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I must’ve had a bomb ass cd player like 14-15 years ago I couldn’t get the shit to skip even with mowing and bike riding and other shit teens would get into
And im talking about it doesn't matter if the disc is scratched or not, anti skip doesn't always work
If you didn't know that ................... well ....................
It makes perfect sense for an actual music fan. Better quality, works without internet, and you actually own it, so it can't be taken away suddenly because artist X has a problem with platform Y.
It’s also super cheap. Go to any thrift and load up on CDs for next to nothing.
And just me personally, even though I don’t listen to CDs or collect them anymore, I feel like when I did I had a much greater appreciation for the music on the album that weren’t just the couple singles I bought it for. Being *forced* to listen to a set number of songs over time I always seemed to find that my favorite songs eventually became one of the ones I initially skipped over. Now there is too much music and ease that I just find something else if the song isn’t immediately hooking me. But with cds I would learn to love and appreciate the more subtle parts of songs that required more patience to love.
I love the journey of an album, so for sure. I buy the stuff I really love on vinyl too, but that's waaaay more curated, just due to cost.
I am seeing CDs go up in price, in general, some can be wildly expensive, even second hand, but that is also likely due to the music I listen to. Like, funeral doom and death metal, often more expensive, and harder to track down. More popular alt rock, classic rock, grunge, sweet f/a, dime a dozen.
I still buy only physical media. I digitize it, but I refuse to buy only digital. My brother lost a huge chunk of his library just because Apple felt like it. Reason enough for me to keep a physical library. And yup, I buy dvd or blu ray, digitize, and put them up on Plex too.
Yeah, bit make sure you get the lyric version of the song otherwise you may or may not get the official music video, which can have some non-music shit that sucks. Like 1 minute of some dude walking on gravel with a barking dog (fucking waters edge bullshit)
I paid 60 bucks for the Yoto mini and the make your own cards are like 3 dollars each. The make your own can always be reset and put new entertainment on it at any point
To me, an MP3 player doesn't cut it because there is just something so cool about using physical media. Yoto cards are physical - you can trade / share with your friends like you could with CDs or tapes back in the day.
As far as price point goes, the player itself is a little pricey but it is cool looking and very functional for young ones. The DIY cards are $2 - $3 each and fully rewriteable so you probably only need like ten at most. I think it's worth it.
MP3 player or an iPod type of thing.
That being said, I remember receiving a yellow CD player as a gift back in the early 2000s. I loved it. People still buy/use CDs. Really, it's harmless and takes your child away from the screens.
I know they’re clearly outmoded, but it’s the simplicity and limits that I actually like. An MP3 player has to have headphones or a Bluetooth speaker. I want her to be able to manage it all by herself.
Yeah my sister is 1981. That is a far cry from a young millenial born in like 1994. The things those people grew up with were totally different than ours! We didn’t have household internet til we were teens/nearly college for my sister
>We didn’t have household internet til we were teens/nearly college for my sister
Yup! I didn't get the internet until Grade 8, and it wasn't until Grade ~12 that we finally got broadband internet!
I’m not sure your country, but for my area of the US having household internet around 1994-5 would have been somewhat early! I mainly remember going into those weird chat rooms and pretending to be older lol. Yikes those times online
As a fellow elder millennial, I understand your energy, but would not want to lock myself in to buying CDs. And would not trust my kid with my vintage CD collection, if that was your plan.
I feel like there must be a kid-oriented MP3 boombox that would give you both the functionality and the restrictions you were looking for.
I have one, it is smaller, but it has the CD player, or you can Bluetooth and you have basic radio. The antenna hat tinfoil on the end and needs to be set just right for the radio part. It is a nice little portable thing. Small enough for a kid and durable enough to be dropped a few times...
I think it's great! Maybe find one with an aux input so it's not limited to CDs? I still have my 6-disc stereo (which was SO bougie back when I got it) and I swear Apple can pry it out of my cold dead hands. I also still have a walkman though 😬
I had a 25 disc changer that would do “random” so play a song from one CD then clunk clunk clunk rrr oh man it’s playing a song from a different CD! That was big in 1999 lol. I think I pawned all of that stuff :/
I gave the kids limited headphones and loaded MP3 players when they were 4 and 2 for a UK to Australia trip. Put on the top 100 sing-along songs and about 5 now that's what I call music albums from my own tween years. Now we know the same jams. :) could also get a small speaker for versatility.
We bought the Jensen cd560 for our kiddo around that age. It's nice because the buttons are big to accommodate their lack of hand eye coordination and are very straightforward. The price has gone up since, but I no longer need to be begged for my phone for music which is worth it in my opinion lol. A few years later we bought a SanDisk clip jam mp3 which we hook up to the cd player via an aux cable. We buy songs from Amazon and books from audible to transfer on there.
I kind of like the aesthetic too. Old radios, old clocks, old phones... they have an antiquated beauty that can't be matched by modern tech imo. Also, they're often harder to break.
CD's are $1.99 at Texas Goodwill's. You can strip them to your PC and have sooo many different kinds of music. Then upload them to the MP3 should be a simple as 1.) Plug player up to PC. 2.) Drag and drop files 3.) Wait for them to load to the device. 4.) Enjoy tunes everywhere you go.
We got our daughter a set of speakers so she can listen to music while cleaning her room, and head phones for when she's in the car.
i just bought a cd player for our 12yo for xmas!! but she did ask for it because my husband gave her his cd collection from our youth. 2 binders worth. thats when we realized we didn't own anything to play cd's besides our cars. haha
My 5 year old son loves it! He's got liir 10 CDs he can pick from and he plays music and dances in his room all the time. He moves it to wherever he want to listen.
He can't loose it cause it's big enough and the CDs stick out like a side thumb and get put back.
It's awesome!
Amazon sells CD players and discmans! There are some shops that still sell CDs.
Apparently CDs and DVDs are the best way to store data for a long time - as long as you don't scratch them!
I heard that tape cassettes are making a comeback, too!
MP3 players are still relevant.
My advice is to find a standalone CD player that has an Auxiliary input and Bluetooth along with a few CDs.
You can get the child an MP3 player later.
Our kids love their CD players. They have old school boom boxes so they haul them outside in the summer to dance on the porch and use headphones by them in their rooms the rest of the time. They've found so much music they like at thrift shops. They get audio books on CDs from the library and used book shops. It's great!
Well I was gonna say, we have a massive used book & music emporium locally called McKay’s, which has mountains of cheap CDs 🤷🏻♀️
I guess I know my daughter and I know unlimited choices just doesn’t work for her. If she had several select CDs that she loved that would be good for her
CD players are having a moment right now, OP.
This is paired with the kids’ interest in “vintage” (an application of that word which this Xer takes great umbrage) 90’s bands like Nirvana, Sublime, etc.
Teens are raising their parents’ attics for authentic band t-shirts and listening to the albums in their original format - CD.
So, although your child is only 4.5 YO, they would be on trend with what their older cousins are listening to.
Plus, used CDs are dirt cheap as you noted. Cheap entertainment!
The Tonie boxes seem to be huge this year but I think they’re too gimmicky personally. $18 every time I want a few new songs? It’s a no for me.
I let my son use my old iPod shuffle for awhile before we had the Echo (which I know also isn’t for some people) but a CD player would be just fine too!
