don't think they're worried about extensive music collections. My kid barely likes more than 5 or 10 songs at any given time.

I like the big fat buttons, and that I can retire the CD player he'd already demolished. I bought one.

Seriously, it's a kiddy boombox with, like, four buttons on it. Were you gonna load it with Miles Davis box sets?

My 2-year-old is going to think this is the cats pajamas!

We bought this for my son. He is 4 and loves it. The sound is kind of meh as you might expect as it is more of a toy than a music device. He likes to annoy the hell out of me by playing the angry birds theme song over and over. He also beats the living crap out of it and it keeps playing music which is a bonus with kids of age 4.

WARNING: This player hates the song Yellow Submarine. If you or your child wants to listen to Ringo sing too bad you will not hear it coming out of this player. It is quite odd but it plays everything fine but on yellow submarine all you hear is the music and Ringo doesn't sing. I tried ripping it from several sources and with different encoders and there is just something about Ringo's voice that doesn't play well with this player.

This may be a long one, but here goes...

First up, I saw the Amazon review for 3.5 stars, and noticed the "what customers also looked at" links and saw the 'Discovery Kids' model which looks exactly the same but with slightly higher review ratings. All the specs match; are we seeing one vendor with two brand names slapped on?

Anyway, I'm the proud papa of a 1.5-year old, and he loves, loves, loves music. We tried dedicating an iPod with speakers to him, putting it on a high shelf, but since he'd try his darndest to climb up and get it (he's quite persistent), I found a solution: The Fischer-Price Kid Tough Music Player. Now, it's also got 256 megs of memory, which might seem piddly, but when you're anywhere between 1 and 5 (my kid has cousins who like to 'share' his music), that's more than enough. External speakers were nice, too, since (1) our toddler would yank off any headphones, (2) he can have music on while he plays and (3) he doesn't damage his hearing. The FP model does have a microphone, but that's really not necessary. The FP also uses C batteries, but they last for weeks at a go thus far.

I guess what I'm getting at is that this kind of player is great for kids who are still rough on things and who like to carry their musical toys around. The reliability seems to be the biggest issue, but for 20 bucks, I'd say it's worth the risk.

Edit: Fixed my links. Forgot I didn't need quotes. D'oh!

I really think woot is starting to read my mind! I have been looking for some type of radio for my little boy Ryan. (See? They ARE reading my mind..even their article is written about my child! lol)

In for one!

scamp2112 wrote:WARNING: This player hates the song Yellow Submarine. If you or your child wants to listen to Ringo sing too bad you will not hear it coming out of this player. It is quite odd but it plays everything fine but on yellow submarine all you hear is the music and Ringo doesn't sing. I tried ripping it from several sources and with different encoders and there is just something about Ringo's voice that doesn't play well with this player.

From what I read on the version labeled "Discovery Kids" (see my post above), this player can only play mono or the so-called "joint-stereo" MP3s on it. So it sounds like one would have to re-encode or fiddle with your mp3s via some kind of editing/ripping software if you want them to play songs with complicated stereo arrangements (which the Beatles were notorious for).

Got this for my 1-year-old daughter for Christmas 2009. She's 2 now and still loves it. Might pick up another as a gift.

"Bit my bit, I'm getting better.. little by little I'm moving right along..."

I sing it in my sleep (one of the built-in songs on this device).

I picked this up at a garage sale for $1. My 7.5 year old son loved it when he was 5ish. Now, my 16 month old son throws it around. It has held up well! Although, the pre-loaded songs are ANNOYING BEYOND BELIEF!!! So, we downloaded my son's veggietales cd's and wiggles onto it. I don't know which was worse!

My daughter LOVES this. We got this when she was 2. The songs on it actually are pretty good for being preloaded.

I have not seen anyone else ask this question yet: can you use your child's existing CDs to load MP3s/WMAs on this player? Clarifying, could I upload child's existing music CDs to my computer and then download those MP3s/WMAs to this player? Or could I only add songs from a website and not my own computer?

My 3 year old loves this. The batteries have lasted well over a year and it is very easy to transfer songs from cds. I'm getting one to replace hers since the display got cracked - what happens when a mean 5 year old presses the sharp end of a rock into the screen. The thing still worked too you just couldn't see the song names on the screen.

i've owned 2 of these, and let me tell you. the idea is great, but the quality is poor. my review from amazon:
"i bought two of these little tunes mp3 players. my daughter absolutely loved it, however, the first one broke after about 1 month. we thought my 3 year old daughter dropped it or something and she was heartbroken it stopped working. but we got her another one for her 4th birthday and she took it everywhere for about 1 month until that one stopped working. she listened to it before going to bed, went to use it when she woke up, and it had died. if you buy this, buy an extended warranty if you can b/c from my experience, this is one of the most poorly manufactured products i have ever seen. it is coated in thick rubber so it appears like it would be extremely durable and able to handle being taken places and used by young children but both of ours died extremely prematurely and in my opinion without cause. don't even waste your time trying to find the manufacturer online, its basically non-existent from my experience. bottom line is good idea, poorly manufactured. if you're lucky enough to get one that doesn't crap out, your youngster will love it. "

marybertin1@yahoo.com wrote:I have not seen anyone else ask this question yet: can you use your child's existing CDs to load MP3s/WMAs on this player? Clarifying, could I upload child's existing music CDs to my computer and then download those MP3s/WMAs to this player? Or could I only add songs from a website and not my own computer?

you can add any mp3 you want to this.

Santa brought Her Royal Highness one of these for Christmas. We deleted the pre-loaded stuff and loaded it with her Yo Gabba Gabba mp3s, and it's -by far- her favorite present. It is a bit quirky, but it's been worth every penny - especially when it's dancy-dance time.

The sounds quality could easily be included in a Bandollier of Carrots (if you could put crappy sound in a bag), but I wasn't really expecting Bose quality. Like someone else said, you have to turn it on by a switch on the back, and then it takes a second or two for the player to wake up a bit after you press "Play".

And FWIW, it's held up pretty well to teething.

scamp2112 wrote:WARNING: This player hates the song Yellow Submarine. If you or your child wants to listen to Ringo sing too bad you will not hear it coming out of this player. It is quite odd but it plays everything fine but on yellow submarine all you hear is the music and Ringo doesn't sing. I tried ripping it from several sources and with different encoders and there is just something about Ringo's voice that doesn't play well with this player.

Have you tried playing Bohemian Rhapsody (Queen)? A lot of Beatles and other earlier 60's music was not "true" stereo. Queen used this in the question/answer from left to right, etc.

Ha.

sourbob wrote:It *is* aimed at kids starting at toddler age. I don't think they're worried about extensive music collections. My kid barely likes more than 5 or 10 songs at any given time.

I like the big fat buttons, and that I can retire the CD player he'd already demolished. I bought one.

Seriously, it's a kiddy boombox with, like, four buttons on it. Were you gonna load it with Miles Davis box sets?

My 5.5 month old LOVES music and she's actually probably smart enough to work this already, so I think I'm in for one. She already sings and I'm pushing every music related thing, that I can, her way

We've had one of these for several years, and my son loves it (he's 4 now). It's easy for him to use, holds enough songs for a toddler, and is very durable...I highly recommend!

Silly Woot, you could have painted this thing black, wrote BOSE on it, and sold it for $300. No one would be able to tell the difference ^_^

I bought this MP3 player more than 2 years ago at Tuesday Morning for $15. Last winter I saw the machine at Kohl's re-branded with a Discovery Kids logo and a "sale" price of $40. The only difference was a slightly different color scheme.

When my son was three he liked the player and found it very easy to operate and durable. I thought some of the preloaded songs were a little obscure, but he recognized many from his preschool. After three or four months, my son lost interest. My husband even tried loading new songs periodically to renew his interest, but alas, it sat unused. We found the same frustration trying to get some songs loaded (i.e., incompatible formats) that other posters mentioned. Just the other day my now five-year-old asked why this music box was still in his room. I see a future craigslist posting...

The $15 I paid seemed reasonable. At $25, I would hesitate because I think you can find it cheaper. For what it is, the player works well. Of course the sound is tinny, but who expects otherwise? That being said, this is the only Blue Hat Toy Company product I have purchased that has actually worked. Avoid the digital camera at all costs. Unfortunately, I read the reviews for that one after I bought it. I have had similar disappointments with the Discovery Kids products, at least the ones with moving parts.

I'm in for one. My 3 year old will love it.

Nodwick wrote:From what I read on the version labeled "Discovery Kids" (see my post above), this player can only play mono or the so-called "joint-stereo" MP3s on it. So it sounds like one would have to re-encode or fiddle with your mp3s via some kind of editing/ripping software if you want them to play songs with complicated stereo arrangements (which the Beatles were notorious for).

Didn't the Beatles just re-release their whole catalogue in mono?

My little Lily loves her music... Really trying to decide whether or not to pull the trigger on this one. I usually just play her music nice and loud from the Klipsch 2.1 speakers that are hooked up to my computer, I wonder if she would laugh at the audio quality of this compared to them? However I'm sure she would like to be able carry it around and switch the tracks herself. Hmmmm decisions decisions...

Also if you want some fun kid friendly music for your little ones check out Koo Koo Kanga Roo, they opened for the Aqua Bats when I saw them a few months back and they are a blast for kids of all ages!

Christmas Tree Shops had this mp3 player and it was cheaper and if I am not mistaken then one there had a slot for an expandable memory card.

We bought this for our 12 month old. He is now 14 months and LOVES this player. I agree there is plenty of memory for the music - we have at least 60 songs on it and room for more. I really like that his music is super portable and he even knows how to control the buttons. He carries it around and dances. It is the cutest thing ever.

Anyone know if you can remove the songs already on there and use the space for your own ?

croi wrote:Anyone know if you can remove the songs already on there and use the space for your own ?

I just did some research and apparently you can, so I'm in, my two kids have all their CD's scratched and anything that keeps them away from my music stuff has to be worth it !

We got my one for my 2-year old a while back, it didn't even last a year and now the play button is stuck. Granted, he's probably tougher on toys then most two year olds.

Also, getting into the battery compartment on this thing is a challenge, especially with impatient toddlers! The good news is the battery life seems long.

Last gripe, sound is very lo-fi and mono. Not that we were hoping for audiophile quality, but not being able to hear the guitar accompaniment in Old McDonald is pretty annoying.


Overall, I give a C+

Is there a way to lock the volume level? How load is it at the highest volume?

scamp2112 wrote:
WARNING: This player hates the song Yellow Submarine. If you or your child wants to listen to Ringo sing too bad you will not hear it coming out of this player. It is quite odd but it plays everything fine but on yellow submarine all you hear is the music and Ringo doesn't sing.

Ringo is panned hard right in the original recording. I bet this player is mono/left channel only. If your kid really likes the song, try the version from The Beatles "1" - it's a different mix with Ringo in stereo.

I went through 2 of these before I gave up on it.. I know it's a little late but these things are garbage..
Received 1 for x-mas and it broke in 3-5 days, just kept shutting off randomly or not turning on, tried several brands of batteries and still kept dying.
I exchanged it, and the second one was DOA, similar issues from amazon.. they are great if they work, they suck if they don't.. My poor 2 year old loved it while it worked, but it was sad 2 of them couldn't make it a week of sitting on a table and playing a few hours a day.

Dangit! Waited to long... Just when I decided I was going to go for it.