The biggest problem with kid’s electronics is manufacturers tend to de-feature an existing adult product, or they create something new with the most basic functionality. In either event, the end result tends to be garbage, something not even kids want to use. Manufacturers tend to disrespect the ability of kids to understand how to use technology. I say all of that to say this, the Jazwares MP3 player is the best kid’s portable music player we’ve seen.

Getting Started

Jazwares has packed so much functionality into the device that it’s actually really useful and eventually easy to use. I say eventually, because there’s so much that the user can control, it does take a few reads of the manual to get it all down.

To start, the MP3 player comes with a standard mini-USB cable to connect to a computer. When plugged in, the internal storage of the MP3 player shows up and it’s easy to simply drag and drop files onto the device.

Once you power on Echo Echo, the LCD screen will light up giving you an actual menu system to navigate, something we’ve not seen often in comparable devices. The menus are navigated with the four-way pad on the back. Moving around the menus can be tricky, sometimes buttons needs a press and hold to do what you want, and it can be difficult at times to see on the little screen what you’re doing. The flip side though is you get more control and options than on any other kids MP3 player we know of.

Using Echo Echo

When actually playing music, the player has a standard stereo headset jack and earbuds that come with the unit. The earbuds are pretty cute, as they lock into Echo’s ears when not in use. Of course kids can use any headphones they want though.

The other listening option is the internal speaker. While there’s not a ton of power, it’s one thing that kids really loved in our testing as they could share their music with friends, or listen to music while playing, without having to wear headphones. Of course the sound isn’t robust and you’ll probably need to crank the volume to the max, but the net result is well-liked.

The depth of menus and functions come into play here too as there are a mass of options like equalizer settings, repeat options, lyrics mode, file management and more. There’s also a voice recorder that lets kids record and playback their own voice. Kids have a lot of fun with that – especially when they realize what they think they sound like is different than what they sound like on a recording.

Bottom Line

For a retail price of $34.99, you can’t do better for a kids MP3 player. The Ben 10 design might not be for everyone, but the Echo Echo body is generic enough that even kids who have no idea about the TV show thought it was cool. We also fully expect Jazwares to take the same internals and put them in other MP3 player designs.

We really like the depth of menus and operation options. Factor that in with a relatively robust 1GB of storage, speaker, voice recorder and sturdy design and you have a real winner. The only trick is that it’s a little hard to find in retail, Toys R Us appears to have it in some stores.

Rating – 4.5 out of 5 Stars – Editor’s Choice