MP3 Player Teddy bear

UPDATE 2/10/2013: After less than a month of use, the track forward button started to fail. Now, after about 6 weeks of use, it completely failed and the track back and play/stop buttons are also starting to fail. This has rendered the bear almost useless for music playing and is now just another stuffed animal to add to my son's collection--a very expensive one at that. Unfortunately, this is just outside of Amazon's return period. The manufacturer mentions no warranty on their website and have not responded to my email inquiry.

Downgraded from 4 stars to 1.

ORIGINAL REVIEW:

I purchased this for Christmas for my 3-year-old. I was looking for a simple, but durable MP3 player/speaker combo and didn't even fathom something like this exists. I'm grateful I stumbled upon it while browsing through Amazon. It is very soft and cuddly. This is his favorite gift.

The bear is very easy to use--I imagine a child at least as young as 2 could figure it out. On the feet are soft, felt buttons for volume, track forward/back, and play/stop. There is a red LED inside the bear's chest that beats like a heart when it is on. It will turn itself off after about 10 seconds of inactivity. The MP3 player is preloaded with 5 lullabies.

It seems very safe as well. The MP3 play is embedded inside the bear, in an unopenable, non-removable plastic pod. The bear has a fairly innocuous velcro slit in the seam of its back to access the pod, where there is a short USB cable and an on/off switch (in case you want to totally disable the bear)--that's it.

My only major complaint is that no instructions come with the bear except reference to the manufacturer's website, which is fairly primitive, buggy and is not helpful at all. It just gives you the ability to purchase a custom soundtrack and upload your own MP3's to be programmed into the bear, but for $20. This is not necessary, but it took me days to figure out how to load music correctly myself. When plugging the bear into the computer's USB port, it appears as a memory drive, where you can drag and drop files. Seems simple enough. However, after much head scratching, trial and error, I figured out that each MP3 file name must begin with a number (i.e. 01, 02, 03, etc.) and the bear will play the files in that order. If the files are unnumbered, they will not play. If there are multiples of the same number, only one of the tracks with that number will play. Additionally, the files must be MP3's. Tracks pulled directly from a CD (MP4) and most from iTunes (various file types) will not work. I downloaded some freeware (Music Disc Creator) to convert MP4's to MP3 and now we're good to go.

Some of the complaints on other reviews are no longer valid. The volume has persistence, meaning it stays at the volume last used when turned on. Also, there are no replaceable batteries--it is charged through the USB port (or you can get a USB plug adaptor to plug it into a wall outlet). It lasts quite a while on a full charge--at least 20 hours of play time, I'm guessing. It still does not remember the last track played--it always starts at track 01 when turned on--but the little one figured out very quickly how to skip to the songs he wants to hear.

Overall, this is a great buy.

I purchased this CuddleTunes bear in Jan of 2012, so I've been able to see the pros and cons of its features.

Pros:

The internal storage holds a LOT of music/audio plenty for a young child to fall asleep to, and lots of room for loved ones to record stories/audio on

The ability to download audio recordings from loved ones in a far-off location is a bonus

The bear is pretty "cuddly" at least according to our daughter's preference of stuffed creatures :)

The battery life is pretty good, and it's easy to replace AA batteries (compared to those little circle batteries or more expensive C or D batteries sometimes used in little-kid products).

Cons:

The music volume defaults on the LOUDEST setting every time you turn it on. This can be an issue if you're trying to put your young one to sleep and forget that the volume will start cranked up. There is no way to change this default setting.

The music volume takes a long time to turn down as well you need to press the foot button many times (or press and hold for several seconds) before you start to hear the volume change.

There is no "lock" button for the player controls, so we don't like our child sleeping with it because she ends up either turning up the volume accidentally, or stopping the music altogether (which defeats the purpose of putting her to sleep with it). Because of this we usually turn the bear on, set the volume, and then place it outside of the crib for her to listen to. (I know I know, it's not as fun as cuddling with it.)

The upload feature is a little cumbersome because each time you want to upload some audio/music onto the bear, you need to unvelcro the back, plug the USB cord into it (and the computer) and then begin the upload process. This takes SEVERAL minutes each time. A better idea would be to incorporate a wi-fi feature into the bear that allows you to send music to it without messing with cords, velcro, and the time it takes to continue uploading new features.

No playlist feature which means if you have both music and audio books on the bear, there is no way to separate them by selecting audio or music. You have to scroll through the tracks until you find what you want. A playlist button (or something similar) would be a great feature to add as well.

Pink ribbon fell off after 4 months (not a big deal though).

Summary: For the $60 price tag, I find the features given a little lacking. I would love to see some of the suggested features listed above incorporated into this bear as technology certainly allows for it. I think they could incorporate some (if not all) of the suggested features above and still hit a $60 price tag, but a tag that many more would be willing to pay (in my opinion).

That's it for now!

Buy MP3 Player Teddy bear Now

This bear idea has everything to be the best thing ever but the quality is so bad... I'm trying to upload more songs to the current ones but the bear is not updating it. The computer shows Ive deleted the songs and added more but when I test on the bear it doesnt update. Also, the website is so bugged... it is horrible. You cant scroll down properly nd uploading song via their website is a nightmare. Also, we couldnt find out how to recharge the bear. after many trials my husband figured out that you need to turn the bear off and then charge it otherwise it doesnt work. I would not recommend anyone to buy this.

Read Best Reviews of MP3 Player Teddy bear Here

The first bear I ordered did not work. Amazon was VERY helpful with attempting to correct the problem and when that did not work it was replaced the next day. The new bear stopped working 5 weeks later. I am now attempting to obtain a refund. I am not pleased with the quality of the bear's sound or ease of use. I do NOT recommend this product.

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Cuddletunes Teddy Bear MP3 Player and Web Recorder with Blue RibbonCuddletunes Teddy Bear MP3 Player and Web Recorder

The Cuddletunes Bear is the perfect gift for young children and older kids too. It's a great way for families to stay connected. We live on the East Coast and our grandsons live on the West Coast. With the "magic" of a Cuddletunes Bear, we can continue to read bedtime stories, even when we are thousands of miles away. While visiting our grandson, he couldn't wait to share with us his personalized lullabies. It is a combination of an old fashioned cuddly toy and the best use of today's technology.