Reviews of internet products: Reddmango Angora MP3 Player

Just after Christmas I decided to treat myself to a new ipod as my current one was a little temperamental and only worked when it felt like it, so when a friend was selling an almost brand new one for just £25 I snapped it up! I was like a child with a new toy playing with it and adding all my music to it when my daughter decided that she was very interested in it - stupidly I let her have a listen and of course she loved it and wanted to play with it over and over again. I was so worried about her breaking it that I thought I would get her an mp3 player. As my daughter is only three I didn't want to spend a great deal of money, and I was advised to try Tesco as they sell reasonably cheap players. Before trying shops, I decided to try Ebay and I found one that looked perfect at a great price.
The Reddmango Angora MP3 player is a small black plastic gadget that looks just like a usb stick. In the centre of the player is a large silver button which are the controls and at either side you will find writing which shows the brand name "Reddmango" and "Usb disc/mp3". At the left hand side of the mp3 you will find the small hole for the headphones to be attached. Along the bottom of the mp3 you will find a small red light, and a small silver button which is the on/off button. The cover of the mp3 is removed to reveal the usb stick so you can plug it into the computer, but also to place the battery into the mp3 you need to remove the cover, and on the back you will find a long tube-like cover which also needs to be removed so you can put the battery in. The mp3 player is 1GB, which means it will hold between 200 and 250 songs depending on the length of the songs. Adding songs to the player really couldn't be any more simple. Remove the cover and pop the usb into your computer, this will install the drivers and open a folder in which you can place your songs. I used Itunes to add songs to the mp3 but you can just as easily use a media player. Simply drag the desired songs into the mp3 folder (or you can copy and paste, whichever you find easier), and then the songs will appear on the mp3. There is no synching required with this simple little player as you find with ipods or more expensive players. Now I am not technical in the slightest, but this really couldn't have been any easier, and even my mum could do it and she doesn't know anything about computers or mp3's!
It is also extremely easy to use this mp3 player, and this was very important as it is for my three year old daughter to use and I wanted her to be able to use it alone without needing someone's help each time. To switch on the player, you need to press the on button for a couple of seconds and the red light will glow to show you that the player is turned on. The music will then begin, and you can use the large silver button to skip through songs should you so wish to. Of course, as this is such a basic mp3 there is no display showing the songs so you do need to listen to the music to know what is playing. To turn the mp3 off, simply press and hold the on/off button a second time. The sound quality on this mp3 is surprisingly really good! The mp3 comes with the headphones which are the small ones which go in your ear, this isn't ideal for my daughter as her ears are just too small to put them in so I am looking to replace them with the more old fashioned earphones so she can listen better. However, she will simply hold them up to her ear when she is listening to her tunes and the sound quality is just perfect.
One downside with the mp3 is that it is battery operated only, and the battery does seem to go quite fast. It does however only take a single AA battery so in that sense it isn't expensive to keep replacing, but I do need to make sure I have replacements available for when they run out. My daughter has been using the mp3 regularly, probably a couple of times a day most days, and since first using it in January I would guess we have changed the battery around seven times, so you can see how it does drain quite quickly. I would have preferred it if there was the ability to charge the mp3 on the computer, but it isn't really a great problem as such. My daughter absolutely loves this, she really adores listening to music and having a good singalong to her Disney tunes that I have put on for her. Though I have found on several occasions that my daughter likes to listen to a couple of bars per song and then skip away happily through them al! She has seen me set off to work with my ipod on so I have had quite a few requests that she can use her mp3 when we are on our way to nursery - just so she can be like mummy!
The price of this mp3 was an absolute bargain, just £2.99 off Ebay and I couldn't be happier with the purchase. I have seen the same item for sale on Amazon for £14 so I would advise if you are looking to purchase one to definately shop around. I think this is a perfect first mp3 player for a child to use, and at that price it doesn't really matter if it gets broken or stops working.

Advantages:
cheap, easy to use

Disadvantages:
battery's drain quickly

Recommendable Yes: