What a total waste of money!Avoid at all costs!!!
Written: Jan 29 '06 (Updated Jan 29 '06)
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Pros: Able to return for a full refund
Cons: Offensive & inappropriate music included; flimsy and cheap construction
The Bottom Line: AVOID AT ALL COSTS! Poor construction, OFFENSIVE MUSIC, and it ate her tapes: never again!!
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| thriftymommy's Full Review: Strawberry Shortcake Sing-A-Long Cassette Karaoke ... |
We needed a special something for our 8 year old niece this past holiday and since she sings in the children's choir, we figured something adorable and yet functional musically would fit the bill. After much deliberation, we chose the Strawberry Shortcake Sing-A-Long Cassette Karaoke Recorder/Player at Toys R Us. I was grateful that TRU allowed her to return this for a full refund without the receipt!!
According to Spectra Merchandising International
"From the Manufacturer:
The Strawberry Shortcake Sing Along Cassette Player features mono double speaker, semi auto stop cassette player/recorder, power & recorder indicator, one karaoke microphone, two microphone jacks, DC jack, analog volume control, Aux/Mic balance control and Music/Vocal Balance Control & Echo.
Features:
-Keep the party going with 2 microphone jacks, echo effect for creating exciting sounds and music/volume balance control
-Features a separate cassette holder with 4 tape pouches to hold your cassettes
-Includes master volume control and auxiliary microphone balance control
-Includes 2 sing-a-long tapes with 10 hits and 2 microphones
-4 C batteries required
-5.75Wx6.5Lx8H" 3.70 pounds."
My review
Let's start with the basics and then I can tell you why this toy was such a disaster!
Christmas Eve with the family and all are opening their gifts. I watched our niece carefully because my sister told me she really wanted her own karaoke machine and she has her own tape collection. This Strawberry Shortcake Sing-A-Long Cassette Karaoke Recorder/Player was very cute to look at with the headset and microphone plus the colorfully designed exterior. Since our niece is totally into Strawberry Shortcake, it was an immediate hit out of the box...but that success was short-lived!
This Strawberry Shortcake Sing-A-Long Cassette Karaoke Recorder/Player comes with a flimsy tape case to hold the two included cassette tape. If you remember the original soft plastic Barbie cases, it is quite similar to that. There is a cheap small velcro button closure that is centered in the middle of the case and upon opening the case, there are slots to hold up to six cassette tapes. These are the cheap clear plastic slots designed to crack and tear along the seam after using them once or twice. She placed two tapes into their snug spots and sure enough, the first slot tore at the seam...I predicted this right after opening the box!!
The headset on this Strawberry Shortcake Sing-A-Long Cassette Karaoke Recorder/Player is very cheaply made hard plastic and the "mouthpiece" cracked off almost immediately after the first use. The mouthpiece was basically free floating from the entire headset and snapped clear off at the area where it connected to the headset by our niece trying to move it to a more comfortable spot instead of resting on her chin. Without the mouthpiece, singing like Hillary Duff without the microphone was out of the question!
On opposite side of the headset Strawberry Shortcake Sing-A-Long Cassette Karaoke Recorder/Player is the earpiece which is supposed to comfortably sit on your 8-12 year old's ear. Unfortunately, they designed this earpiece for a much smaller child and our 8 year old niece didn't fit this on her ear without complaining it was too tight. I think they missed the mark when designing this headset...although it did fit our 4 year old's head. It would have been best if the manufacturer went for flexible plastic instead.
The headset wire on this Strawberry Shortcake Sing-A-Long Cassette Karaoke Recorder/Player was only 6 feet long so you need to cart the entire 4 pounds (with the 4 C batteries) around with you to sing or set it so close to you that you receive a reverberation. Not exactly ideal for Karaoke.
The handle is molded for much smaller hands than an 8 year old's; she really wasn't able to comfortably get her hand wrapped around the handle and eventually carted this around without using the handle. But, again, our 4 year old could lift the base using the handle...I don't think they truly made this for the older child.
The microphone on the Strawberry Shortcake Sing-A-Long Cassette Karaoke Recorder/Player is flimsy and cheap. It plugs into the base and the cord will extend about 3 feet. This allows for complete attachment to the headset and guarantees reverberation because of your proximity to the base. Another Karaoke flaw: you need to move or dance to the music for the full effect!!
There are two tapes included with the Strawberry Shortcake Sing-A-Long Cassette Karaoke Recorder/Player and the first tape had some age-appropriate songs like YMCA, Funkytown and others from singers Hillary Duff and Skater Boy. The second tape had what we deemed immediately as inappropriate for an 8 year old.
After plugging in the 4 monster sized batteries, our niece then put in the first tape that came with this Strawberry Shortcake Sing-A-Long Cassette Karaoke Recorder/Player and placed the hard plastic headphones on her head. After commenting on how she looked just like Hillary Duff, out comes the tunes of Fountains of Wayne and Outkast's "Hey ya"...another song had the lyrics "Stacy's mom has got it going on" and still another song had the lyrics "Dont wanna meet your momm-a, just wanna make you cumm-a". None of which I would tune in on the radio for a child let alone an impressionable 8 year old!!
It does not say on the box what songs are included; since we found the included tapes to be offensive, we decided to try her own tapes in the player instead. This proved to be a big disappointment because our niece attempted to play one of her very favorite tapes and the Strawberry Shortcake Sing-A-Long Cassette Karaoke Recorder/Player ATE HER TAPE!!!
After trying unsuccessfully to save her tape, we determined that this Strawberry Shortcake Sing-A-Long Cassette Karaoke Recorder/Player was only fit for the garbage!! Instead, we returned this toy for a full refund and our niece was able to pick out a toy of her choice.
The sound quality of this Strawberry Shortcake Sing-A-Long Cassette Karaoke Recorder/Player was worse than an old Am radio...static filled the air and whenever our niece went too close to the base with the headset (for tis short life span) or with the microphone, the base would emit a horrible screech. I also found that unless the volume was on the highest setting, you really couldn't hear the accompaniment singing...not exactly the purpose of Karaoke. Despite our best efforts, we could not manipulate the buttons to eliminate the extra loud music and increase our niece's volume. This proved frustrating and truly annoying.
Bottom Line
Don't buy novelty toy electronics. Stick with name brand and reliable electronics by manufacturers who only manufacture electronics. This Strawberry Shortcake Sing-A-Long Cassette Karaoke Recorder/Player had only one redeeming quality: we could return it for a full refund.
A big Thank You to marytara for adding this to the database so I could add my 2 cents and save someone the headache!!
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 35
Type of Toy: Other
Age Range of Child: 9 Years or Older
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Epinions.com ID:
thriftymommy
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Member: April
Location: Home of the Hindenburg Disaster, NJ
Reviews written: 90
Trusted by: 53 members
About Me:
The number of people below the official poverty thresholds numbered 36.1 million in 2005.
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