Customer Reviews

Baby's First MP3 Player

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Before we owned this, we had the BlueHat Toy Co mp3 player which my 18mo son loved, although it broke in about a month and was of FAR less quality than the Sweetpea. This is his #1 favorite toy. We've had this particular player for about 2 months now.

Pros:
-- Durable!! I can't tell you how many times this has been dropped or thrown. It's also water resistant (but not waterproof) so sticky hands don't damage it.
-- Holds 1GB of music and up to 3 playlists. We have playlists for his regular kid songs, his lullabies, and another for holiday music. You can fit so many songs on here that Mommy gets sick of them less quickly.
-- Very easy for very young children to use. My 18mo had it figured out in no time flat. The buttons available for him are start/stop and forward/back. He finds his favorite songs and starts them over and over again.
-- Decent firmware for a kid's mp3 player. (This is compared to the other kid mp3 player we owned, not an iPod obviously.) For starters, when it turns on, it resumes at the same place in the same song that was playing when it was turned off, not at the first song on your playlist, so you don't have to hear that first song ten trillion times. The hidden parent menu includes options for volume control (including a separate volume level for the headphone jack) and an auto-off timer, among a few other things.
-- Adequate sound quality. Obviously there's just one speaker so you don't get a big stereophonic experience, but it isn't scratchy or distorted at all. The only thing that I've noticed doesn't come through very well for some reason is Bert of Sesame Street's speaking voice.
-- Amazing battery life!!! It takes only 1 AA battery. We've had it about 7 weeks and have changed the battery only once, despite HEAVY daily use. The auto-off timer helps with that a lot, I have it set to 10min so when my son leaves it running and gets distracted it doesn't run itself down. Compare this to our previous mp3 player whose batteries lasted about the same amount of time, but took 4 at once.
-- Size. It's perfect. It's about the size of an eyeglasses case with a big handle for little hands, yet is small and thin enough to fit comfortably in your purse, glove box, or coat pocket.
-- You can buy an AC adapter for extended play in a nursery if you like. BUT the adapter won't charge the batteries, just spare them from being drained. We didn't bother though, because the big draw for my son is carrying it around.
-- Easy to load with music. Just drag and drop files in the playlist folders.

Cons:
-- Locks up from time to time. There's actually a firmware update that helps this problem tremendously, but we still get a lockup about every third day. Easy to fix though, just plug it into your computer for a couple seconds, then unplug it again to reset. Or, if you're out and about you can pull the battery, but there's a screw on that compartment so that's less trivial. (See update #2 below for a possible lockup solution)
-- The song title doesn't scroll on the screen. But this is really minor; my toddler can't read and it's not like I can't tell the difference between the Wheels on the Bus and Mary Had a Little Lamb. You'll have all the hundreds of songs memorized before you know it, either way.
-- You can't use songs bought through iTunes because of their proprietary DRM. However, we've had no problems playing songs we ripped from our own CDs or downloaded from Amazon music.


This could be a pro or con depending on your preference, so I'll put it here at the bottom. The volume doesn't get TOO loud. A 7 is about right for normal household use, then we crank it up to 10 in the grocery store or a restaurant. 10 sounds too loud to me in the house, but in a busy place it's loud enough for him to hear without it rising above the background level of muzak/conversation to the rest of us or annoying our fellow diners or shoppers. We crank it down to about 4-5 when the lullabies go in the crib with him.

Also, the display is not backlit. I mention this only because our previous mp3 player was. But it seemed like a useless feature and ran down the battery life so I am not missing it at all.

Overall, $60 seems like a lot of money to spend on electronics for your toddler, but it was worth EVERY PENNY. He uses it every day, it soothes him in the dr office and the grocery store, and it is really holding up well to his daily abuse.

Update May 2009 - Just thought I would mention that 5 mo in, this has now survived a quick bath in the toilet and several tantrums on concrete that caused the case to open at its seam--yet it's still going strong!

