Rusted Sky

First question is what kind of music/audio does he like? If he likes OTR, oldies, classical, techno, whatever, then go through whats available. There is age-appropriate stuff in most any genre, with the exception of gangsta rap. Keep in mind that his tastes will change over time. For example, when I was nine or so, I liked "both kinds" of music because that was what my dad listened to. Then I discovered rock music.

BTW, I have a CD with a whole bunch of the radio show Space Patrol in mp3 format, if you're interested.

Jerry:

As far as content goes I can only tell you one thing; the little guy is going to want his own music. Probably you'll hate it, I know I did when the granddaughter was addicted to Disney. I rigorously enforced only one rule when she was riding in the truck with me, NO CHIPMUNKS! Any time a song started playing on Disney Radio that featured singing chipmunks I immediately changed the station to a soft rock station. Eventually she started prefering the Temptations and Elton John to the damn chipmunks.

As far as content for the MP3 player goes, let him find his own music and you make him a deal. If he'll pay for one song out of his allowance you pay for three others as long as he'll let you put 1 song on his player for every 3 that he picked. Do that and you'll at least be able to monitor what he's listening to and maybe you can get him hooked on the good stuff.

As far as the player itself goes; remember he's 9, buy him something small and cheap. He'll probably lose it or break it before he's 10.

Fry's has a very cool looking Sandisk Sansa™ m240 MP3 Player 1GB for less than $40.

http://shop1.outpost.com/%7ByYXhr0VaASbRwFXPHXPl0Q**.node3%7D/product/4727409

If you want to upscale a little more Fry's has the Very Cool 1 gig Ipod Shuffle for $75.

http://shop1.outpost.com/%7ByYXhr0VaASbRwFXPHXPl0Q**.node3%7D/product/5015375

I wouldn't buy anything less expensive than the $40 Sandisk. You can buy stuff on the very cheap end but its fragile and probably won't be able to stand 9 year old usage.

otpu

I got the little guy a Sandisk E140 - takes SD cards, and has a gig of memory to start with. Paid $35 on Woot.com for it.

We'll be watching his content. Right now, he wants jazz and '40s swing - kind of odd, come to think of it. That's what he'll choose off Sirius when he gets the chance...

James - I don't know about Aaron, but I'd like the Space Patrol serials! Can I trade you some Jimmy Stewart western MP3s?

J.

Check out the public library. At most librarys, kids can check out CDs (music and audiobooks) for free, and you can rip them for the mp3 player back at home (or right there with a laptop). The advantages are that it's free, it's free of questionable content, and it gets the kid into the library, which can't be a bad thing.

The iPod shuffle is remarkably tough. At least mine is.

Check out the public library. At most librarys, kids can check out CDs (music and audiobooks) for free, and you can rip them for the mp3 player back at home (or right there with a laptop). The advantages are that it's free, it's free of questionable content, and it gets the kid into the library, which can't be a bad thing.

The iPod shuffle is remarkably tough. At least mine is.