Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I bought this for my three year-old son and here is what I think of it.
The pros:
1. The volume maximum is not so loud that it will hurt their ears if they turn it up all the way.
2. The construction is sturdy, good for rough and tumble pre-schoolers who like to drop and throw things.
3. The large buttons and icon navigation are very easy for a 3 year-old to understand.
4. The "create your own icon" feature is a nice touch for odd songs.
5. The ability to choose stories or song from the get go is a nice option.
6. The headphones actually fit little heads unlike the ones that come with those cheap portable cd players you might have purchased for your little one in the past.
7. The Fisher Price web site is filled with reasonably priced music and stories appropriate for the pre-school age group.
The cons:
That being said, there is one large flaw: importing MP3s! I spoke with the customer support staff at Fisher Price and they said it was a legal issue with the owners of the MP3 format. I don't care!! Work it! To import the music and stories you already have on your computer, this is what you will have to do:
1. Burn all of the music and stories you would like to import onto a cd.
2. Copy the songs/stories from the cd to the Fisher Price FP3 software.
3. Transfer each song/story to the FP3 player.
4. Type in title and artist information for each song/story.
5. Choose an icon, or create an icon from scratch.
6. Assign the icon to the story/song.
This is a huge pain! Just filling my son's FP3 player took over 3 hours.
A word of advice to those of you buying the FP3 player as a gift, burn all of the music/stories onto a cd ahead of time! Block out a few hours to program the FP3 player Christmas morning or after the birthday party, or better yet, do it all ahead of time so that you give the gift ready to go out of the gift box to avoid a tantrum (yours & theirs).
Kudos Fisher Price on developing a nice portable digital music system for pre-schoolers. I blow a raspberry at you for the painful process you make parents go through.
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Fisher Price Kid Tough FP3 Song & Story Player - BlueThe Kid-Tough FP3 Player in Blue is a real digital player designed just for preschoolers. It's tough enough and easy enough for kids to use. We've also made it easy for parents to download hundreds of songs and stories onto the player from the Fisher-Price FP3 Song & Story Online Store, or from any CD. The Kid-Tough FP3 Player features: A backlit 1.4-inch LCD screen that uses icons to help kids recognize and choose their favorite songs and stories all by themselves; big buttons that make it easy to navigate; Kid-tough design that stands up to preschoolers play. Holds two hours of entertainment that's approximately 30 songs or 15 stories. Add an SD memory card to store even more. Headphones are sized just right for little ones and play at a safe volume; breakaway neck strap; six songs and two stories pre-loaded. With the software CD we've included, you can: access the Fisher-Price FP3 Song & Story Online Store; browse hundreds of kid-appropriate songs and stories, all in one place; read expert recommendations to help you choose and purchase online, anytime; copy music from CDs you already own to your player; change and manage your player's songs and stories; player software requirements: Microsoft Windows 2000 or Windows XP; Intel Pentium III 500 MHz or above; 256 MB RAM (512 MB RAM or higher recommended); 150 MB free hard-disc space for full installation; Video Graphics Card with 1024 x 768 resolution or higher; Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 with SP1 or later; Macromedia Flash plug-in; USBport; Optional for Online Store: Internet connection (broadband connection recommended). Requires 2 AAA (LR03) alkaline batteries.
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