Customer Reviews

Disney 512Mb Mix Stick Princess Flower Mp3 Player

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

People who are afriad to take thier Ipod, cellphone or other expensive player to the gym or trail running will love this option. I picked up the "Nightmare Before Christmas" version. I had low expectations, owing to a consumer review that said the sound quality was poor. I was pleasantly surprised to find that this player performes very well, the sound is great, and the controls are easily mastered.

The player has an on/off switch, repeat and shuffle buttons, and a typical skip forward, skip backward, play/pause volume up and down layout.

The lanyard my player came with was a plastic lanyard which does not easily pull off. the lanyard's materials do not absorb sweat or odor.

I did not use the included earbuds- I had several pairs of my own already that I preferred.

I also did not use the included software- I doubt it will run on my Windows Vista system, but the songs are easily placed on the player as though it were a thumbdrive.

The built-in rechargable battery has more than enough power between charges- I've used mine off and on for a couple days between charges. The manual says you can expect 8-10 hour playtime continuously.

Pros: Solid player, inexpensive and unique.
Ease of use. Slot for SD (most inexpensive media available) in case the included memory is lacking. Laynard is durable.

Cons: Software is out of date, no LCD screen of any kind. The player's fast forward is difficult to use, so picking up a podcast or audio book where you left off is difficult; the player automaticly returns to the beginning of a song or chapter when the player is powered off.

All in all, it is no ipod replacement. However, if you are looking for a first MP3 player for a child or one that you can have at the gym or out running, this is a great choice.

I have to admit I was skeptical that this player would work well. I got it for my 7 year old last year for Christmas-it is still going strong! She gets a good 4-5 hours of play out of the battery and it recharges in about 3-4. The sound quality it decent and it works well with her iDog. Uploading CDs onto the player is a piece of cake using the Windows Media Player-she has about 75 songs on there, I'm sure it would fit more. A great little player for young ones!

This Mp3 player was wonderful for my 8 year old. she loves it and it works the same as a expensive model but less..more kid friendly..great..Dawn

My 11yo daughter loves it! It has a decent battery life, charges quickly, and it is very easy to add/remove songs. I ended up buying one for myself, it is perfect for me. I also have a sansa, but didn't use the picture or video features at all, so I gave that one to my 17yo, since she likes to download movies and pics to it. The reason I didn't give it 5 stars is that I hate ear buds, and these are ok headphones for a child, but I had to get some better ones.

Runs on MP3s... just Convert and Go!
(free converter avail for PPC and INTEL)

I have a mac OS 10.5.8, I charged the player for the recommended 2.5 hours in the usb slot and tried to load it by drag and drop from itunes and it didn't play. Then I realized that all my itunes songs are AAC. The new itunes may or may not do MP3 conversion like the old itunes did (idk), but i just DL'd a free converter program called Switch (just search for "switch mp3 converter" to find it). Switch has versions for PPC mac, INTEL mac (and PC though the player also uses wma). It downloads fast and is easy to use- just drop in one song, multiple songs or even a folder of songs from your desktop (or from anywhere on your MAC except itunes- just drag your songs out of itunes first), choose a target folder for your new MP3s, and hit convert. Once songs are converted the Mix Stick player is drag and drop (you could also choose Mix Stick as the target for your new MP3s from Switch and have one less step). Using Switch you can definitely convert itunes purchased music (i tried it on an itunes purchased song for this review) and for CDs you have DL'd into itunes no problem (as long as you drag them out of itunes first).

When you plug the player into a MAC it shows up as an icon on the desktop which you can rename what you like and drag in MP3s, eject the player and you are ready to go. Also, technically you could also store other files on this drive good for work, homework or whatever- especially if you take advantage of the 1gig sd/mmc expansion slot which makes it technically infinitely expandable.

The headphones are sufficient (here I have to mention I paid $7.99 shipped for this player and find it completely worth it for that price) though an audiophile would probably switch them out (the sound will be as good as your headphones, i tried other headphones). The Mix Stick earbuds sound passable (better than i thought) and can get crazy loud, more than i thought they would for sure, and they don't lose their sound quality with big changes in volume. The earbuds have foam on them and are surprisingly comfortable, way more comfortable than my ipod earbuds which pretty much are just painful (i since got on-ear headphones). I wore the Mix Stick earbuds for several hours without any complaints- a surprise for me. So, they aren't going to win any sound awards but they do the job good enough.

I bought this player as an xmas gift for a music-loving 3 yr old who can't get enough of my ipod classic. I wanted to get it all set up and load it, charge it, and run it awhile, re-charge it etc to make sure it will not be disappointing. I put 64 songs on it and that is nearing capacity. So far so good. I plan on removing the dummy sd card and putting tape over the SD/mmc slot. Though mostly cosmetic, i will also tape the bottom in place. Tape makes for another step to charge it but will keep it from getting lost- However FYI you could lose the bottom and still charge, load and listen to the player, so no worries- the bottom 'protects' the USB plug but you don't need it. The bottom piece has a 1/8 inch jack for the earbuds and an 1/8 inch plug that plugs into the player, so if you remove it there is still a jack in the player where you can plug in the earbuds next to the usb plug.

The on/off switch seems less solid than the rest of the player and is the only part of the player that concerns me long term. It seems weak and is so important to the working of the player that I hope it holds out. Again, for the price I paid for this, it is more or less a throwaway- so no worries, only time will tell.

The lanyard is plastic but it is also breakaway so suits my needs exactly. The player was a little bigger than i thought would be, about the size of two zippo lighters rounded off. This is also good for me, since once i removed the dummy SD card, there weren't really any tiny parts. The weight of it is non-existent it's so light.

It has good features. You can play your playlist in 'abc/numerical' order (by the title on the mp3) or in shuffle. You can FF or REW through a song (not just to the beginning or end but really FF and REW to any point in the song). You can skip through your songs forward and back, pause, and adjust the volume with quite a bit of control.

As for this Mix Stick, you know kids, it might end up under the bed or it may be a constant companion, you never know... Here's hoping that I got something good !

If it turns out to have any issues i will try to post it. Hope this helps fellow MAC users. :)

This is an excellent item for kids. Easy to use, holds lots of songs, easy to put music on, and the kids love those little cards that hold the soundtracks from Disney songs that simply slide into a slot. I bought two for my nine year old twin nieces. They loved them immediately and had them loaded with songs and using them as soon as the Mix Sticks were charged.

I would recommend this for younger kids that may not be old enough for MP3 players or those parents that don't want to spend the money on an MP3 player yet.

My 6yr old daughter carries this around with her everywhere. I had no problem transferring files onto the player and can download around 15-25 songs depending on the length of the songs, without having to purchase an additional sd card. Great, durable, and cute!

These MP3 players do not work. I bought 4 of them. None of them will power on. They will not hold a charge. They do not work period. They do not even come with an SD card so if you do get one to work, you will have to purchase the memory card separately. Waste of money for me! The earphones are ok as I have used them in other devices.

WARNING: this product comes with a plug-in on MINI DISC for the program to load the player. If you don't have a tray loading computer and only have a slot loader, it may be an issue. I have no review for the product as i haven't been able to load it yet.

Ordered this not knowing whether we would really like it for our 2 1/2 year old who was obsessed with our ipods and couldn't have been happier with it. This device was easy to put music on, just a memory card or some internal memory which stored quite a few songs in itself. We were actually able to just fill up the internal memory and leave the fake memory card in. It is so easy to use that our daughter does it all by herself. Only reccomendation is different earphones, or in her case we got headphones since she is so little. Would reccomend to anyone not wanting to spend a lot of money or for a little kid!