Review: Disney Mix Lights Digital Music Player
Written on Dec 8, 2009 by Brian and filed under Digital Blue, Disney, Reviews
Disney has expanded on their digital media products for kids with the Mix Lights line of digital media players from Digital Blue. The Mix Lights media players feature internal rechargeable batteries, 2GB of storage, SD card slot and a light show that pulses with the beat of your music.
The Mix Lights comes in four designs: Jonas Brothers, Wizards of Waverly Place, Princess Wish and Hannah Montana.
Disney Mix Lights Specs
- 2 GB Internal Memory
- SD/MMC Card Slot for Additional 2GB External Memory
- Holds up to 1000 songs/64 hours of WMA music or 480 songs/32 hours of MP3 music
- USB 2.0, Type B mini-USB connector, 3.5mm Headphone Jack Outputs
- Built-in Rechargeable Battery – Up to 16 Hours of Playtime (recharges via USB port)
- Supports Disney Mix Clips, MP3, WMA, SD/MMC Cards
- Dimensions: 1.4″ L x 3″ W x .5″ H:
- Weight: 1.2oz
Getting Started
Disney and Digital Blue have definitely made it easy to work with the Mix Lights series of media players. In the box is everything you need including USB cable for charge and file transfer, a set of earbuds, lanyard, and the Disney Mix Central software.
To get started, you’ll want to charge the battery on the unit. To do this simply plug it into a computer. On a PC the player shows up as a storage device, which makes it easy to manually copy files over. If you have an SD card in the player, the card will show as a separate storage device. For some kids copying files straight to the player might be easiest. For those who are a little more advanced, the included Mix Central software is also available. The software lets kids sync their music to the player, create playlists and other related activities.
Listen Up!
After you load up the player with songs, it’s time to get listening. All the navigation is handled with the cutely designed Mickey Mouse ears buttons on the back of the player. The buttons are the key interface, as there’s no visual display on the player. The mouse ears are used to put the player in a repeat loop, or to have it make random playlists in the mix it mode. The mouse head if you will, is used to play/pause songs and to skip/fast forward and previous song/rewind. The power button, with hold lock, is on one side while the volume control is on the other.
The fun part is on the front – where the mix lights are. When you press the Disney logo button, you toggle the dancing lights on/off. When they’re on, kids get to see a light show that bounces around to the beat of the music. The lights are pretty fun. While it’s difficult to figure out exactly what each one represents, like treble or bass, they seem to move around appropriately. Kids who tested the unit largely enjoyed the option to have the lights on, they felt it gave the device a little more personality. It’s also a unique way to broadcast the fact that you’re listening to music.
Bottom Line
We listened to a few hours of music on the Mix Lights. The only problem we found was a small stutter between songs on the media card. The issue is really only noticeable on live tracks, so it’s hard to complain too much. Of course any MP3 player is going to get compared to the iPod. The 2GB Shuffle runs $20 more MSRP (Mix Lights is $39) and doesn’t have a memory card slot or the lights and Disney branding. The media player comes with everything you need out of the box, has a long lasting battery and the Mix Central software is pretty solid too if you choose to use it. Kids quickly figured out how to use it, meaning parents don’t have to help much. All in all, it’s a solid offering and reasonable purchase for kids who aren’t ready yet for a full-featured media player.
Rating – 4.5 out of 5 Stars – Editors’ Choice
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