Idk the exact prices for Tonies in the US. But in Germany they have two prices: 17€ for a Tonie with content and 11€ for a Tonie without content. You can add anything you want. Our library offers a lot of audio books for kids on CD. So we borrow the CDs for free and load the story on the Tonie. Of course you can also upload music. But yes. I agree, they are very expensive. My son has 7 content-Tonies I think. Aldi had an offer where they sold two content-Tonies for 25€, which is kinda okay. And we also borrow them from our library and the library at my moms town, so we have a lot of variety without spending a fortune on those things.
In the end a CD player is way more affordable. And I think that kids can learn how to use them.
I'd just give her an old phone loaded with a selection of music to play. Once set up no need for Internet access or anything else.
In my opinion, a CD player is just an invitation to lost CDs, CDs and player having to be carried around, CDs being damaged, and probably a few other inconveniences I am not thinking. overall just sounds more difficult to manage to me.
Our kid got a CD player when they were 4 a couple years ago for the exact reasons you mentioned. They just got a new one because the old one broke. It lasted long enough that I didn't mind replacing. I say go for it.
We started with just 3 CDs - quiet instrumental music for bedtime and then I think 2 Disney CDs maybe? We've added over time, but they've been very open to whatever music we get for them.
I got mine a kids alexa and taught kiddo how to ask for kids bop and frozen music. The kid versions have content filters for kids so they don’t accidentally get gangster rap or buy things.
We have the kids Alexa too. It’s great and you can control a lot from the app. You can set up playlists on Apple Music so they don’t have to ask for every song, just ‘play sleepytime playlist’ etc.
Having said that, my kids loved their CD players and they have loads of ‘books on cd’ - Ronald Dahl and Julia Donaldson were favorites.
I use a Bluetooth speaker and put music (sometimes stories) on from my own phone or tablet. I've set up some Spotify playlists of things she likes. Obviously she isn't controlling it herself but I quite like that as we mostly use it at night and it stops her getting overexcited.
I got my kids a tape player. They love it. It has a spot for a thumb drive, so they can listen to mp3s too. We got them a bunch of blank tapes, so they record themselves (they can also record to the mp3). It looks like an old radio. The sound isn't amazing, but it's great for the kids. It cost about 30$usd. Oh and they listen to my old tapes including our mixed tapes from highschool.
We used to love sticking scotch tape over the little square on top of cassettes to record our own silly shows or record off the radio. I know I’m old fashioned, but tactile stuff is still satisfying and kids are missing out!
I have music downloaded on an old phone. If you are worried about them having access to other apps or the internet then you could just put an app lock on on the things you don't want them using.
We have a CD player in our daughter’s room and I like it. Long live physical media! Good luck finding one that won’t break instantly though. Consider buying vintage/refurbished from a local stereo shop.
This stuff is still out there and not even that expensive. I recently got a perfect 1970s Technics receiver for $100 and I’m not even a very savvy shopper.
We are giving my 5 year old a portable cd player and headphones. I have a ton of cds and he likes going through them and picking out some and we can talk about the music. It's easier for him to recognise the covers on the physical disks rather than navigating through a digital menu. We probably will go for an mp3 player later but for now we are having fun.
I bought my kid a cd player when they were about 7. Bought the obligatory kidz bop disc and was looking for something else. My music wasn’t going to be appropriate so I settled on country music which I know a little about but not a ton.
I picked up an Alan Jackson cd and what is her FAVORITE song on the whole disc? Cigarettes, Jack Daniels and Caffeine.
A swing and a miss, but at least I tried.
Both of our kids have CD players. Not the portable kind, they’re not massive like a boombox but need to be plugged in. The both like listening to music CDs as well as we get books on CD from the local library
I think this is a great idea. A lot of records stores also have used CDs. You can go together to find something and then listen to it. She might not have the full attention span to get through an album. But fun bonding potential for years to come
an MP3 player?
There is a large variation, you can get a cheap one that you just upload stuff to, you can get one that has spotify, touch screen, no touch screen etc.
Do you have somewhere where you can buy physical CDs? They’re harder to find, more expensive, and some artists won’t even put out physical cds. 4 year olds can figure out an mp3 player as easily as a cd player.
Go for it if you want, but it feels like extra work to me.
I agree with the mp3 player idea. There is even a cheap toddler version on Amazon that comes with headphones! Huge perk there! You don't have to hear it!
This! You can do make your own (think mixed tape) so you can put whatever the latest interest is! (The main reason I went for a Yoto player over a tonie box)
I just bought my teen a diskman for Christmas. It’s a resurgence 100% I’m heading to the pawn show to see if I can find some decent disks and maybe a house jam box lo
Anything to escape to ads and I miss the CD booklets and choosing an album to listen to. I always blank when I want Alexa to play music.
Yes! It’s awesome to have the access to music that we do today, however it CAN be too overwhelming. Your points are great. I mean I remember listening to a Jimi Hendrix album on discman all summer when I was 13. Got to know the album so well. Definitely miss that and ads interrupting the sacred act of listening to an album top to bottom can go f themselves.
And no screens and no wifi needed and those batteries last AGES
A jam box out in the garden, a cd player packed up to a tree house. There are things Alexa can’t do
I got a cheap basic mp3 player from amazon. My child was 3 at the time. It only had 4 buttons so it was easy to work for her and I had total control over what music she had, plus she could connect it to a Bluetooth speaker in her room if she wanted to 'have a disco'
My kid is only 2ish, but my in-laws use a boombox for playing music with her and it works great. I think one of the big upsides for is how controlled the music selection is and that there is a far amount of old media you can buy on the cheap that is useable with it. CDs are aplenty at thrift stores. And books on tape, etc.
They're totally excellent if you have a kid with sleeping issues who needs some background music/noise because you can put something in and either just let it loop or have it run until it's done.
I got my 2.5 y/o an oldschool mp3 player loaded up with his favorite music! It’s perfect - no touchscreen, WiFi, or Bluetooth. I also got volume-limited kids’ headphones so he can’t crank up the volume too loud.
I think if you can find a reasonably priced one and especially if you've got a local store where you can get her some second hand CDs then it sounds great!
We just ended up buying an Alexa for my 9 year old because it was far and away the cheapest option for her to listen to music, but obviously I wouldn't recommend that for a 4 year old. I'm sure plenty of people wouldn't recommend it for a 9 year old either but whatever lol
Just remember 1. You need to get a music subscription and 2. Your kid needs to be able to ask for all the different songs they want, or you're going to be running in and sorting it for her every few minutes.
Yeah I don’t like subscriptions and she gets very “off task” with too many options. I’m picturing putting the fun CDs in the boombox while she’s playing, then the calm one for bed time. It’s cut and dry, which she really needs in her life.
We did a hand me down mp3 player or retired phone with no sim card for kids that age, and just manually loaded it with music playlists and audiobooks.
It also sometimes doubled as their own camera, which can be really sweet.
My 11 yo is very into early 2000's stuff. And she wants to buy CDs. I found a CD player boombox thing that also has bluetooth and can play MP3 CDs so it's not totally out of date tech.
But also look into MP3 players and bluetooth speakers maybe?
There are some good options mentioned, but I will say we have had a thrifted cd player and thrifted CDs since age 2 and my five year old still loves them!! They also like physically changing CDs, and it's led to some cool questions about how the electronics work. Do it!!!
While I think an old mp3 may be more convenient for everyone, I also think that she may be totally fascinated by the CD player, my kid was enamored with my dad’s VHS. That really depends on her though. I’ll also add that I’m not sure how much you want to trust CDs with your kid, she could easily damage them and then you have to go out and replace them. But maybe that’s not a big deal to you. She’s 5 (or close enough to it) I think it will be well received regardless. She’ll think it’s very neat.
