JC Penney mp3 player any good ??

[Phunnemee]

JC Penney has a mp3 player for kids for 19.99. IT is usually 29.99. I think it is called a cool player. Anyway, does anyone know if it would be good for a 11 year old. He wants one for Christmas and I was debating on spending the 20.00 difference and getting a better one. If this one works fine, I would like to know.

 

IT will probably end up in the wash machine anyway.

[outnumbered]

Is it this one? http://www4.jcpenney.com/jcp/Products.aspx?DeptID=446&CatID=33054&CatTyp=DEP&ItemTyp=G&GrpTyp=PRD&ItemID=0d0b892&ProdSeq=1&ProdCount=7&Dep=TOYS&RefPage=SearchDepartment&ShowMenu=T&ShopBy=0&SearchString=mp3+player&S4DeptID=446

 

I'd look for a different one unless you're positive he's going to lose it/break it. That one looks very, VERY bottom-of-the-line. A flash-based one that just plugs in via USB, no software needed, would be easier to work with and there are a lot of models out there that would hold more songs.

 

Also this should probably be moved to the deal finder forum and then people can find you good alternate models. :)

[Phunnemee]

Thanks !! I just seen this mp3 player on Amazon. It only has one star out of five. I guess it is not worth the money. Hopefully he will take care of a nicer one.

[RossMAN]

Best Buy and Circuit City had a nice MP3 player for Black Friday, might still be available?

 

http://blackfriday.gottadeal.com/Item/1309

 

http://blackfriday.gottadeal.com/Item/3311

 

We bought 2 and already opened one and played around with it. For the price, it's a bargain.

[RossMAN]

Also this should probably be moved to the deal finder forum and then people can find you good alternate models. :)

Correct and thanks for the catch, thread moved.

[Tormentor]

I considered this player for my 5 year old. I too didn't want to drop a wad of cash on something that might get torn up.

 

I decided not to touch this product after research. I called the Cool P3 tech support line last week to try to get some clarification on what the actual specs for the player were, but they were clueless phone-answering, back-of-the-package-reciting drones.

 

Calculating their KBPS rate they base their estimate of 2 hours from, I think it is a mere 32 MB player. The woman on the phone said 64 MB, and maybe she's right, but I think she read the package that said 64 KBPS estimate and she didn't know bitrate KBPS from capacity MB. She also didn't have a clue when I asked if it was USB 2.0 or an older USB connection. The low price leads me to believe it is the much slower, older USB connections....very unsatisfying speed (I suffered old USB with my first digital camera and an older PC of mine).

 

So, it was important to me to be able to load up several albums (showing my age with that term, eh)...err... several CDs worth of songs on the player at once so I don't have to hear "Daddy, load me new songs, please" every 20 minutes. I wouldn't go with less than 512 MB player if you have an impatient child like mine (aren't they all that way).

 

In the end, I opted for the 25 dollar Juicebox kit from KB Toys (I have a thread in this forum about it). This kit merely got me 32 MB memory, but in my situation, I had another SD card with bigger memory...so this may not be an option for you. I just loaded every picture of her and her friends on the 32 MB card...the small juicebox screen allows boatloads of pictures to fit on the 32 MB card. I'll put the music on my spare 512 MB card.

 

The only thing this Cool P3 has going for it (and it is a VERY good thing) is the password protected parental volume control lock (you can set a maximum). My daughter will destroy her hearing if we aren't careful. At that age, they just don't understand it can hurt their ears. We will just have to continually monitor her juicebox volume.

 

I can't wait till some serious MP3 players start giving parents the volume control option.