Which ipod (or other mp3 player) for a 6 year old?

[AllBuggiedOut]

Thinking of getting DS1 something to listen to audio books and music on. It'll be used predominantly in his room, so wondering whether docking station and small speakers would be good too, to avoid too much headphone usage. I'd welcome any advice/recommendations. Thanks.

7y DD has our old Nano, 2meg, and a docking station/CD player/radio for her room. She uses it all the time, so it is great fror her to have. I am teahing her how to use iTunes to updating it herself, etc.

However, audiobooks can cause some problems. It depends how they are recorded, but they can be a pain when chosing random on the iPod (how DD usually listens) as bits of stories come up on it - that is why DD#'s socking station also has a CD player.

DD has almost filled her 2 meg iPod though so we may buy her a bigger one come Christmas.

Thanks - whatś random, and is that how you have to listen? Can you not simply choose the book you want and get it all the way through? Ta.

Oops, my attempt at an apostrophe was a bit random there, sorry!

random - sorry, meant the word shuffle, but at time of writing couldn't think what it was called, lol. Shuffle is when it plays all the songs in a random order.

Wether or not you have to play by shuffle depends ont he make and model of MP3 player you get. For example the iPod Sguffle only plays in a shuffled or random order.

With others, no. You can play by artist/album instead. DD prefers shuffle to get a mix of songs.

Ah, ok, so an ipod shuffle is a no-no. Iḿ encouraged that nobodyś telling me itś a bonkers idea for a 6 year old! Any other views on make/model?

BTW, the ipod has a feature where you can set the maximum volume yourself and lock it, which might be useful when he does use the headphones as it is quite easy to crank up the volume gradually to a risky level when there's background noise around.

the touch is fab, so easy for a child to use. I'm constantly trying to get my 2.5 and 4 year old to give it back to me. Loads of useful, fun and educational applications can be added to it making it far more than just an ipod.

My 5 yo loves the Touch and constantly borrows it. I have quite a few apps loaded on it for her. But she doesn't really get on with the headphones and it would make an expensive gadget for a small child!

She has a cd player in her room to have story cds at bedtime - to me that is enough....(Disclaimer....We do read to her as well....)

Yes porto you are right, mine sports a rather large crack in the top right hand corner of the screen . But the kid friendly apps are really good. Yes it would be a seriously expensive gadget for a small child you are right, but hey this is MN so you never know!

Go for the touch with it's built in speaker over the nano

My 5 and 4 year olds both have a shuffle, they are great. They don't have to be on shuffle - you can set them to play straight through.

And they are only £30 atm.