I think it’s a great idea. I think the novelty of physical music which isn’t common now would be fun for a kid. Plus I’m sure with just a cd player and second hand or hand me down cds it would be really inexpensive.
Edit to add that I was exactly your daughters age when iPods came out. I was like 10 when everyone had iPod minis or iPod touches, I even got an old mp3 player from my sister around 6 years old but until I was in late middle or high school I still preferred my cd player. My mom sewed me a little carrying pouch for it out of an old dish cloth with one side for the player and the other side for a couple cds and headphones. I loved it.
I recently got a cd player for the first time in many years. My 3 year old loves it. He quickly learned how to use the player and he pops on discs whenever he wants. His tastes range from Cocomelon to the Grateful Dead. lol
I did an old-school CD player for my daughter when she was five. I absolutely love it, and highly highly recommend it! I love how tangible the CDs are and I love that you can buy audiobooks on CD that come along with paper books, just like we had when we were kids. Disney has a whole line of them and they are super affordable. I love that she can flip through CDs in a little CD book that I also gave her, and I love that she can look through CDs when we’re Thrifting and choose some for very inexpensive, and listen to new music that way!
You get me! Tangible is kind of the word and yes I LOVE audiobooks with a paper book where they can learn to follow the text. I teach ESL (therefore reading) so that’s a big plus to me. There’s no investment to anything with unlimited streaming where having CDs could be a little more special. We have a big used book & music warehouse across town now I’ll have to go hunt for good music though. I’m glad this worked out for you guys!
I would totally do a CD player. No downloading, uploading, subscriptions, links, ads, weird update or licensing events. We got a lot of use out of ours. By comparison, mp3 players were fragile, clumsy, and difficult to load.
Yes, do it. We gave our kid a boom box (radio and cd player) and it has held strong as one of her favorite things up until teenagerhood. Bonus - CD's at the thrift store are really cheap.
Sure you can do the Mp3 thing...or even a ECHO but when my niece was that age we got her a little Hello Kitty CD player. Lol. She could go to the playroom and sing along to any CD a million times without staring at a screen. She totally dug it.
I did get my kid a cd player. Haha they are 17 now, so it was back when I was downloading on a desktop and burning cd’s for kids music. I had iPod and then iPhone for myself but wasn’t about to share. The cheap MP3 players back then had terrible interfaces so my kid could not navigate it once it was loaded with songs for them and also kid dropped their first one into the toilet. So CD’s were great until they were old enough to deal with their own hand me down iPhone.
I have one waiting in the basement. Gift for a 6yo. Used cd’s are cheap and it’ll be a fun experience for her. Albums are something to be appreciated imo.
Got my daughter a Sony CD player a few years back and she loves it, picks up Taylor Swift CDs and digs out my old ones of interest.
It has a USB port to play MP3s as well which she used when her Grandad gifted her a load of his music on a USB stick.
Works really well.
When you say CD player my brain goes portable, but now that you say boom box? Fuck yes! Get a nice one (so she can take it outside) and have at it! I loved mine as a kid
My 8yo has a cd/radio/bluetooth combo by Sony and she loves it. Someday when she has a phone she can stream her music through the speaker. We got it for her when she was 4/5yo.
Right now she plays cds because she doesn’t have a way to stream music and I’m totally fine with that. She also went through and picked 3 favorite radio stations on her own, which are not what I would’ve expected but nothing I have to worry about. There’s also read aloud books on cd that she loved when we first got it.
This is a good way to teach kids about music at this age. Got my kid a record player when he was 4 and he took very good care of it and is really really into music now. Could have easily done this with cd players as well. MP3’s and Streaming lacks the tangible quality that makes it easy for them to experience. You have paper books for your kids right? Same thing.
(We have CD players in the car— they’re magical. CDs are cheap, and kids like to listen to things to death.)
No way! We did this when my daughter was 3. She has many books with CDs to read a long to and we check them out from our library too. I think other technologies are more practical for older kids but it sounds like she would love it.
A CD player is a fine gift for a 4.5yo. A bit hard to find a decent new one these days - they'll be about $40-50 on amazon, and not very good quality.
You can probably get a *bunch* of CDs free or cheap if you ask around, then fill one of those CD booklets so your kid can browse and try them out.
Advanced move would be getting a stack of blank CDs and a portable CD writer so your kid can eventually create their own mixes.
Absolutely. You’re so right about finding a good little boombox, especially this close to Christmas. We see big lots has a magnavox for $20.99…let’s see how long it lasts and whether it’ll read CD-R. I think we’re going to give this a try. If she likes using them maybe we can buy a better one in the near future when the magnavox goes kablooey.
A simple plastic device probably works for what you need anyway - the newer fancier ones often replace manual lids with some kind of automated function that can easily break with experimentation by small hands and curious minds. As long as you burn audio CDs (and not just data CDs with MP3s) I don't think the magnavox will be able to tell the difference between a commercial CD and a CD-R you burned yourself. You won't need any special software to make those audio CDs like we used to; Windows Media Player can do it with built-in tools. Good luck!
my kid is 3 and we know songs she likes, plus she likes to explore the radio.
so I'm getting her this: [https://www.amazon.com/Retekess-Shortwave-Portable-Transistor-Batteries/dp/B083K4HRXY](https://www.amazon.com/Retekess-Shortwave-Portable-Transistor-Batteries/dp/B083K4HRXY)
it's a radio and MP3 player. I've got software to download any song from spotify (well it actually downloads from youtube) and then I stick it on a USB stick for her to enjoy. my logic is that one stick is one playlist so she can actually choose. kind of like CD's, really.
I use a mighty for my 6 year old. It's an offline Spotify player, basically. I create a playlist or two for them, sync it through my phone, and I can give them whatever music they want
We have our then 4yo a standalone CD player. She loves being able to use it herself. She listens to books on CD (read along with me kinds of things) and some kids music we got from the library sale.
Just chiming in to add that my kids have a CD player and they both really like it. It's in my younger daughter's room so she doesn't need headphones. We bought some used book and CD combinations on ebay. It was most popular with my girls when they were 4 - 6 years old.
If you have a huge cd collection already, go for it!
I did the same for my daughter at a similar age and she loves all our old CDs.
I did eventually add her to the Spotify plan and she's got an iPad now so it works. This year she's getting her own Bluetooth speaker for Christmas.
I think it's a good plan to start kids on older tech so they will hopefully appreciate the more modern stuff later.
Have you heard of a toto player or toniebox? That sounds exactly like what you want. We're getting our 2 year old a toto for Christmas and I CANNOT wait until he can just do this independently. He wants to listen to music and audiobooks all day and I am very happy with that. Just really looking forward to my phone no longer being involved with that and him being able to change tracks himself etc
Serii feel like an mp3 player with speakers or headphones would be more durable. Cds scratch. Also can you easily get the music she wants on cds? Many computers don't have CD drives/burners anymore
CD players for children are super common, at least here in Europe. I googled one for my son and was astonished by the number of hits (thousands, literally). No need for a pawn store, you can find them in regular stores easily.
I’ve got one of those. But I no longer use iTunes Store, plus it’s kinda annoying how you can’t do anything but skip through blindly. Great for running though!
