Recommendations for Toddler Tape Players?

[Motherofone]

Can anyone recommend a virtually indestructible tape player for my son (aged 2). He loves listening to tapes and is very stubborn about wanting to put them in himself, but dh is getting stressed as he can now reach the hi-fi! I think we need something very simple, with big chunky buttons, and a sturdy tape door/flap. Preferably no dangly bits (e.g. microphones / headphones) and ideally works from batteries/ mains.
Any recommendations Mumsnetters?

Motherofone, we have had our Fisher Price one for 4 years now and its been brilliant value. Easy to use and carry for little ones. There is a microphone that attaches securely to the side, he usually ignored this. It works from both batteries and mains, and now he's older we can put headphones in it too.

Motherofone, We have a Early Learning Centre one. Nice colours and chunky buttons. Only problem is the microphone attached to the side might get yanked off by 2yo. Have to say most 2yo find putting the tape in the machine the most challenging, though I haven't seen the Fisher Price one recommended by Ems. Most tape machines I have seen are recommended from age 3? ELC might have a non microphone version.

Motherofone - I'd recommend the Fisher Price one as well. My daughter's has been well bashed and battered but it's still working. Plus the microphone is great - she loves taping her own voice. Plus, I can do my French assignments on it!

Sorry to hear the Fisher Price tape recorder is indestructable. Mother in law has got our son one for Christmas and I'm not looking forward to it one bit. She didn't ask us what he'd like and believe me a tape recorder would not have featured on the list!! Aaaaarrrgggghhhhhh - and there I was dreaming of an quiet Christmas - no electronic toys for a change, no VTech jingly jangly tunes.

Don't be afraid! The Fisher Price one is brilliant and it doesn't have to blare out annoying nursery rhymes. Our two use it to listen to bedtime story tapes(after dad has read them their nightly chapter of Harry Potter) and it's a fantastic way of getting them to stay in bed!

I was just about to post the exact same question. Can you tell me where you can find the Fisher Price one, I've looked in the Argos catalogue but couldn't find one.
I think this is a brilliant present for a toddler as they do love music and you can buy some lovely tapes so this is my must buy for Xmas.
Thanks.

I guess we've been unlucky. Two Fisher Price tape recorders lasted a year or less, but we have an ELC one going strong after 2 1/2 years of daily abuse.

Janus - I got mine - or hers, I should say - in Toys are Us (I'm not going to spell it that horrible way.) It was about 2 years ago now.

Janus
Have another look in Argos - I'm sure I saw it in there after it was mentioned in this thread (but I haven't got around to buying yet).
However I did see a very similar one in ELC today (perhaps a few pounds more expensive?).
Thanks everyone for recommendations!

We got a little tikes cassette recorder from elc for our son 2.5 years ago and its still going strong. Its been dropped down the stairs,off the kitchen table and out in the street and is still very much in on piece.

ds had one for christmas approx 4 or 5 years ago and it still works. It was from Boots, doesn't come with any attachments although you could buy them separately to plug in, also battery operated (can't remember if we had a mains cable for it, as it's always been run from batteries). Not sure whether they still sell them though. On the noise front, I don't have to suffer it, MIL keeps it at her house.

Do you find your little ones destroy the tapes? This is another worry. I've got visions of unravelled tape. Actually, I did think I could at least now borrow the story tapes from my local library, but tape destruction paranoia got hold of me!

OK - we ended up getting the Little Tikes one from Jonhn Lewis - it seemed marginally more sturdy than the Fisher Price. SO far so good - ds loves it and has been playing Christmas carol tapes non-stop since he got it.
The microphone, although noisy, is an added bonus when I want to call dh upstairs - he can't pretend he can't hear me any more!!