SanDisk Sansa Shaker (512MB, pink)
As shown: $39.99
See manufacturer site for availability
CNET Editors' Review
CNET Editors' Rating
- Reviewed by: Jasmine France
- Reviewed on:
The good: The SanDisk Sansa Shaker features a simple, kid-friendly design and will be available in a variety of colors. The player is half-toy and shuffles up music when shaken. Fun sound effects when the player is paused or turned on and off add to its appeal. It's inexpensive and includes an external speaker and two headphone jacks for sharing.
The bad: The flap covering the ports on the bottom of the Shaker may not be durable over time, and the lack of rechargeable battery may not appeal to everyone. The player only supports MP3s.
The bottom line: If you want to get your children started on digital music at a young age, the Sansa Shaker provides a great way to do so: it's inexpensive, simple, and acts like a toy.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Disney is the Apple of the children's portable entertainment market. Still, as with the iPod, others will not stand idly by and let the Mix Stick and Mix Max go unchallenged. Enter the SanDisk Sansa Shaker, the latest MP3 player aimed at getting your youngster into the digital audio game. And at $40 with a dead simple design, it's definitely up to the task.
The Sansa Shaker was designed with the little ones in mind and it shows. Its hourglass shape makes it perfect for small hands, and as it's about the size of a ... Expand full review
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Disney is the Apple of the children's portable entertainment market. Still, as with the iPod, others will not stand idly by and let the Mix Stick and Mix Max go unchallenged. Enter the SanDisk Sansa Shaker, the latest MP3 player aimed at getting your youngster into the digital audio game. And at $40 with a dead simple design, it's definitely up to the task.
The Sansa Shaker was designed with the little ones in mind and it shows. Its hourglass shape makes it perfect for small hands, and as it's about the size of a salt shaker (3 inches tall and 1.5 inches in diameter at the wide ends), it won't be a choking hazard. The player has no screen--just a few simple controls. There's a play/pause button on the front with an LED ring that lights up when the unit is powered on. You can shuttle through tracks by twisting a ring around the bottom of the Shaker and adjust volume via a similar ring around the top. SanDisk has taken young ears into account and implemented a volume limiter feature that defaults to a safe volume every time the earbuds are plugged in, no matter how far the external speaker is turned up.
About that speaker: its presence at the top of the Shaker definitely adds to its salt shaker-esque appearance. SanDisk also included two headphone jacks, which is always a nice touch in MP3 players aimed at youngsters. However, only one set of headphones is included with the player. A flap on the bottom of the unit conceals a standard mini USB port, a battery compartment (one AAA included), and an SD card slot. The Shaker has no built-in memory, but it does come with one 512MB card, which should be plenty for the younger set. You also might want to consider picking up a few 256MB cards (at $10 to $15 a pop) and loading each one with different content (one for sing-a-longs, one for audiobooks, and so on).
Hide ReviewSince 2003, Jasmine France has worked at CNET covering everything from scanners to keyboards to GPS devices to MP3 players. She currently cohosts the Crave podcast and spends the majority of her time testing headphones, music software, and mobile apps.
User Reviews
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Showing 3 of 6 reviews
"Love this mp3 player!" By niambra
Pros: Great for kids. Survives the bottom of a toy box. Lack of a display screen adds for extra durability.
Cons: none that I can think of
Summary: My daughter has had this for several years now. It has lasted longer than any other mp3 player she has had. It can take lots of abuse and still work, even after being in the bottom of a toy box. Music is easily downloaded from the computer to a SD ... Expand full review
"Fantastic!!" By redheadjlyn
Pros: My 2 year old could use it! The 'shaker' part doesn't really matter, just the fact it plays music on an integrated speaker is enough! It is now 3 years later and we're still going strong!
Cons: I had to 'reset' it once, no biggie. It had stopped working, so I wrote to Sansa and they sent me back the reset instructions that worked perfectly! This thing just can't be taken down! :)
Summary: Got this 3 years ago and it's still being played with - hard! The controls are simple to use and anyone with any basic computer knowledge can get the music on and off with no problem. Bottom line? I just bought 15 of these for Christmas to give away! :)
Specifications
See full specsQuick Specs
- Digital Storage / Capacity: 512 MB
- Flash memory installed: 512 MB
- Digital player supported digital audio standards: MP3
