Cuddletunes MP3 Player Teddy Bear with Blue Ribbon

This is quite possibly one of my favorite gifts I have ever given. I have four local grandchildren, and now a new one who is an 8 hour drive away. I'm very close to my local grandchildren and have been trying to figure out ways to be as close as I can be to this far away granddaughter. I happened to catch an episode of Shark Tank featuring this product while I was trying to come up with Christmas ideas, and before the episode was over I had bought this bear. It is the perfect idea for my situation.When I received the bear, I was very impressed with its quality. It's soft and cuddly, despite the MP3 "pod" inside it. I especially wondered if the controls on the feet would be a matter of "hit or miss" when pressing, but they are perfect. Once you create your account on line, you have access to five personalized lullabies, and several stories that you can read and record page by page (so if you mess up one page you don't have to re-record the whole thing). You can also record any story, poem, song, message, etc. of your own, and you can also upload other MP3 files. Then you can put the tracks into any order you want, and use the USB cable to synchronize everything to the bear. The sound quality during playback is excellent. The personalized lullabies are adorable, and don't have the feel of having the name dubbed in, as some personalized songs do. And now I can continue to upload stories, messages, etc. to the website, and my daughter and son-in-law can synchronize the new content into the bear. It makes me so happy that my granddaughter can listen to my voice and hear the personalized songs, as well as other content that I have uploaded.If I have any criticism -- and please understand that this is a five star review so the criticisms are small - it would be that the on-off button inside the bear is a little hard to get to. And it took a few tries to get the volume of the stories I recorded to match the volume of the personalized lullabies. But that isn't really a criticism - there's nothing the manufacturers could do about that - it's more a piece of advice to other buyers to record one thing and get the volume right before you record many things at a level that is different from the songs and then have to re-record. You can't "shuffle" the soundtrack, so it plays in the same order every time, but you can go to the website, move tracks around and then re-synchronize in order to have them play in a different order. A little cumbersome, but not that big a deal. As my granddaugher gets older she will learn to forward through to other tracks if she wishes.All in all, no question that I am beyond pleased with this bear. It is the perfect present for anyone who is absent (and even those who aren't) to give to a child.

My god daughter absolutely loves this teddy bear. She is almost two and has figured out how to change the songs to the one she wants to listen to. She holds it and dances around the room constantly. I highly recommend. Easy to use and figure out how to add songs as well

I was looking for an MP3 player for the baby's room, mainly to play during diaper changes and play time. This bear was the most decorative MP3 player I could find and the price was reasonable.Pros - the player sounds good even though the speaker is inside the bear's head. I also like the push buttons at the feet. The look and feel of the bear is great - its just like any other decorative element siting on top of the baby furniture. Uploading MP3 music is a simple drag-and-drop on the computer as with any other USB memory key.Cons - the downsides are similar to those listed in another review and are due to lack of refinement. The player always turns on at full volume so I always have to turn it down each time I use it (4-7x throughout the day). The minimum volume is not quiet enough, and turning the volume down further mutes the bear. When turning the bear on, the last track is not remembered so I usually have to skip through to find a desired song. When loading music sometimes my computer notices the bear has a speaker and plays music through the bear instead of through my main computer speakers.Overall the bear has slight annoyances but I recommend it due to the decorative quality of the bear.Wish list - I'd easily give this player 4-5 stars if any three of the following changes were made: the music volume default is at a mid-setting when turned on and the min volume is quieter, the player remembers the last song played when turned back on or has a random play feature, the included batteries are rechargeable and the bear comes with a plug-adapter and USB extension cord so it could be plugged in the wall to charge/play (like a cell phone or tablet), the battery-pack has a recessed on-off button facing outward to more easily turn off/on the unit, and the inside of the bear has more room to maneuver the battery-pack so it's not such a tight fit and difficult to re-insert after a battery change.