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Credit:
Reviewed / Lisa Lawrence
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Credit:
Reviewed / Lisa Lawrence
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This audio player is brimming with kid-friendly features, including an interactive pixel display, a clock, a nightlight, and more. Read More
This compact kids' audio player is portable, durable, and has the longest battery life of any player we tested. Read More
This splash-proof portable speaker easily downloads Spotify playlists that kids can customize themselves. Read More
This kids' speaker is cute and cuddly; thanks to interactive content features, it's our favorite pick for inquisitive kids and those learning to read! Read More
With its fun, intuitive controls that include squeezing and tapping, this audio player is our favorite choice for the tactile child. Read More
The world of kids’ audio has come a long way since the days of sitting on the floor with a Fisher-Price record player. Today it's hard to find such easy entertainment that kids can use independently and securely, while also giving them a break from their screens.
Enter kids' music players and kids' audio players. In recent years we've been flooded with options for these screen-free entertainment options. From Toniebox to Yoto Player—all seem to have their strengths, making for a daunting choice when you're trying to pick the best one for your kid. That's why we decided to dig deep and heavily test all of the top-selling kids' music players and audio players to determine which one is truly best and why.
It was a hard choice. Almost all of the players we tried had their own strengths but, the robust book library and dynamic usability of the Yoto Player (available at Amazon) made it our favorite choice and won it the Best Overall slot.
For our Best Value winner, we picked the Yoto Mini (available on Amazon) based on its ability to perfectly blend portability and affordability.
This is a rare list, however, where there is something for everyone. Depending on your child, you may find one of our other recommendations that may better suit their needs. Read on for what we liked—and didn't like—about each.
The Yoto Player had the best content selection of all the kids' audio players and kids' music players we tried.
The Yoto Mini is a tiny little powerhouse of a screen-free audio player.
The Jooki allows users to download Spotify playlists and podcasts to their tokens and figurines.
Storypod had the most interactive elements of all the players tested.
The Toniebox inspires kids to really listen to what they're hearing.
We loved the "choose your own adventure" element to the Lunii.
Lightweight
Cute retro design
Interactive story-telling model
Lots of bilingual content
Easy controls
Outdated USB attachment
Glitchy app
Fun designs
Includes 1-year Amazon Kids+ subscription
Good parental controls
No option to limit volume
Truth be told: We loved most of the audio players we tested.
The appeal of these portable speakers is simplicity. Were they easy to use? Could children figure them out without the aid of an adult? The easier one of these gadgets was for kids to use on their own, the higher they ranked in our testing.
We solicited the expertise of our 7-year-old and a few of his friends, ranging from ages 3 to 8. They tested the players for ease of use and for user experience and gave us their unbiased and unfiltered feedback.
To round things out, we also consulted parents. An informal poll told us that parents wanted an audio player that, first and foremost, kids could use themselves with minimal adult assistance and supervision. If there is anything we learned in our research, it's that parents are desperate for technology that they feel is safe and that doesn’t require a ton of setup, supervision, safety features, or troubleshooting.
Hi, I’m Janelle Randazza, and I’m a parenting writer at Reviewed, where I've reviewed everything from water guns to kids' bikes.
A child of the 80s, I searched far and wide for a modern upgrade on the portable tape deck I had as a kid, as a screen-free way to give my son independent access to media. These screen-free audio players have been a long time coming. I was excited to try them out and finally find the perfect player for my kid.
Beyond the initial setup, kids needed to be able to work these music players and story-telling devices on their own. Once the adults got things up and running, we gave the audio players to the kids and observed how easy it was for them to use them and work through each of their features.
Durability also ranked high. Since these players are going to get a lot of use, they needed to withstand drops, spills, and all sorts of hard knocks that little kids can put them through. To test that, we dropped each off of our dining table at a height of 2 feet and 7 inches. Because we also have a real 7-year-old at our disposal, each player got a few extra unintended drops in real-life situations as well. We then monitored for cracks and played the devices immediately after to determine durability.
The content was also important. No matter how cute or durable an audio player may be, there needed to be easy access to a variety of interesting content that keeps kids engaged. We not only perused each company's website to see what they had to offer, we requested and ordered comparable-level content to ensure that there was a level playing field when determining the children's interest levels.
Finally, we scored based on ease of portability, both around the house and for those long drives and plane rides when we are desperate for ways to keep our kids entertained. Each of these audio players was car-tested for battery life and for remote content offerings on car rides of varying lengths.
Each audio player was kid-tested.
In truth, many of the audio players we tested are dual-purpose, but some do one job better than others. If your kid is a bibliophile, you’re going to want the Yoto for its illustrious literary catalog that just keeps growing. If you have an audiophile, the Jooki is basically a traveling jukebox that downloads kids’ Spotify playlists as seamlessly as you could hope for. If you have a kiddo who loves trivia and is just learning to read, the Storypod may be your best bet.
An 8-hour charge may sound great, but—for my family—it's about a 12-hour ordeal to travel to visit family. Since our kid will either listen (or forget to turn off his device) during this travel time, we need a device with over 10 hours of battery life. Nothing is worse than an audio player dying mid-way through a story. Trust us on this one.
One of the things that made it tough to pick a winner was that content selection is really subjective. For my family, we wanted content that skewed a bit older and had more long-form stories to keep our son entertained. We recommend you visit each product website and search for content by age. If this is a device you only want to entertain your child until they are reading on their own, your selection may differ.
However, know that kids who love to read love being read to, so finding a kids' audio player that will still keep your 10-year-old reader engaged is a good investment in their lifelong love of reading.
A large part of our testing was with travel and portability in mind. When our kid is at home, books and Legos can always keep him occupied. When we are on the road is when we really need some good screen-free entertainment. If your main focus is to find something to occupy a young child when they wake in the middle of the night, you may want to consider a figurine-based audio reader. Those of us who like to travel light, however, will have different preferences.
Janelle Randazza is a writer/mother hybrid and taco enthusiast based out of Los Angeles, California.
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