Disney Mix Sticks

[Sarangel]

From Reuters:

Walt Disney Co. on 9/29/05 said it would start selling $49.99 portable music MP3 players for kids, joining the digital music industry dominated by Apple Computer.

Disney Mix Sticks, about the size of a pack of gum, hold about 60 songs on an internal 128 megabyte storage card and can hold additional 1-gigabyte memory cards. They also can play songs sold on small memory cards.

Apple is the biggest seller of portable digital music players but others are crowding into the market. Disney said its players, in four styles including Forever Princess and Sassy Pixie, would be available at Target, Sears, Limited Too, Wal-Mart.com and at Disney's online store in mid-October.

 

[YepsenCP]

Bad idea, Apple absolutely dominates this market. Somewhere along the line Disney needs to realize they can not, and indeed should not, try to be everything to everyone. Disney is blinded by themselves, thinking only "We're Disney, it'll sell," Which in some respects is true, but not without blurring the idea of the brand and deminishing its real value.

Sorry, as much as I love Disney, I get upset that there is nothing you can't buy w/o a Disney Logo on it... Is nothing sacred?

 

[Above_the_Rim]

I dont know, that's pretty cheap, a very nice budget. But you're right, there's no reason why the Walt Disney Co. should make something like this. It falls right in line with Disney Radio, Disney Cell phone, their Disney channel that shows nothing Disney, and those Disney arcade places (whatever they were called).... The thing about ABC and ESPN is that they're owned by Disney, but the word Disney is not glued on to them anywhere

 

[Chuck S]

Probably what they have in mind is selling not only the player, but Disney music chips. It seems like a reasonable price. They could cross promote in the parks by putting "official albums" or voice recording for a "walking tour" plan on chips.

 

[Jeff in BigD]

They could cross promote in the parks by putting "official albums" or voice recording for a "walking tour" plan on chips.

I'd be on board for that.

I think this is one area Disney would do well in. It's obviously not meant to have the power of an iPod, but a parent is more likely to spend $50 for an mp3 player for the little kids than $100 for an iPod Shuffle (which looks sleek to adults, but probably boring to little kids).

I'd probably buy this one:

There's been a few occasions that I wanted to bring my ($300) iPod somewhere, but the thought of possibly losing it kept me from taking it. I'd be a lot more likely if I had a $50 player.