Hear this Steve Jobs, could you please make an iPod for kids. If you take a glance at whats out there for kids, I´m sure you will end up with the same conclusion as I´ve done: It´s crap!
My daughter turns three early April. For X-mas her grandmother (my mum) got her a CD-player for Kids (model: Sing-a-long CD Player). As far as I can see, this player seems to be the choice of a lot parents or grandparents out there. Though I´ll be forever thankful for the gift from my mother, I have to say - this could have been done far better.
The "Sing-a-long CD Player" comes with a CD Player (of course), two mics with off/on-switch and seperate volume-button for mics and the CD Player. Now, my daughter is fairly smart and has very good coordination, but - has taken very little interest in the CD Player so far. She loves music, loves to sing and dance, but the CD Player just isn´t interesting. Plus, its difficult for her to work the machine.
I´m sure some of you will say that its a bit premature to have your own stereo when you haven´t turned 3 years of age. Well I disagree, and will instead give Apple the following idea for a product: The iKid/iBaby/KidPod. I´m telling you Steve Jobs, this is a killer-product for real. Not kidding you, I´d buy it in a heartbeat.
This is my idea for an iPod for kids:
- musicplayer - well you allready cracked that one haven´t you. Instead of the navi-wheel, put your ingenieers throught the test, and I´m sure they will come up with something new and innovative. My tip would be to think in buttons of different colours. Kids loves colours, and if they learn that Green is play and Red is stop, then they will remember
- screen - you allready cracked that one too. Size it up a bit, so that I can put all my daughters favorite pics into the kid-player. And yes, its handy for showing karaoke
- movieplayer - I´d be damned, but Mr. Jobs - you have that part solved too. I´m telling you, if you make a portable device for kids where they can store their favorite movies, then you have a sucsess on your hands
- touch-screen - this one you are missing on your iPods today, but it really shouldn´t be the most difficult of tasks. If I can add pictures for each artist and movie, then I´m sure my daughter would crack the navi-puzzle in a flash
- airport - hell yeah, make it possible for us daddies to update, upload pics/movies/music on-the-fly
- audio-output - yes it would be great for granddads and others to let my daughter plug into their stereo
- tv-output - same goes here. When visiting friends or family I´m sure my daughter would just love to show all the cool pics, vid-clips or movies she has on her own multimedia-center
- favorite lists - of course you allready have this one sorted. But, for dads or mums its a great tool to monitor what kind of music your daughter is listning to, and when she does it
- mics - you allready got that too. Why shouldn´t my kid be interested in recording her own singing
- iSight - oh yeah, record her own video while singing to the music playing
- shock-proof - build it solid. It needs to be able to handle a drop from at least 5´ (1,5 m or so)
- water-proof - not a must, but it would be very handy
Anyone out there know Mr Steve Jobs please hand him this idea. Going on a holiday and packing half the cd-collection for my daughter and her huge player, just isn´t interesting. Of course I can bring all her songs and pictures on my iPod. But that really isn´t an option, because my iPod is my iPod - and thats the whole point isn´t it.
Other inputs for you Apple-guys. Shape it cool, shape it crazy, make it glow in the dark, add an alarmclock, allow me to remote-activate the iSight and mic so that I can check if she is sleeping from my Mac in the livingroom. Or give her a beep-button so that she can walkie-talkie me when she is out of milk.
There is a about a million other things I could see such a player do, so I guess I´ll just stop here. I´ve got to have some sales-pitches left if Mr. Jobs calls. Anyone else out there have an iPod-wish?
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