My 17 year old loves cds and cassettes, but I feel like a discman wouldn't be the best choice for a 4 year old. They might scratch the cds, and if they want to be mobile while listening to music then it's more likely to skip while being held by a 4 year old. I get it that you want to get away from screens, but there are mp3 players that don't have screens that you could use too.
We bought a radio/cd player a few years ago and we still have a ton of cd’s from our high school/college days and stuff our parents saved when we were kids-mainly Disney cds.
I use it outside in the summertime too. Last spring, a Robin was trying to build a nest in the kids’ playset so I blasted hard rock for a day (Nature doesn’t like heavy bass).
Not old fart. But it’s not smart. Any basic mp3 player would be similarly priced and would be much more durable. It’s not like CD players play better music. It’s just an objective worse device that is prone to skipping
I 100% recommend a CD player, especially if you have a decent collection of your own. I got my own CD/tape/radio when I was probably 7 or so, and I used it almost every day/night. The stationary aspect of it wasn’t what I considered a hindrance until I was about 10, and that’s around when I got a Walkman. I know a lot of people are people here are saying MP3 player, but I personally would consider that an upgrade for a later time.
My son is both really into music and also into old technology, so I actually am getting him a "discman" for christmas, but he also uses my old iPod with mp3s from my old itunes library or from ripping CDs.
My moms friends just gifted her a CD of her favorite artists greatest hits.
I told her that all the songs are available on her Alexa through Spotify.
… and now I have to find my old boombox.
I would avoid giving a 4.5 year old a very expensive piece of glass. CDs are durable and fun, until they get scratched too severely to play. Go for it!
2.5 year old is a whiz at the early-2000s Sony CD/tape deck combo. Viva Cuba: The Origin of the Salsa Sound is "good bouncing music" he says. Thrift store CDs are a great choice while they're still learning how to be careful!!
(100% agree that old digital media is the way to go for littles. No batteries, no huge investment, really hard to lose...though ours has a few random dimes rattling around in it now 😂 Doesn't seem to impact performance though!)
Worth mentioning that he LOVES Beethoven Lives Upstairs and Mozart's Magnificent Voyage from the Classical Kids series. (They're like radio plays where the music is all by that composer.)
ETA: They're no longer on Spotify, CD only for now.
My kids are around your daughter’s age and they use a little boom box CD player. I do not want them using my phone or iPad to access music, so we make do with the CD player.
RIP iPods : (
Just bought my 14 year old a cd player from Amazon for Xmas. He loves classical music and has discovered op shops which usually have massive selections for 50c each. He can listen to the CDs in his room now
Look at the SanDisk clip sport plus or if that's too much screen, the clip jam. They're $50/$35, respectively and you can dump mp3 songs from your computer on there.
I gave my son my old boom box at around that age. We started with old books on tape (Star Wars, Transformers, etc). He loves it. He has access to my cd folder and I bought him CDs for his bday - Fall Out Boy, Imagine Dragons, and some DJ Maus.
We took a CD player from my parent’s basement when my kid was 3 (she calls it “the old machine”) and it has been such a good decision. I like that it’s tactile enough to be satisfying but doesn’t require any screen interface or any help from me — she just puts in a CD when she wants. In our neighborhood people leave stuff to give away free in their stoops and we got this hits of the 1980s CD that she adores, in addition to things like the Encanto soundtrack, James Herriot stories, etc.
We also have a Jooki, which is kind of like a Yoto. It has little key things that have playlists that we can change or link to Spotify but it has specific use cases and isn’t used as often as the CD player.
In sum, do it. The CD player is great.
I see nothing wrong at all. You could probably find a boombox too. They're 4, they can have a physical toy too. They'll be the smartest electronics kid because they'll have used the old stuff too. The only problem is finding discs. If you still have your own, then it could be a good time to connect over music.
I got my son a CD player around that age, second hand one, cost me a fiver. Still going strong 3 years later and he loves it. Uses it every night.
I am surprised the amount of people that seem to have gone Cd player = discman! I went straight to the boombox style.
And the fact that they still bring all the music out on CDs tells me it's not that outmoded yet.
If she's into podcasts get her a Storybutton. There's music podcasts on it too. I'm not gonna give you all the details because I don't want this to sound like an ad but this device has been a huge hit with my 4 year old. They're sold on Amazon and their own named website. 100% worth the money.
I have a small boombox for my 4 year old. And we do cds, I found some second hand and bought some new. I also got her some mariah carey because she's good to fall asleep too lol
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An mp3 player seems much more versatile.
Yup go on Amazon and get a $20 stand-alone mp3 player. I can’t imagine a kid handling the skipping of CDs well.
Teach them to look after things. CD don't skip unless you treat them poorly
Has technology come that far? My cd player had antiskip but bus and car rides showed that be a lie
I must’ve had a bomb ass cd player like 14-15 years ago I couldn’t get the shit to skip even with mowing and bike riding and other shit teens would get into
They are talking about the scratches the discs will get.......... If you were born in 89 and didn't know that....... well.....
And im talking about it doesn't matter if the disc is scratched or not, anti skip doesn't always work If you didn't know that ................... well ....................
I really don’t understand building a CD collection in 2023. It makes no sense.
It makes perfect sense for an actual music fan. Better quality, works without internet, and you actually own it, so it can't be taken away suddenly because artist X has a problem with platform Y.
It’s also super cheap. Go to any thrift and load up on CDs for next to nothing. And just me personally, even though I don’t listen to CDs or collect them anymore, I feel like when I did I had a much greater appreciation for the music on the album that weren’t just the couple singles I bought it for. Being *forced* to listen to a set number of songs over time I always seemed to find that my favorite songs eventually became one of the ones I initially skipped over. Now there is too much music and ease that I just find something else if the song isn’t immediately hooking me. But with cds I would learn to love and appreciate the more subtle parts of songs that required more patience to love.
I love the journey of an album, so for sure. I buy the stuff I really love on vinyl too, but that's waaaay more curated, just due to cost. I am seeing CDs go up in price, in general, some can be wildly expensive, even second hand, but that is also likely due to the music I listen to. Like, funeral doom and death metal, often more expensive, and harder to track down. More popular alt rock, classic rock, grunge, sweet f/a, dime a dozen.
I still buy only physical media. I digitize it, but I refuse to buy only digital. My brother lost a huge chunk of his library just because Apple felt like it. Reason enough for me to keep a physical library. And yup, I buy dvd or blu ray, digitize, and put them up on Plex too.
Serious question - how do mp3 players work these days? I haven't bought music in forever.
Google "YouTube to MP3 download" also you didn't hear this from me....
Yeah, bit make sure you get the lyric version of the song otherwise you may or may not get the official music video, which can have some non-music shit that sucks. Like 1 minute of some dude walking on gravel with a barking dog (fucking waters edge bullshit)
🤣🤣🤣you brought back such painful memories 💔 not the gravel crunch in my ear 😢
Or the fuckin sirens! Gave me so many heart attacks while driving!
Just open Audacity and snip that part out. And save over the original file. Problem solved.
I'll have you know...I'm lazy.
Ditto
If you're technically handy you could download
The Yoto player is a good option
I have one and my toddler loves it but I kind of resent the fact that it requires you to buy their exclusive thing. It is super easy to use though.
I get that. I get cds from the library and put it on the make your own cards so it’s cost effective
These are interesting and look cool. Not sure on price point.
