Great for small children

For a young child, this is a great MP3 player. But I disagree with the age recommendation of 8+. An 8 year old knows how to read, and this MP3 player does not have screen to display the Album, Song, or any type of menu selection. The songs are played in sequential order: alphabetical by folder and then alphabetical by song. By using numbers at the beginning of the folders and songs, you can control the order. But start the numbers with 10, because the sort order gets messed up if you try to use "01" for 1. Instead of going 01, 02, 03, ... 10, 11, etc. it goes 01, 10, 11, 02, 20. Even using the zero did not help fix the sorting problem. But this is a windows issue, and has nothing to do with the Sana Shaker.

I brought this for my 3 yr old who has no trouble using this. We only use the speakers, so I cannot comment about the headphones. I did not experience any problems with the battery compartment coming off when trying to move to the next song. To open the battery compartment I just use my palm flat on the bottom -- no problems. To change to the next song, I just rotate the White part, and I don't touch the red part.

As for the songs that come pre-installed, they are definitely not for young children, so you may want to erase them before giving this to the child. There were only 5 on mine, and "Farmer in the Dell" was not one of them. I do not even think that the songs are appropriate for tweens who technically this product was aimed for.

The Sana Shaker comes with a clip that can be used to attach the player to a belt hoop or you could purchase a holder around the neck separate. The player is small enough and light enough that my 3 yr old can clip it to his pants and it does not weigh him down. It can also fit into a young child's pocket.

The speaker is good enough for a young child's enjoyment. There is only one speaker, so there is no surround sound. The volume is loud enough for the children to hear the music in the back seat, but the parents will have to strain to hear it in the front seat. We are only playing songs like "Old McDonald" and "Farmer in the Dell" which are not written for surround sound, and they sound fine. I can't comment on how songs that are written for surround sound will sound on this player.

Some reviewers were talking about buying this for a senior. An adult could find this player useful -- if they want a small player that has a speaker, and just want the songs to be played in sequential order. At the price, I would recommend it for an adult.

I would recommend spending the extra money and getting a 1GB player. Although this player comes with a card, I can't really see it getting filled up. By the time a child fills up this player they will probably need a player with a menu to help organize the playing of the songs. As for swaping the memory cards (for different song selections), by the time a child is old enough to swap the memory card, the child has probably outgrown the player. The only advantage to this is if you have more than one child with different music tastes. But then, would it just be better to spend an extra $15.00 and buy a 2nd player? Plus with small children, it is easier to lose a small memory card -- money wasted.

Overall, given the price and the target audience, I would recommend this to a child between 3 - 10. Although, if the child can read, consider purchasing the Sansa m250 which has a menu.