Update #2 June 2009 - Well, it finally happened... my son broke it! I couldn't find a phone # for the company so I sent off an email which a REAL person responded to with REAL suggestions within the day! (Not a form letter.) He recommended something to try myself (FYI, in regards to that lockup problem I described above, apparently keeping the songs to 128kbps prevents that), but it didn't solve our problem. (It turned out to be a broken speaker--the electronics and headphone jack still worked--and I was honest about the abuse it had suffered at the hands of my son.) So, he gave me return instructions, and within 2 weeks we had the player back and working again!! This is extra impressive to me because besides the personalized, human response and effective repair, it also went back and forth through the mail from the US to Canada in that time! The only cost to me was the $4 for one-way shipping to Canada. So, now I want to give this 6 stars!! Kudos for a company that stands behind their product!!!

Update #3 January 2010--It has now been a year and this player is still going strong despite my toddler's best efforts to love it to death. He uses it daily and it goes to bed with him every night. He has a little brother now who will be getting one of his own soon. I wish it came in more than 3 colors!

This is a sturdy device with exactly the features that I was looking for. The sound quality is acceptable. My 2.5 year old twins took to it immediately. I'm about to buy a second one because they both want to take it bed with them.

One bonus: the kids managed to dunk it in the bath tub a couple days after I bought it. The water was sloshing around inside the device. I shook it out until the water stopped sloshing, took out the battery and all the screws, and left it outside in the shade on a hot day. It dried out completely in a few hours and was as good as new!

I originally purchased the Playskook Made for Me MP3 player. It was easy to use, and my toddler loved it, but it sucked batteries pretty quickly, so I decided to upgrade to the SweetPea3.

I liked the idea that the SweetPea3 had more space, less buttons, and used just one AAA battery, and was rated for more hours of use on that battery.

It is easy to load songs onto, and easy to use.

It's lightweight, and super portable, and my daughter can feel comfortable using this for a long time because it doesn't look "babyish".

We have been very happy with this!

I bought 2 sweetpea's as presents for my 5 & 2 yr old grandsons. We were planning a 2000 mile round-trip vacation with them and I wanted something else to keep them amused besides the normal movies. The mp3's were perfect. I had also bought 2 sansa shaker's to compare to the sweetpea's. The sweetpea's won hands down. The music already downloaded is very age appropriate for a 0-6 age. I listened to my 5 yr old grandson sing BINGO over & over during the trip. I normally bring 20-30 movies with us when we take this trip & the tv is normally on for most of it...not this trip! My youngest grandson kept asking for his "song"...I'm so glad I bought them each one! I am planning on buying another for my middle grandson for his next birthday.

I did have an issue with one of them being locked up when it arrived, but talked to the owner of the company & he explained how to fix it. Yes, you have to reload the songs...but it only took a few minutes & I'm not that great with that kind of computer stuff - so if I could do it - anyone can. One also locked up during the trip, but I had read the other reviews, so I just reloaded the batteries & it started right back up.

Overall I'm very happy I bought these! I would recommend them to anyone.

I spent a bit of time searching for similar products but none had the features and durability of the SweetPea3. I love the parental controls and my son, who loves music, enjoys having his own music player that he can take wherever he wants! Many toys have music or noises that are too loud for little one's ears so I appreciate that I can control both the speaker volume and the earphone volume. I did have trouble with the SweetPea freezing up sometimes. However, at the SweetPea3 website, there is a troubleshooting section (where you can update the firmware) and when that didn't fix the problem, I called the number on the website and spoke to a real person (in fact, he was the guy who actually invented the SweetPea). He walked me through some troubleshooting steps, which fixed the problem, and told me that if it froze again, he would replace it. With customer service like that, it's hard not to give this product five stars.

Other features I like: only takes one AA battery, has automatic shut off that you can turn on for anywhere from 5 to 120 minutes, water resistant (in our house, it is only a matter a time before something gets spilled on), and durability (it has been dropped, stepped on, etc). A great product for toddlers who love music and want music that they can 'control' themselves and take wherever they go. It would be great if somewhere down the line, they would offer a few more colors choices.

Overall, I highly recommend this product.

Bought this for my 2 year old. Sound quality is pretty good for a toy of this type. Loading in music can be a confusing for the non-technical, but if you know how to navigate an external usb drive you'll have no issue (just read the instructions and follow their silly directory structure requirements). Battery life is good. And the thing has been dropped a million times and still works. Only real complaint is that it takes some time to respond to button presses, as it processes play, ff, rw, etc. - which makes it harder for the kids to realize their button presses are actually controlling the music. I've found very few products like this out there - this is the best most reliable available that I'm aware of. If your kid is old enough to want better sound, I'd suggest a normal mp3 player like ipod or zune or whatever.