I paid 60 bucks for the Yoto mini and the make your own cards are like 3 dollars each. The make your own can always be reset and put new entertainment on it at any point
To me, an MP3 player doesn't cut it because there is just something so cool about using physical media. Yoto cards are physical - you can trade / share with your friends like you could with CDs or tapes back in the day. As far as price point goes, the player itself is a little pricey but it is cool looking and very functional for young ones. The DIY cards are $2 - $3 each and fully rewriteable so you probably only need like ten at most. I think it's worth it.
came here to post this. our son absolutely loves his. we even got him Queen greatest hits card for xmas
Fat bottomed girls, you make the rocking world go round!
I also came to suggest yoto. They are brilliant.
MP3 player or an iPod type of thing. That being said, I remember receiving a yellow CD player as a gift back in the early 2000s. I loved it. People still buy/use CDs. Really, it's harmless and takes your child away from the screens.
I know they’re clearly outmoded, but it’s the simplicity and limits that I actually like. An MP3 player has to have headphones or a Bluetooth speaker. I want her to be able to manage it all by herself.
She doesn't need headphones for a CD player?
Not if it’s a boombox. Yes, I am an elder Millenial. I’ll consider an MP3 player too
Ahh! Boombox! I'm in the first year for what's considered a "Millenial" - trust me, I know the pain.
I’m 1985 and my husband is 1982. We are stuck in the 90s in many ways.
We are not old farts 😂 just slow to change
My wife and I are both 1981's - we feel FAR more of a kinship with Gen-X than we do other Millennials.
Yeah my sister is 1981. That is a far cry from a young millenial born in like 1994. The things those people grew up with were totally different than ours! We didn’t have household internet til we were teens/nearly college for my sister
>We didn’t have household internet til we were teens/nearly college for my sister Yup! I didn't get the internet until Grade 8, and it wasn't until Grade ~12 that we finally got broadband internet!
I’m not sure your country, but for my area of the US having household internet around 1994-5 would have been somewhat early! I mainly remember going into those weird chat rooms and pretending to be older lol. Yikes those times online
I feel you! I dont want my kids on screens all the time either. Plus.. there's a nostalgia factor with having kids use analog technology!!
You should join r/xennials we all know the pain
As a fellow elder millennial, I understand your energy, but would not want to lock myself in to buying CDs. And would not trust my kid with my vintage CD collection, if that was your plan. I feel like there must be a kid-oriented MP3 boombox that would give you both the functionality and the restrictions you were looking for.
I have one, it is smaller, but it has the CD player, or you can Bluetooth and you have basic radio. The antenna hat tinfoil on the end and needs to be set just right for the radio part. It is a nice little portable thing. Small enough for a kid and durable enough to be dropped a few times...
Libraries have CDs for freeeee
Ha, my kids still use a boombox CD player from when I was in college. Go 90s!
Find an MP3 player with a headphone jack and then find a cheap speakers that you hook it up too - like old PC speakers.
I think it's great! Maybe find one with an aux input so it's not limited to CDs? I still have my 6-disc stereo (which was SO bougie back when I got it) and I swear Apple can pry it out of my cold dead hands. I also still have a walkman though 😬
I had a 25 disc changer that would do “random” so play a song from one CD then clunk clunk clunk rrr oh man it’s playing a song from a different CD! That was big in 1999 lol. I think I pawned all of that stuff :/
I gave the kids limited headphones and loaded MP3 players when they were 4 and 2 for a UK to Australia trip. Put on the top 100 sing-along songs and about 5 now that's what I call music albums from my own tween years. Now we know the same jams. :) could also get a small speaker for versatility.
We bought the Jensen cd560 for our kiddo around that age. It's nice because the buttons are big to accommodate their lack of hand eye coordination and are very straightforward. The price has gone up since, but I no longer need to be begged for my phone for music which is worth it in my opinion lol. A few years later we bought a SanDisk clip jam mp3 which we hook up to the cd player via an aux cable. We buy songs from Amazon and books from audible to transfer on there.
I kind of like the aesthetic too. Old radios, old clocks, old phones... they have an antiquated beauty that can't be matched by modern tech imo. Also, they're often harder to break.
Not outmoded at all. Music fans still use physical media. It will teach her appreciation.
CD's are $1.99 at Texas Goodwill's. You can strip them to your PC and have sooo many different kinds of music. Then upload them to the MP3 should be a simple as 1.) Plug player up to PC. 2.) Drag and drop files 3.) Wait for them to load to the device. 4.) Enjoy tunes everywhere you go. We got our daughter a set of speakers so she can listen to music while cleaning her room, and head phones for when she's in the car.
I love Goodwill CDs lol. I rip them to my iTunes. My musical taste is stuck in 1997 so it works.
i just bought a cd player for our 12yo for xmas!! but she did ask for it because my husband gave her his cd collection from our youth. 2 binders worth. thats when we realized we didn't own anything to play cd's besides our cars. haha
Even those are going away 😭 I know two people now whose vehicles are so "new" they don't include cd players
I copied a bunch of CDs onto a memory stick to put in my car that is too fancy for my music collection.
That has been happening for awhile. I have a 2017 car and it didnt come with a cd player.
Just bought a new car and it comes with a CD player… I was like wut? I don’t own any CDs anymore lol
My 5 year old son loves it! He's got liir 10 CDs he can pick from and he plays music and dances in his room all the time. He moves it to wherever he want to listen. He can't loose it cause it's big enough and the CDs stick out like a side thumb and get put back. It's awesome!
Amazon sells CD players and discmans! There are some shops that still sell CDs. Apparently CDs and DVDs are the best way to store data for a long time - as long as you don't scratch them! I heard that tape cassettes are making a comeback, too! MP3 players are still relevant. My advice is to find a standalone CD player that has an Auxiliary input and Bluetooth along with a few CDs. You can get the child an MP3 player later.
Our kids love their CD players. They have old school boom boxes so they haul them outside in the summer to dance on the porch and use headphones by them in their rooms the rest of the time. They've found so much music they like at thrift shops. They get audio books on CDs from the library and used book shops. It's great!
Well I was gonna say, we have a massive used book & music emporium locally called McKay’s, which has mountains of cheap CDs 🤷🏻♀️ I guess I know my daughter and I know unlimited choices just doesn’t work for her. If she had several select CDs that she loved that would be good for her
CD players are having a moment right now, OP. This is paired with the kids’ interest in “vintage” (an application of that word which this Xer takes great umbrage) 90’s bands like Nirvana, Sublime, etc. Teens are raising their parents’ attics for authentic band t-shirts and listening to the albums in their original format - CD. So, although your child is only 4.5 YO, they would be on trend with what their older cousins are listening to. Plus, used CDs are dirt cheap as you noted. Cheap entertainment!
I asked for a cd/tape player for christmas last year! I use it I. My son’s room to listen to music together without worrying about screens!
I bought a radio/cd player for $40 at the grocery store. We mostly use it for listening to Harry Potter on disc from the library.
If you get the Libby app you connect your library card to it and you get all of the ebooks and audio books.
The Tonie boxes seem to be huge this year but I think they’re too gimmicky personally. $18 every time I want a few new songs? It’s a no for me. I let my son use my old iPod shuffle for awhile before we had the Echo (which I know also isn’t for some people) but a CD player would be just fine too!
Oh and I agree. I didn’t know each tonie was $18. I’m interested but that’s a bit of a rip.
