Customer Reviews

Neurosmith - Music Blocks with Mozart Music Cartridge

5 star:		(71)
4 star:		(20)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

I purchased this toy Xmas of 1999, my son was only 2 months at the time. He loves classical music and I thought that this would be great for him. Well, this has become an all time classic toy for him, my nieces, myself and husband as well as my sister-in-law's favorite toy. The unit comes with the Mozart block. You will get tired of this if you do not purchse any other cartridges(there are so many available now (. . .) You can create your own score to each block over and over again. Each colored block has six shapes on them. Each block and each shape within each block is a different piece of the music or instrument. There are so many different combinations. A child can play for quite some time with this and there creativity will flow. My son gets so proud when he puts a new piece together. We have many of the different cartridges for this so he has a lot of variety.

This is extremely durable too. My son throws the blocks, steps on the unit, throws the cartridges, you name it and it plays every time.

There is 2 volume levels. The loud is very loud and the low is still somewhat loud, but tolerable.

I highly recommend this creative toy to anyone. The recommended age is 2 and up, but a smaller child can play very well with it as well. My son has been playing with it since he was under 1 and has loved it ever since. It is just nice to see how excited they get when they make the whole piece play. A child will be using his creativity to play with this toy.

My son is 2-and-a-half-years old, and has had this toy for 6 months. Except for a couple 5-minute trials when he first got this toy, he has never played with it. This surprised me because my son loves music. He loves listening to all kinds of music on CD, loves musical videos from the Wiggles to Sesame Street, and enjoys playing on the piano and drums.

But as I said, the musical blocks didn't interest him at all, perhaps because they seem so simplistic. Although each block can be positioned in 3 ways to make 3 different sounds, and the blocks can be placed in different locations to change the order that the parts play, it just doesn't seem that challenging or interesting to my son. In my opinion, the options for creativity are too linear with this toy.

Another down side of this toy is that it requires the blocks to remain clean and dry, which is a challenge at times. My 7-month-old daughter LOVES to chew the blocks when she can sneak them in her mouth. It is also easy to lose the blocks, thereby rendering the toy useless.

Overall, this toy seems less educational than just listening to a music cd (which is cheaper than one cartridge, and contains about an hour more music). It is less fun for my son than just playing on a piano (or cheap keyboard), and it is a fairly delicate device that can be essentially ruined by losing one 2" block. How many 2" toys have been lost in your house in the last couple years?

If your kid loves to dance, this toy may be frustrating, due to the short length of the musical selections (only 4 seconds per block, less than 30 seconds total).

We got one of these for our two year old. I thought my wife was going to wear it out before it was wrapped-up! We have a 2, 4 and 9 year old, and they all love it. They all play with it in different ways. It's so flexible that it is entertaining for each of the kids (and for Mom and Dad too).

The other cartridges are nice, but not an absolute necessity. You'll probably want at least one more though, for some more variety. We have two and are getting a third for the 2 year old for christmas, but I think my wife might be getting it for herself. :)

I LOVE THIS TOY! Oh, yeah, and so does my 3-yr-old son (we've had it since he was 2 and he has NEVER gotten bored with it). I am a big supporter of putting music in children's lives and this does the trick. My son loves to make "bands" by rotating the blocks so different instruments play. We dance and make different toys dance...it's great. We have the Mozart, Rhythms, and Orchestra cartridges. I considered buying more but then saw the Cyber Cartridge. I'd say get this before buying a bunch of the other cartridges. With this, you can download different music off of the Neurosmith website (you get three free with purchase). Others cost $3.99 or so to download. There's everything from Irish Jig to Funky Dance (my fav.) to Crazy Cartoon. I've made a deal with my son that we'll get one a month...and it'll take awhile to get them all, but sooooooo worth it. The radio, blocks and cartridges (when you switch them) are sturdy enough that my son can do it all himself and I don't worry that it'll break. I would not hesitate to buy this toy.

I am not the type of parent who rushes out to buy the latest and greatest expensive toy out there; however, after much research, I decided to order this toy because the concept intrigued me.

The toy has lived up to my expectations. Its design sustains a child's interest because there are many ways to interact with it. You can push down individual blocks to test that segement of the composition, or you can press the main button which will play all five blocks in sequence. You can reorder the sequence of blocks or change the symbol on each side.

The quality of sound is excellent, and I found the low volume setting acceptable. The high volume setting was a bit obnoxious. (Incidentally, the toy has a headphone jack if you tire of hearing the music.) The toy is well made...the blocks are sturdy and they click effortlessly into their slots and come out again easily.

Overall, I judge it a worthwhile investment that could be used in a variety of ways. Because it taps into a person's curiosity, I suspect that it will hold my child's interest longer than some other toys.

Contructive criticisms? I wish that they had more cartridges available, and I wish that they were not cheaper (a bit high in my opinion).... or for the price they could at least include two with the toy!

I bought this toy when my daughter was just 6 months old and it's still one of her favorites. Unlike other's comments, I've found this to be VERY durable (considering how many times she's jammed the pieces into the slots and it's still working like a champ).

I think we were fortunate when we ordered ours because it came with the Mozart, Orchestra AND Rhythms cartridges so we've had a variety of sounds to play. She prefers the Mozart one and gets a happy smile on her face every time she hears it (now at 13 months).

We've also found that our 8 year old enjoys playing with this toy (you can see the educational value when an older child starts changing the blocks around to see how many different versions they can "compose").

We love it! :)

Our 22 granddaughter Emma loved it immediately and busied herself "playing" Mozart with such enthusiasm that her Daddy said it was "superior to her favorite toys at home." Our twin grandsons were just as fascinated. Don't be surprised if you find yourself whistling it over and over and over . . .

My son has this toy and he just turned one. He loves it, it's very easy for him to use and I can't wait until he begin's to understand the complexities of it and how to really work with it. It's one of our favorites and I'm sure it will be for a long time!

This toy offers a fun learning experience and wonderfulsound. Both my one year old and 8 year old enjoy playing with it. Theblocks have shapes and colors to attract a toddler and the ability to arrange the blocks to play different instruments and pieces of the music provides a challenge to an older child. The blocks and base unit itself seem very sturdy however I have been cautious about letting my 13 month old loose with the cartridge. I purchased Music Blocks Mozart Set earlier this year and have been waiting for months for this Neurosmith toy and additional cartridges to become available on the internet. I was delighted to find them here at amazon.com.

This toy is one of the most overrated that I have seen. It starts with a clever concept: five blocks, each representing a snippet of a musical phrase, with each side of the block playing the snippet in a different "voice" (i.e. instrument sound). Depending on how you arrange them on the machine, you get a different piece of music. Different cartridges are available so you can change the musical phrase. (We have Mozart, rock 'n roll and something called "instruments.")

The trouble is, for each cartridge, there's only one order of blocks that comes out "right," i.e. so that the musical phrase starts at the beginning and proceeds to the end. Put the blocks in any other order, and it sounds like an audio jumble. I have a musician friend who is so aggravated hearing a sensible piece of music so brutally dismembered that she couldn't bear to hang around while her daughter played with the thing.

Worse still, the thing only plays an extremely short phrase which quickly gets tiresome. Extra cartridges aren't much help, considering each one contains a grand total of maybe 20 seconds of music. A baby might be interested for a while, but the toy doesn't grow with the child by providing more challenging and lengthier musical selections. And at this price, it should.

Still, my daughter played with this a lot -- by stacking the five blocks up and knocking them down over and over again. I suggest you take the money you save by not buying this toy and spend it on a set of wooden blocks and some toy instruments. Your kid will get more out of them.