Faced with the invasion of screens and often very (too?) Alarmist reports, parents are increasingly concerned about the time their little ones spend on tablets, smartphones, PCs, consoles, etc. LCD or OLED, in our minds of tormented parents, it’s white cap and white cap: screens are evil.
To give back all its power to the imagination, certain manufacturers are developing products that focus on its most powerful expression: sound. In the jungle of products that can be bought at Christmas, one device stands out: the Yoto Player – or Yoto player in our beautiful country. At the same time a connected speaker, a night light, a radio and a story reader. An almost perfect solution for those who want to support the development of their child, and their imagination … without a screen.
For those who already have the experience of Lunii “the factory of history”, the Yoto Player turns out to be very different. If it is still 40 euros more expensive than its French competitor – 100 euros, that’s a good sum! – it is also incomparably better in every way. And very different in philosophy.
A truly complete device
Some offers offer audio systems with preloaded content, others only chargeable via cable (Lunii), others only streaming (Merlin), etc.
Yoto does it all at once and even a little more. Stories, music and other podcasts can be purchased and played using credit card sized cards. You can also launch content from the smartphone app, purchased story, podcast, or use Yoto as a Bluetooth speaker.
And when it comes to sound, this is the best audio player for kids. We’re not going to talk about ultra-crystal clear Dolby DTS sound, we are not. But the sound is clean and clear, the stories and podcasts are more than just intelligible: you hear everything cleanly and you don’t feel any hearing fatigue after the 7th reading of this damn story (well yes, but because of the story, not because of the sound).
On the manufacturing side, it’s flawless: the quality of the materials, the design of the device, and the touch of the buttons make it a truly premium device – still happy at 100 euros!
In terms of connectivity, the power is supplied via a proprietary magnetic connector and the device is equipped with a headphone jack whose parent can limit the output power (again, via the app).
Too bad the silicone cover, which protects the device and adds a carrying handle, is sold as an option.
With a large 16×16 pixel display, Yoto displays the time and weather, day, and moon phase, at night.
Small refinement of papa hen: when you put the device head (the display) down in the evening, a ring of LEDs starts to shine very slowly and serves as a night light. And here again, the Yoto teams went to the end of the work since the color of this garland can be configured via the app.
The return of physical media
To take advantage of the stories, one of the first solutions is to buy stories in the form of a credit card to be inserted into the device. In reality, the cards only contain an NFC chip: you must be connected to the Internet the first time you plug in the card, the content is then downloaded into the internal memory (8 GB) and as soon as the child (or grandma!) insert the card, the story begins.
The left button is used to adjust the volume, the right button is used to change the chapter. Depending on the book, each chapter may have an image / icon displayed which in some cases lets you know which chapter you are in – in Julia Donaldson’s “The Ugly five” the chapters look like animals from every part of the story.
This physical medium allows children to “physically” choose which story they want to put in the reader. In addition to offering an anchor in the real and finite world, a rather saving experience in our universe of “infinite” digital content platforms, the use of maps avoids a sometimes a little tedious scanning with preloaded content Lunii style.
Acquired licenses and blank cards
The use of cards is both a strength and a weakness since in order for the child to remain 100% independent in his choice of stories, he must bring his cards with him. What if he forgets or loses them? This is where the Yoto development team did well.
On the one hand, the introduction of a card guarantees you access to the license: you took Yoto from granny and mini-you don’t have the card of his favorite story? You can still play it via the app on your smartphone. Stronger: if he has lost the card, you can reprogram a blank card (purchasable by floor of 5 or 10) so that it serves as a replacement card. All you have to do is place the card in Yoto and program it via the app with the license you acquired the first time you inserted the card.
Even better (yes, yes): if you have bought audiobooks in MP3 / AAC format (or CDs that you will encode in these formats), you can program these cards with your files.
Put them on your smartphone, go get them via the app and presto, the audio book CD version of Aladdin that Uncle Jacky gave him last year becomes a card or a story on a card (up to 100 files and 600MB). And you can even personalize the stories and chapters by uploading images that the app converts into icons that display on the player!
For podcasts, the handling is less elegant since you can make a playlist, but episodes already published, the links to the live stream do not work.
Podcasts and daily newspaper
If you buy the player and stories, in addition to the fact that you can upload your own content, you also have to take into account the offer of integrated podcasts. And more particularly a daily newspaper produced by the Yoto teams. If the business is English, this children’s journal – with activities, dates, birthdays, etc. – also exists in French version (Mini Journal Yoto).
Tested with the English version of the newspaper, the show became my monster’s first morning reflex. As much for the educational side as for the loooong litany of birthdays ^ _ ^
In French, we are therefore entitled to the “Mini Journal Yoto”, to “Stories in music” from Radio Classique (read by the incredible Élodie Fondacci), to “Maman j’ai missed l’Actu” (for the 8- 12 years old), to the “Imaginary walks” of the Musée d’Orsay, and to “Kidico: my sound encyclopedia”. In addition, there are 17 programs in English.
A practical, but proprietary charger
The magnetic charger delivered has the strength of its qualities. It is practical and safe for children, since it only delivers current when it is completely in contact with the device. The magnetism makes it possible to avoid manipulations involving an unnecessary fine motor skills acquired by the youngest audience.
But besides the fact that it is bulky with its large power supply unit, it is above all an owner. Which means that in case of loss, theft, immersion in a lava lake or gnawing by a raccoon, you have to get another one … and judging by the Yoto website, the company is like Everyone hit hard by the shortage of components and no backup charger has been available for about two months.
Fortunately for paranos who would be interested in the concept, but refuse to go through such a charger, a Yoto Mini has just been released. A more compact travel version that recharges via USB-C.
The Yoto Player is not the most expensive of “children’s audio player speakers” for nothing: it is also the best finished, the most complete and the one that offers the best sound.
The French audio library is now rich with more than a hundred stories, activities, podcasts and other music. In addition to the physical card system, its main function is the ability to load your own content into the speaker, thus allowing you not to lose the benefit of audio CDs and other MP3s that you have already purchased – other Lunii-style systems and Merlin are completely closed on this side.