Mattel Juice Box Personal Media Player - Blue

My 9 year old son has had a Juice Box since shortly after they came out. Some of the negative comments sound like they're coming more from adults than the kids that this item is geared towards.SIZE: The size of this item is perfect. It's big enough that the child isn't squinting to make out what's on the screen, yet small enough to put in a pocket for a quick ride on a scooter. Several cartridges can also be tossed in a pocket or backpack with little fear that something will damage them.DURABILITY: His Juice Box has held up well, even with some pretty serious drops and the unwanted attention of his two younger brothers. The only casualty has been the swing-back screen cover which, frankly, could stand a redesign. However, that hasn't caused too much lost sleep. The cartridges stand up to abuse (sticky fingers, drops, trips into the nether regions of the couch) much better than video disks.VIDEO QUALITY: While the video quality is not the greatest, it's plenty good enough. Honestly, what 8-12 year old child is looking to get plasma-tv quality (and who would expect it on an item this small?) They're thrilled that they can watch their shows on their terms. And, unlike other players that use video disks, if you bump your Juice Box while watching it, you're not going to experience several seconds of nothing while the player recovers. I think that most quality issues arise from the compression type that has been used for the cartridges, versus being a screen issue. We've purchased the MP3/Picture Viewer, and the pictures that have been loaded onto the SD memory card look great.This item is a good starter item for kids who will, eventually, be asking for (more expensive) MP3 players, games, phones, etc. It gives them the chance to take care of a relatively sophisticated piece of electronics, while softening the potential consequences of drops and shakes.

While I do understand that this is a kid's toy and the quality of a device at this price is not going to be top notch, I most certainly expected more than this. It feels cheap, poorly made and the quality of the videos are terrible. While some may say, "Well, what do you expect from a kid's toy?" I have to say that I also own a VideoNow Color, and that device is heads and shoulders above this.First off, features. Yes, it says that it can view JPG photos or playback MP3s. The thing is, you'll need to purchase a separate device to load your pics and songs onto a cartridge to do so. So, if that's what you or your child wants to do, be prepared to fork out even more money. It is primarily meant to be a video player, but I have my doubt about that as well.Second, quality. The videos I watched on the JuiceBox were grainy, washed out and barely viewable. The sound was poor and the screen seemed smudged, no matter how many times I tried to clean it. Again, some may say "What do you expect? If you want good sound and picture, buy a DVD player." Not a good comparison, as a DVD player can cost up to 10x as much. No, better to compare it to a VideoNow Color--which blows it away in terms of clarity of sound and picture. Even the videos for the Gameboy Advance are better than this.And finally construction. Talk about poorly made. It's as light as (if not lighter) than a deck of cards and the plastic feels cheap and thin. The screen's edges looked like it had air bubbles under it. I don't think it would last more than a day in the hands of a seven year old. I literally could crush this thing with one hand if I wanted to. And the cartridges the media comes on are even worse. They are as light as a matchbook and would probably snap in two if squeezed.Overall, I am terribly disappointed with this product. Yes, it is smaller than the VideoNow and can playback MP3s or display photos, but only at an additional cost. For about the same price, the VideoNow is a far better portable video player for kids, with sturdier construction, more content and better video quality.

I know these are from like 2004 but it still works. It was hard finding a mp3 of low enough quality to actually be played on this but it played once I did! Really cool but totally useless in the age of smartphones.The one big problem was the soft coating had turned sticky so it was very unpleasent to hold.

I picked up one of these Juice Box players at a local store because it looked interesting. Although the picture is a little pixelated, overall I like it. My mistake was not checking the availability of videos for this player which is presently very limited and expensive (presently $15 to $17 per cartridge for about an hour of video). So I decided to check the website to see if I could find any additional information. Alas, their website consists of a flash image of the Juice Box logo and nothing more. If Mattel wants this product to compete with VideoNow, they shoud offer support like Hasbro does with their product. If Mattel offered support and more titles at a reasonable price, I would rate Juice Box much higher. I cannot recommend a product that is going to end up in a kitchen drawer because of the lack of available titles and support. For those who are curious like I was, although there is an MP3 kit which would permit you to load MP3s and images onto a MMC/SD card to play on the Juice Box, there is no way to load your own videos for play on the Juice Box as it uses a proprietary video file. That means you can only get videos from Mattel, and unfortunately they seem to have little interest in providing such.