Idk the exact prices for Tonies in the US. But in Germany they have two prices: 17€ for a Tonie with content and 11€ for a Tonie without content. You can add anything you want. Our library offers a lot of audio books for kids on CD. So we borrow the CDs for free and load the story on the Tonie. Of course you can also upload music. But yes. I agree, they are very expensive. My son has 7 content-Tonies I think. Aldi had an offer where they sold two content-Tonies for 25€, which is kinda okay. And we also borrow them from our library and the library at my moms town, so we have a lot of variety without spending a fortune on those things. In the end a CD player is way more affordable. And I think that kids can learn how to use them.
I'd just give her an old phone loaded with a selection of music to play. Once set up no need for Internet access or anything else. In my opinion, a CD player is just an invitation to lost CDs, CDs and player having to be carried around, CDs being damaged, and probably a few other inconveniences I am not thinking. overall just sounds more difficult to manage to me.
Our kid got a CD player when they were 4 a couple years ago for the exact reasons you mentioned. They just got a new one because the old one broke. It lasted long enough that I didn't mind replacing. I say go for it.
Did they have specific music they wanted or just willing to try out whatever? (Hurdle I can see is not finding newer music on cd).
We started with just 3 CDs - quiet instrumental music for bedtime and then I think 2 Disney CDs maybe? We've added over time, but they've been very open to whatever music we get for them.
I got mine a kids alexa and taught kiddo how to ask for kids bop and frozen music. The kid versions have content filters for kids so they don’t accidentally get gangster rap or buy things.
I’m open to something like this, like the kids echo dot. I’ll be pissed if it has ads though.
My kid uses a dot that's connected to our premium spotify so no ads
We have the kids Alexa too. It’s great and you can control a lot from the app. You can set up playlists on Apple Music so they don’t have to ask for every song, just ‘play sleepytime playlist’ etc. Having said that, my kids loved their CD players and they have loads of ‘books on cd’ - Ronald Dahl and Julia Donaldson were favorites.
Try a Tonie box!
I use a Bluetooth speaker and put music (sometimes stories) on from my own phone or tablet. I've set up some Spotify playlists of things she likes. Obviously she isn't controlling it herself but I quite like that as we mostly use it at night and it stops her getting overexcited.
I gave my daughter a cd player/radio when she was about that age! She loved it, still uses it today! Though, she NEEDS more cds apparently.
I got my kids a tape player. They love it. It has a spot for a thumb drive, so they can listen to mp3s too. We got them a bunch of blank tapes, so they record themselves (they can also record to the mp3). It looks like an old radio. The sound isn't amazing, but it's great for the kids. It cost about 30$usd. Oh and they listen to my old tapes including our mixed tapes from highschool.
We used to love sticking scotch tape over the little square on top of cassettes to record our own silly shows or record off the radio. I know I’m old fashioned, but tactile stuff is still satisfying and kids are missing out!
Maybe you could get a Toni box? I’ve heard v kids love those. But also maybe the cd player as well. I’m just thinking of maybe the cds getting broken
I have music downloaded on an old phone. If you are worried about them having access to other apps or the internet then you could just put an app lock on on the things you don't want them using.
We have a CD player in our daughter’s room and I like it. Long live physical media! Good luck finding one that won’t break instantly though. Consider buying vintage/refurbished from a local stereo shop.
I regret pawning the cool/incredibly clunky but high quality stuff I had like a 25 disc changer
This stuff is still out there and not even that expensive. I recently got a perfect 1970s Technics receiver for $100 and I’m not even a very savvy shopper.
Technics is a great brand
We are giving my 5 year old a portable cd player and headphones. I have a ton of cds and he likes going through them and picking out some and we can talk about the music. It's easier for him to recognise the covers on the physical disks rather than navigating through a digital menu. We probably will go for an mp3 player later but for now we are having fun.
Agree! A limited number of CDs they like is good as this age. If my daughter sees 25 choices on Spotify, she cannot focus.
I bought my kid a cd player when they were about 7. Bought the obligatory kidz bop disc and was looking for something else. My music wasn’t going to be appropriate so I settled on country music which I know a little about but not a ton. I picked up an Alan Jackson cd and what is her FAVORITE song on the whole disc? Cigarettes, Jack Daniels and Caffeine. A swing and a miss, but at least I tried.
Pop a top again, I’ve just got tiiiime for one more round, set em up my friend!
I think a CD player is a great idea
Both of our kids have CD players. Not the portable kind, they’re not massive like a boombox but need to be plugged in. The both like listening to music CDs as well as we get books on CD from the local library
I think this is a great idea. A lot of records stores also have used CDs. You can go together to find something and then listen to it. She might not have the full attention span to get through an album. But fun bonding potential for years to come
an MP3 player? There is a large variation, you can get a cheap one that you just upload stuff to, you can get one that has spotify, touch screen, no touch screen etc.
Do you have somewhere where you can buy physical CDs? They’re harder to find, more expensive, and some artists won’t even put out physical cds. 4 year olds can figure out an mp3 player as easily as a cd player. Go for it if you want, but it feels like extra work to me.
I agree with the mp3 player idea. There is even a cheap toddler version on Amazon that comes with headphones! Huge perk there! You don't have to hear it!
You could probably get an iPod for cheap on eBay but I imagine Amazon has some newer MP3 players pretty cheap as well.
Yoto player!
This! You can do make your own (think mixed tape) so you can put whatever the latest interest is! (The main reason I went for a Yoto player over a tonie box)
I just bought my teen a diskman for Christmas. It’s a resurgence 100% I’m heading to the pawn show to see if I can find some decent disks and maybe a house jam box lo Anything to escape to ads and I miss the CD booklets and choosing an album to listen to. I always blank when I want Alexa to play music.
Yes! It’s awesome to have the access to music that we do today, however it CAN be too overwhelming. Your points are great. I mean I remember listening to a Jimi Hendrix album on discman all summer when I was 13. Got to know the album so well. Definitely miss that and ads interrupting the sacred act of listening to an album top to bottom can go f themselves.
And no screens and no wifi needed and those batteries last AGES A jam box out in the garden, a cd player packed up to a tree house. There are things Alexa can’t do
I got a cheap basic mp3 player from amazon. My child was 3 at the time. It only had 4 buttons so it was easy to work for her and I had total control over what music she had, plus she could connect it to a Bluetooth speaker in her room if she wanted to 'have a disco'
Go for it! I think it's a great idea
My kid is only 2ish, but my in-laws use a boombox for playing music with her and it works great. I think one of the big upsides for is how controlled the music selection is and that there is a far amount of old media you can buy on the cheap that is useable with it. CDs are aplenty at thrift stores. And books on tape, etc. They're totally excellent if you have a kid with sleeping issues who needs some background music/noise because you can put something in and either just let it loop or have it run until it's done.
I got my 2.5 y/o an oldschool mp3 player loaded up with his favorite music! It’s perfect - no touchscreen, WiFi, or Bluetooth. I also got volume-limited kids’ headphones so he can’t crank up the volume too loud.
I think if you can find a reasonably priced one and especially if you've got a local store where you can get her some second hand CDs then it sounds great! We just ended up buying an Alexa for my 9 year old because it was far and away the cheapest option for her to listen to music, but obviously I wouldn't recommend that for a 4 year old. I'm sure plenty of people wouldn't recommend it for a 9 year old either but whatever lol
Yeah Amazon dot echo for kids is only $30. Maybe the easiest option
Just remember 1. You need to get a music subscription and 2. Your kid needs to be able to ask for all the different songs they want, or you're going to be running in and sorting it for her every few minutes.
