Music Player/Headphones for 6 year old

Mark Hamill

I'm looking for a music player and headphones for my daughters 6th birthday in a few months.

What I am hoping for is something that:

• Takes mp3s (don't want it connected to internet, don't want any that need special cards/accessories to play specific things etc.).
• Has a speaker (or, at least, a recommendation for a separate speaker).
• No screen or at least doesn't play videos (she gets enough screen time elsewhere, a screen just showing text of currently playing song is fine).
• Straightforward to use.
• Decent build quality.
• Not too expensive (I'd pay more it something is genuinely good quality, there is a lot of cheap tat that I would like to avoid).
• and for the headphones, something over ear and with volume limit for kids.

Anyone have any recommendations?

shesty

I am jumping on here to say I am hunting for similar for my 8 year old and there is very little out there.

Would you be happy to put the mp3s on it or would you want to use it with spotify or itunes?

I have something like this myself but the lack of connection to wifi/bluetooth I find a bit frustrating.

https://www.powercity.ie/product/NWE394B

Mark Hamill

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120314700#Comment_120314700

I would want to put MP3s on it. I have seen the likes of those Sony MP3 players, but I was hoping for something more kid friendly.

niallb

How about an old iPod Nano from CeX for about €35-€50 ?

Really sturdy and nice to use.

There are several ways you can add music to them without using iTunes if you already have a load of mp3s. Google will help.

sekond

We had a similar issue when our youngest was a little older, but we had the same considerations - no internet access, didn't want to have to get any special accessories, wanted it to work with headphones for long car journeys etc. We ended up getting something like this and just adding the music on to it ourselves

https://amzn.eu/d/ah8j9Mu

There's probably similar that are even more simple to use, but she was well able to skip back and forth to find the songs she wanted. Added bonus was that we could also plug it into my husband's car to play music/audiobooks when we were travelling. Quite a few years later, it still lives in my husbands car, with the last load of songs and audiobooks on it, and we have been known to dig it out when radio reception and 4G is spotty on long drives.

We just picked up a standard set of kids headphones from Lidl or Aldi. They were comfortable, had sound limiters on them, and very robust. They survived until one of the kittens took a fancy to the cord and chewed it to pieces.

houseyhouse

My kids each have a Mighty, which they love. https://mightyaudio.eu/

It’s not cheap but it’s compact, no screen, and kids find it easy to use. It can take wired headphones or be set up to use with Bluetooth headphones or speakers. It doesn’t allow you to add MP3s though, you have to connect it to your Spotify to add playlists. You need to have Spotify premium and you do need to refresh the playlists every few weeks. Can also be used with Amazon music but I have no experience with that.

shesty

I found this the other day on Amazon, it sounds like it's worth it?Do they control it through the app?

I have concluded that if you want to use Spotify or similar (which my child is used to), setting up premium is probably my best option.

Shpongler

Just get a cheap android phone and delete or disable all the apps apart from the music player. Get an Anker Soundcore mini on Amazon for the external speaker.

You can always add the device to google's family link to prevent any app installs, and have timeout where the device can't be used.

houseyhouse

@shesty the reply function doesn’t seem to be working but I think you were taking to me.

We like them but the kids all got them as Christmas/birthday presents because they are pricey. We prefer the kids not to have much access to iPads/internet etc and this allows them to have the music they want when they want it. The app is on my phone and uses my Spotify account. It connects to the Mighty by Bluetooth but it can be a bit slow and glitchy at times. I can add/remove playlists and albums when it’s connected to my phone. There’s enough storage for about 1000 songs, so they can have plenty of variety and we’ve never had a problem with space. The Mighty needs to be connected to the app once a month or so and be refreshed or it stops working. Of course, this always happens right before a holiday/long car journey 😏

Flinty997

A lot of unknown named cheap ones on Amazon are just dire build and sound quality.

Hard to beat the Sony ones and they have sleep time which is battery saver. Or an Apple iPod one. Though a bit of lottery with Batteries on older units now. Or the Sandisk Clip/Jam, players. They aren't as robust though. I loved the iPod Shuffles myself.

Why someone can't make a simple workout style player, simply controls, and off button, USB C, sleep time, simple file and folders.

shesty

Thanks @houseyhouse

The challenge for me @Flinty997 is the source of the music. We don't have itunes, and so far we haven't subscribed to Spotify. So for her to listen on the simple Sony ones (I have one of those) I need some way to transfer the music to it from a stored location, and I don't have that. Otherwise I would be all over the Sony one and this would not be a problem!Separately then she wants to be able to listen on a speaker or similar, but that is solved easily enough if the device is right.

shesty

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120359074#Comment_120359074

Yes, I did go down this road too, but honestly I wouldn't trust my younger child not to go rummaging in the device settings and turn things back on!! She has an enquiring mind :)

Flinty997

The

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120362307#Comment_120362307

Sony just appears as an external drive. You copy MP3 to it. End of.

If you don't have MP3 thats a different story. I had a load of kids audio books and Kids Music.

shesty

Yes...it's having the mp3 is the challenge.I'm looking for an easy solution!

Flinty997

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120363594#Comment_120363594

What you are looking for doesn't exist.

No ones making easy to use child friendly players.

The old devices, like CD Players, MD, MP3 players are mostly gone, or over priced vintage units. Most of which their last legs.

FishOnABike

Something like this? https://www.westerndigital.com/en-ie/products/mp3-players/sandisk-clip-sport-plus#SDMX28-016G-G46B

shesty

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120363906#Comment_120363906

I had come to that conclusion.Gap in the market for younger kids who want to play music but don't need access to apps, and the rest.Unless you are an itunes user,so Apple have that sewn up.Looks like that Mighty is the best option, with a subscription to Spotify, for what I want.

Flinty997

Its quite simple to buy a bunch kids CD's, (people giving them away these days) Audio Books etc and buy a cheap CD Portable and just use that.

Or you can covert them to MP3 and use them on a device with no internet. These are getting hard to find at a reasonable cost.

If you subscribe to a music streaming service you can turn on an age rating. But that then requires and internet enabled device and configuring all of that. Which is harder (and less controllable) than creating the MP3.

But controlling kids access to the internet is almost impossible, the manufacturers make it very difficult and technical. I have tried a bunch of apps and routers etc. None was great. Even if your kid can't get past the controls, they will have a friend who can.

Mark Hamill

A lot of good suggestions here, and Shponglers suggestion of the Anker speaker has led me to my decision.

I thought, for a second, that that speaker had a headphone slot as well as the sd card slot (which would make it pretty perfect for my needs all by itself), but it was just an AUX slot. So I looked around Amazon for a speaker that had both a sd card and a headphone slot and found this: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01J3N8ICQ/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A2JYKDL02CLV4Y&psc=1

It's not expensive, looks nice enough, has decent reviews, built in speakers, takes sd cards, will take wired and Bluetooth headphones and seems straightforward to use. It could be a bit smaller, but I would rather something a little bulky rather than a tiny player that could easily get lost or stood on.