I've long been looking for an mp3 player suitable for an older person and free of the fetters of iPod and most other mp3 players on the market. I have found it in the Sweetpea 3.

Here's why this Sweetpea3 mp3 player is great for older people. It's large and has a nice ring holder. It's almost impossible to misplace the device. The screen readout is clear and large. The small quibble with the display is that track numbers are huge while the track information is small. While the speaker is tinny, it's great that this player HAS a speaker !! The Sweetpea 3 is heavy and stands up, making the speaker a practical addition. The three navigation buttons are easily seen, and because they are not raised, they cannot be accidentally depressed. Setting parental controls once works fine if you don't need to adjust the volume constantly.

Here are the advantages of Sweetpea 3 over an iPod and most other players on the market. Audio plays for hours and hours on one AA battery. If you don't like the screws on the battery cover, remove them and tape on the back. A standard mini-usb cable connects the device to your computer for downloads. The player does not depend on music software such as iTunes or Windows Media Player. Drag and drop songs or audiobooks to it from your Mac or Windows file manager.

I have been using one other player with both an external battery and drag-and drop- the excellent Coby MP300. I'll review this one too. The drawbacks for old and young alike are its tiny buttons, difficult for less adept fingers; minute control symbols and a tiny display.

Today's electronics trend to be feature-packed, tiny and child and elder-unfriendly. The Sweetpea 3 is indeed a welcome addition to the mp3 player market. - Arthur.

I spent hours researching MP3 players for my son that he could easily use but wouldn't fall pray to a preschooler's butterfingers. I also wanted something that would grow with him. Of course I was worried about the volume if he used earphones. This company has thought of everything! Not only is the product durable, it has hidden controls in which you can control not only the volume through the speaker, but control a separate volume for headphones. With this feature built in, I don't recommend using headphones with built in volume control, it makes it near impossible to hear anything-especially in a car. We just happened to already have a pair. I purchased a second one for our daughter and bought the optional AC adapter so I can plug it in her room. Here are the some of the features of the NEWEST VERSION:

2GB (approx. 700 songs)
large screen shows song number and song title
2 hidden volume controls (speaker and headphone)
3 different playlists
plays continuously through a playlist
programmable auto off time
soft, food-grade rubber exterior
USB port (cable included)
headphone jack
AC adapter available separately

I would recommend checking out the company's website for full details on the newest version (Sweet Pea Toy Company).
But let me just comment on their customer service before I finish. I have never experienced customer service like I have with this company. I contacted the company with a million questions when I was about to make my first purchase. The owner (Sweet Pea Toy Company) contacted me via phone and answered all of my questions. They frequently make software upgrades available on their website and have trouble shooting as well. Well after a year and a half I ran into some trouble upgrading to the newest version of their software. I filled out the contact form via their website and I kid you not, the owner contacted me once again in less than an hour with a solution. This company stands behind their product and takes their customer service very seriously. They truly have a great product!

I bought one of these a year ago. It's the SweetPea3. It's easy to use. The pre-loaded songs/stories are great, but it was simple to transfer music to it. It feels very durable and my 1 & 2 year old are rough on things. Both machines lasted about 6-months before they shorted out. I'm not sure whether it was the drool because the younger one tended to slobber and chew on them or whether it was from being dropped. It happened to both of them.

Would I purchase another one now that the kids are 2 and 3? Maybe. I would rate this as a 3-star because when it works, it's a fantastic toy. On the otherhand, it should be able to take the drools and drops.

I got this player for my then 15 months old and he absolutely LOVES it!!
I have it attached to his crib and is the first thing that he turns on as soon as he wakes up (he can listen to it for hours) and also when is bed time he will turn it on until he falls sleep (the time set up is very useful)
He's so attached to it that I cringe to think what would happen if it breaks, but after months of abuse it has hold great.
I will recommend to get the ac adapter for it though. If your son is like mine and uses it for hours a day you would have to change batteries often.