Disney's Mickey Mouse MP3 Player Review

Many believe the weight of brand names is hurting consumers far more than they are helping them. The unrivaled recognition of one named product over others leads to bankruptcy, monopoly, and potential eventual price-gouging. Don't let Kraft or General Mills rule their respective parts of the grocery list. That's how the communists win.

Well, honestly, it's how progress is halted. When you give your loyal dollars to one company, you give them the ability to halt innovation in the product and cut as many corners as they like. They know you'll buy it anyway- just look at Microsoft- or rather, Apple. MP3 players are notoriously looked down upon when they don't have a certain fruit logo on them.

Competition is healthy- competition lowers prices and breeds improvements and innovation. Swear unconditional allegiance to one company and you're just begging the executives to attach their strings to you and your wallet. One such example of an impressive competitor to the iPod is Disney's Mickey Mouse MP3 Player.

The Mickey Mouse MP3 player is an inexpensive little device from Disney that comes in twelve colors and two main sizes. The available colors include green, orange, blue, red, gold, silver, black, white, pink, violet, aqua, and magenta- if you've got a favorite color, they've got it covered. The most common storage sizes being 2 gigs and 4 gigs. Ample space to save your favorite songs!

The one used for this review is a 2gig red Mickey Mouse MP3 Player. Purchased as a Christmas gift for my younger sister of sixteen years and I couldn't be happier with the choice. It has been in use for six months now and still operates perfectly- she's loved it since the moment she got it. She's stored several hundred of her favorite songs in its 2 gig memory and has few complaints.

The MP3 player itself is designed to look like a miniature version of Mickey's head with the ears replacing the buttons used for volume and searching. A twist of Mickey's left ear controls the volume while the right ear houses the search function. It's strangely satisfying to click through your favorite songs with Mickey in your pocket. The headphones plug in between the ears and the included pair are very comfortable.

For less than ten dollars you can get the 2 gig package which includes the Mickey music player itself, a USB charge transfer and charge cord, a pair of headphones, and an MP3 player that doubles as a flash drive! The design is stylish- though possibly too childish for some.

As both a 2 gig flash drive and MP3 player, the price is extremely reasonable- especially given the quality of the device. The device can keep power for several hours and charges very quickly in any USB port- your PC, Nintendo Wii, Xbox 360, Playstation 3, or anything else that supports USB! The only real drawbacks are the lack of an LCD screen to give you song information and the somewhat kiddy-look to it. Other than that, it's very durable, extremely affordable, very trendy, extremely easy to use, and fits snugly in your pocket! Thanks Disney for this quality alternative to Apple's iPod!