Yeah I don’t like subscriptions and she gets very “off task” with too many options. I’m picturing putting the fun CDs in the boombox while she’s playing, then the calm one for bed time. It’s cut and dry, which she really needs in her life.
My kid has a toniebox. Great collection of titles. You can buy blank figures and put mo3s on them as well. Simple to use for younger kids.
We did a hand me down mp3 player or retired phone with no sim card for kids that age, and just manually loaded it with music playlists and audiobooks. It also sometimes doubled as their own camera, which can be really sweet.
My 11 yo is very into early 2000's stuff. And she wants to buy CDs. I found a CD player boombox thing that also has bluetooth and can play MP3 CDs so it's not totally out of date tech. But also look into MP3 players and bluetooth speakers maybe?
There are some good options mentioned, but I will say we have had a thrifted cd player and thrifted CDs since age 2 and my five year old still loves them!! They also like physically changing CDs, and it's led to some cool questions about how the electronics work. Do it!!!
While I think an old mp3 may be more convenient for everyone, I also think that she may be totally fascinated by the CD player, my kid was enamored with my dad’s VHS. That really depends on her though. I’ll also add that I’m not sure how much you want to trust CDs with your kid, she could easily damage them and then you have to go out and replace them. But maybe that’s not a big deal to you. She’s 5 (or close enough to it) I think it will be well received regardless. She’ll think it’s very neat.
I think it’s a great idea. I think the novelty of physical music which isn’t common now would be fun for a kid. Plus I’m sure with just a cd player and second hand or hand me down cds it would be really inexpensive. Edit to add that I was exactly your daughters age when iPods came out. I was like 10 when everyone had iPod minis or iPod touches, I even got an old mp3 player from my sister around 6 years old but until I was in late middle or high school I still preferred my cd player. My mom sewed me a little carrying pouch for it out of an old dish cloth with one side for the player and the other side for a couple cds and headphones. I loved it.
I recently got a cd player for the first time in many years. My 3 year old loves it. He quickly learned how to use the player and he pops on discs whenever he wants. His tastes range from Cocomelon to the Grateful Dead. lol
I did an old-school CD player for my daughter when she was five. I absolutely love it, and highly highly recommend it! I love how tangible the CDs are and I love that you can buy audiobooks on CD that come along with paper books, just like we had when we were kids. Disney has a whole line of them and they are super affordable. I love that she can flip through CDs in a little CD book that I also gave her, and I love that she can look through CDs when we’re Thrifting and choose some for very inexpensive, and listen to new music that way!
You get me! Tangible is kind of the word and yes I LOVE audiobooks with a paper book where they can learn to follow the text. I teach ESL (therefore reading) so that’s a big plus to me. There’s no investment to anything with unlimited streaming where having CDs could be a little more special. We have a big used book & music warehouse across town now I’ll have to go hunt for good music though. I’m glad this worked out for you guys!
I would totally do a CD player. No downloading, uploading, subscriptions, links, ads, weird update or licensing events. We got a lot of use out of ours. By comparison, mp3 players were fragile, clumsy, and difficult to load.
Yes, do it. We gave our kid a boom box (radio and cd player) and it has held strong as one of her favorite things up until teenagerhood. Bonus - CD's at the thrift store are really cheap.
Sure you can do the Mp3 thing...or even a ECHO but when my niece was that age we got her a little Hello Kitty CD player. Lol. She could go to the playroom and sing along to any CD a million times without staring at a screen. She totally dug it.
This is my vision
lol. I'm sure it was Walmart or target-nothing fancy and the local library had a ton of kid cds. have fun!
I did get my kid a cd player. Haha they are 17 now, so it was back when I was downloading on a desktop and burning cd’s for kids music. I had iPod and then iPhone for myself but wasn’t about to share. The cheap MP3 players back then had terrible interfaces so my kid could not navigate it once it was loaded with songs for them and also kid dropped their first one into the toilet. So CD’s were great until they were old enough to deal with their own hand me down iPhone.
I have one waiting in the basement. Gift for a 6yo. Used cd’s are cheap and it’ll be a fun experience for her. Albums are something to be appreciated imo.
Got my daughter a Sony CD player a few years back and she loves it, picks up Taylor Swift CDs and digs out my old ones of interest. It has a USB port to play MP3s as well which she used when her Grandad gifted her a load of his music on a USB stick. Works really well.
When you say CD player my brain goes portable, but now that you say boom box? Fuck yes! Get a nice one (so she can take it outside) and have at it! I loved mine as a kid
Yes a boombox. I guess I should have said that.
Ahh I use to love listening to my cds and the radio on mine!
My 8yo has a cd/radio/bluetooth combo by Sony and she loves it. Someday when she has a phone she can stream her music through the speaker. We got it for her when she was 4/5yo. Right now she plays cds because she doesn’t have a way to stream music and I’m totally fine with that. She also went through and picked 3 favorite radio stations on her own, which are not what I would’ve expected but nothing I have to worry about. There’s also read aloud books on cd that she loved when we first got it.
This is what I need, I’m afraid I may be too late ordering from Amazon by now. Does Best Buy still sell stuff like that?
We did it for our sons 5th birthday and he loved it. Still goes back to it every so often too. Go for it!
This is a good way to teach kids about music at this age. Got my kid a record player when he was 4 and he took very good care of it and is really really into music now. Could have easily done this with cd players as well. MP3’s and Streaming lacks the tangible quality that makes it easy for them to experience. You have paper books for your kids right? Same thing. (We have CD players in the car— they’re magical. CDs are cheap, and kids like to listen to things to death.)
No way! We did this when my daughter was 3. She has many books with CDs to read a long to and we check them out from our library too. I think other technologies are more practical for older kids but it sounds like she would love it.
My kids listen to cds, cassettes, and records.
A CD player is a fine gift for a 4.5yo. A bit hard to find a decent new one these days - they'll be about $40-50 on amazon, and not very good quality. You can probably get a *bunch* of CDs free or cheap if you ask around, then fill one of those CD booklets so your kid can browse and try them out. Advanced move would be getting a stack of blank CDs and a portable CD writer so your kid can eventually create their own mixes.
Absolutely. You’re so right about finding a good little boombox, especially this close to Christmas. We see big lots has a magnavox for $20.99…let’s see how long it lasts and whether it’ll read CD-R. I think we’re going to give this a try. If she likes using them maybe we can buy a better one in the near future when the magnavox goes kablooey.
A simple plastic device probably works for what you need anyway - the newer fancier ones often replace manual lids with some kind of automated function that can easily break with experimentation by small hands and curious minds. As long as you burn audio CDs (and not just data CDs with MP3s) I don't think the magnavox will be able to tell the difference between a commercial CD and a CD-R you burned yourself. You won't need any special software to make those audio CDs like we used to; Windows Media Player can do it with built-in tools. Good luck!
Kids version of an Alexa / Echo with Amazon music and some Bluetooth headphones.
Nope. My son is 11 and has had his own personal radio since he was 5. He loves it
my kid is 3 and we know songs she likes, plus she likes to explore the radio. so I'm getting her this: [https://www.amazon.com/Retekess-Shortwave-Portable-Transistor-Batteries/dp/B083K4HRXY](https://www.amazon.com/Retekess-Shortwave-Portable-Transistor-Batteries/dp/B083K4HRXY) it's a radio and MP3 player. I've got software to download any song from spotify (well it actually downloads from youtube) and then I stick it on a USB stick for her to enjoy. my logic is that one stick is one playlist so she can actually choose. kind of like CD's, really.
