Are there walkmans (or something) for kids these days??

[WingingItOverHere]

Hi all!

We've got a big trip coming up with loads of driving but my children (4 and 6) get travel sick, so screens are a no. I remember loving having my own Walkman and choosing what I wanted to listen to - does anyone have something similar for today? I don't want to give them my phone as I'll need it. Is there a basic, child-friendly player out there that you use or recommend?

I actually think it's really sad that today my kids don't know the joy of having just a few cassette tapes and playing them to death!

Thank you!

Portable cd players still exist (Argos sell them) and you can buy CDs for pennies from charity shops.
Or get an MP3 player and download the music onto it.

I bought little MP3 players off Amazon. I had to download music onto it, which basically meant my old music library from uni plus mp3 albums bought and downloaded from
Amazon.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0BXXF1VHZ?ref=ppxpoppmobappshare

We use a Tonie box for 4 year old. He can swap stories on it himself and has headphones for in the car on long journeys

I still use MP£ players - they are still around, simple to use, easy to buy from amazon

I feel utterly stupid to ask but how do you download music onto it in the way you describe? I'd love one for my son

OP, we got a Yoto mini and it’s been the best thing ever. I wanted the exact same thing as you for my kid, and it’s been amazing. Recommend getting the Make Your Own blank cards and then loading stuff on there, you can download audiobooks free off Borrowbox and rewrite the cards an infinite number of times. Lots of Yoto posts on mumsnet. Spendy but absolutely worth it.

Ahh this shows how much of a hoarder I am as I've still got my cassette Walkman, portable CD player, my minidisc player and my mp3 player. Mind you I've also still got my record player too.

Sorry not very helpful. Portable CD player might be the easiest as there's no faff of downloading tracks.

How about some children's stories on CD using a portable player?
Or something download from Audible ?

Something like this CD

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Roald-Charlie-Chocolate-Factory-Stories/dp/B01J88QW56/ref=sr111?crid=2EBPOHP8N69R0&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.W4s47UyPVdqGTZ0fMoYul1gtPkcVLBDpWKqki20DnPcrcv4rsrLz0e4ILQ5ZpEwkq-77sL3JBETTjIamWnXzY0WYizaK8iMHeWJ3UVV3N3gsKHvfkecxx25u8DDN7RJeCHaG5S66ts60-PzxP0faKzZ74gQXpnmbE996CSR9tHUQnRbbpTaD21DSDMleTPKrp8x6Mj3JS7qc1NjbQznVGm4s46XC71bEOuHwWbHs.a2XObYt0fvZpgXTpEHPGAVWHSX1ep2Jlacui3m4rTc&dibb_tag=se&keywords=kids+story+cds+age+5-8&qid=1719308857&sprefix=Kids+story+cd%2Caps%2C96&sr=8-1

MP3 players are ace, but you either need a laptop or an mp3/ iPod which can directly download via Wi-Fi.
Mine had mp3 with expandable memory. Lots of kids audio books and lots of my crappy music!

Cheap ipod from CEX?

@Abracadabra12345 it has a USB cable, one end of which you plug into your laptop. It appears as a separate drive in your file explorer window, just like a memory stick. Then you download music onto your laptop via amazon music or similar (you have to actually buy the downloadable MP3 files, or rip CDs to your laptop). Then you drag and drop the files from your C:/ drive to the mp3 player and it downloads via the USB cable.

I had tonnes of MP3s at university that I had ripped from friends or downloaded via Napster/Limewire and they were all still on an old laptop (thank goodness for Apple copying files forward), so that was a great start - then I bought albums online and from Downpour which has downloadable audiobook MP3s.

yoto is good

Re screens, we have clips that hold an iPad on the back of the seat in front. It doesn't make you sick in the same way if not looking down into your lap (my kids are very sicky but are fine with this, I'd say it actually helps)

We do a lot of long car trips and rely on iPads

Oh also bear in mind that bulky headphones might not fit if they are in a high back booster, so get some slimmer ones

We just play audiobooks via my phone info the car for my two primary aged DC. We listen to anything from harry potter, Enid blyton to radio 4 comedy which is technically inappropriate but they've learnt a lot about politics!

I found my old cd player child was delighted...still had old cds and you can get from Amazon etc... liked the physicality of choosing i think!

And has now bought themselves a tape player as they are back in fashion too apparently!

Yotos are great. There's a lovely community online that allows you to share audiobooks and music. You can also download audio from libraries.

And yes we also have audiobooks on our phones (dh and I). Child friendly but adult tolerable like roald Dahl, Disney stories and songs as needed.

On tonies Ds likes things like fireman Sam, octonauts, and Elmer at the moment

Thank you @Xiaoxiong

Thank you everyone! All super helpful suggestions, I'll start checking out my options. Lovely people, I salute you!

My dc are a bit older so this might be a tip for the future for you…. but we do a lot of long car journeys and mine have an old phone each (not internet enabled and no roaming just a basic old phone with a cheap sim card) and we have a Spotify family account so they each have their own accounts/playlists. And a set of wired earphones each.

Caveat is they have to have downloaded the music prior to the trip from home on the wifi.

There's no reason they can't get that joy! Just buy some second hand cassettes and a player ob eBay!
But the modern version I suppose is an mp3 player.