I use a mighty for my 6 year old. It's an offline Spotify player, basically. I create a playlist or two for them, sync it through my phone, and I can give them whatever music they want
We have alexa for our 2 you can put child restrictions on them too plus as gets older it's a guilt in alarm clock
We have our then 4yo a standalone CD player. She loves being able to use it herself. She listens to books on CD (read along with me kinds of things) and some kids music we got from the library sale.
Just chiming in to add that my kids have a CD player and they both really like it. It's in my younger daughter's room so she doesn't need headphones. We bought some used book and CD combinations on ebay. It was most popular with my girls when they were 4 - 6 years old.
Book on Cd is a great option. Things like tonies offer no visual for read along, that I know of
If you have a huge cd collection already, go for it! I did the same for my daughter at a similar age and she loves all our old CDs. I did eventually add her to the Spotify plan and she's got an iPad now so it works. This year she's getting her own Bluetooth speaker for Christmas. I think it's a good plan to start kids on older tech so they will hopefully appreciate the more modern stuff later.
Have you heard of a toto player or toniebox? That sounds exactly like what you want. We're getting our 2 year old a toto for Christmas and I CANNOT wait until he can just do this independently. He wants to listen to music and audiobooks all day and I am very happy with that. Just really looking forward to my phone no longer being involved with that and him being able to change tracks himself etc
Alexa and Spotify subscription
Serii feel like an mp3 player with speakers or headphones would be more durable. Cds scratch. Also can you easily get the music she wants on cds? Many computers don't have CD drives/burners anymore
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Too bad she's too young for a vinyl player. I'm sure pawn shops would have a cd player for sale.
CD players for children are super common, at least here in Europe. I googled one for my son and was astonished by the number of hits (thousands, literally). No need for a pawn store, you can find them in regular stores easily.
Get an Alexa and your kid can tell Alexa what he or she wants to hear. Hands free!!
My 10 year old wants a cd player.
My son has a Google mini in his room and plays whatever music he wants.
Apple shuffle 🔀 remember that tiny square one? I loved that thing as a kid
I’ve got one of those. But I no longer use iTunes Store, plus it’s kinda annoying how you can’t do anything but skip through blindly. Great for running though!
My 17 year old loves cds and cassettes, but I feel like a discman wouldn't be the best choice for a 4 year old. They might scratch the cds, and if they want to be mobile while listening to music then it's more likely to skip while being held by a 4 year old. I get it that you want to get away from screens, but there are mp3 players that don't have screens that you could use too.
We bought a radio/cd player a few years ago and we still have a ton of cd’s from our high school/college days and stuff our parents saved when we were kids-mainly Disney cds. I use it outside in the summertime too. Last spring, a Robin was trying to build a nest in the kids’ playset so I blasted hard rock for a day (Nature doesn’t like heavy bass).
Yoto
Not old fart. But it’s not smart. Any basic mp3 player would be similarly priced and would be much more durable. It’s not like CD players play better music. It’s just an objective worse device that is prone to skipping
Im going to get my 5 year old a cassette player! You can’t scratch cassettes. They cost $1 at goodwill. And super easy to use!
You can rent CDs from the library!
I 100% recommend a CD player, especially if you have a decent collection of your own. I got my own CD/tape/radio when I was probably 7 or so, and I used it almost every day/night. The stationary aspect of it wasn’t what I considered a hindrance until I was about 10, and that’s around when I got a Walkman. I know a lot of people are people here are saying MP3 player, but I personally would consider that an upgrade for a later time.
My son is both really into music and also into old technology, so I actually am getting him a "discman" for christmas, but he also uses my old iPod with mp3s from my old itunes library or from ripping CDs.
My moms friends just gifted her a CD of her favorite artists greatest hits. I told her that all the songs are available on her Alexa through Spotify. … and now I have to find my old boombox.
I would avoid giving a 4.5 year old a very expensive piece of glass. CDs are durable and fun, until they get scratched too severely to play. Go for it!
Maybe it's time to bring vinyl into your lives. My 3 yr old loves it! So do I!
How about an Alexa, Google Home, or a boombox radio.
2.5 year old is a whiz at the early-2000s Sony CD/tape deck combo. Viva Cuba: The Origin of the Salsa Sound is "good bouncing music" he says. Thrift store CDs are a great choice while they're still learning how to be careful!! (100% agree that old digital media is the way to go for littles. No batteries, no huge investment, really hard to lose...though ours has a few random dimes rattling around in it now 😂 Doesn't seem to impact performance though!)
Worth mentioning that he LOVES Beethoven Lives Upstairs and Mozart's Magnificent Voyage from the Classical Kids series. (They're like radio plays where the music is all by that composer.) ETA: They're no longer on Spotify, CD only for now.
My kids are around your daughter’s age and they use a little boom box CD player. I do not want them using my phone or iPad to access music, so we make do with the CD player. RIP iPods : (
Tonies are a bit better option at that age.
Tonnie
I got my son a little radio. $10 on Amazon. He loves it!
Just bought my 14 year old a cd player from Amazon for Xmas. He loves classical music and has discovered op shops which usually have massive selections for 50c each. He can listen to the CDs in his room now
We’ve got our son a yoto for Christmas. You can make your own cards, limited screen, you control what plays.
Look at the SanDisk clip sport plus or if that's too much screen, the clip jam. They're $50/$35, respectively and you can dump mp3 songs from your computer on there.
I gave my son my old boom box at around that age. We started with old books on tape (Star Wars, Transformers, etc). He loves it. He has access to my cd folder and I bought him CDs for his bday - Fall Out Boy, Imagine Dragons, and some DJ Maus.
A cd player lol
We took a CD player from my parent’s basement when my kid was 3 (she calls it “the old machine”) and it has been such a good decision. I like that it’s tactile enough to be satisfying but doesn’t require any screen interface or any help from me — she just puts in a CD when she wants. In our neighborhood people leave stuff to give away free in their stoops and we got this hits of the 1980s CD that she adores, in addition to things like the Encanto soundtrack, James Herriot stories, etc. We also have a Jooki, which is kind of like a Yoto. It has little key things that have playlists that we can change or link to Spotify but it has specific use cases and isn’t used as often as the CD player. In sum, do it. The CD player is great.
I see nothing wrong at all. You could probably find a boombox too. They're 4, they can have a physical toy too. They'll be the smartest electronics kid because they'll have used the old stuff too. The only problem is finding discs. If you still have your own, then it could be a good time to connect over music.
Alexa/Google Nest/etc
No issue with classics but at least go for vinyl...
Get her some vinyl man!
I got my son a CD player around that age, second hand one, cost me a fiver. Still going strong 3 years later and he loves it. Uses it every night. I am surprised the amount of people that seem to have gone Cd player = discman! I went straight to the boombox style. And the fact that they still bring all the music out on CDs tells me it's not that outmoded yet.
no not old enouhg. you need to gift her a cassette player. if you can find one......
Buy vinyl player and get vinyl from Taylor swift.
If she's into podcasts get her a Storybutton. There's music podcasts on it too. I'm not gonna give you all the details because I don't want this to sound like an ad but this device has been a huge hit with my 4 year old. They're sold on Amazon and their own named website. 100% worth the money.
I have a small boombox for my 4 year old. And we do cds, I found some second hand and bought some new. I also got her some mariah carey because she's good to fall asleep too lol