Right after my daughter was born, my husband gave me a RCA Lyra 2780 MP3/Video player. He found it for about $120 on Woot! and got it for the following reasons:*20 GB is nothing to sneeze at.
*I can store all kinds of files on it - I have a whole folder of pictures to show off to friends, it has videos, I play songs, I'm sure there's even more I can do, and options are nice!
*There's a TV out and TV in capability. I can play things on the TV if I connect my Lyra to it - but I can also record videos on it STRAIGHT FROM THE TV.
So, he loaded some of my favorite TV shows on it and I would watch it in the middle of the night as I fed my daughter. It was such a great gift and I loved it. Now, I listen to music on it, but a few months ago I started a-thinking... I plugged it into my VCR and recorded a Baby Einsten on it. Just watching the hypnotizing video would calm my daughter anywhere, anytime! I didn't put the headphones on her of course - she's just 1! But a few months ago, I found a small set of speakers at the Dollar Tree that I plug right into the headphone jack and I can play it for her with the sound any time. Heck, I recorded some episodes of Sesame Street onto it from the TV and tied a string around the headrest of the seat in front of her in the car, hung it on it (there's a clip in the back on the cover of the player) and it's a really portable, really handy video player for her that I can take anywhere since all I need is the player and the mini speakers!
Last night she was going crazy at the restaurant we were at, and we sat it up on the table in front of her (it has a stand built in of the back so it can stand up) with the sound low so only our table could hear, and she sat peacefully for 40 minutes while we all ate dinner together! We still talked to us, ate and played, but when we wanted to watch and get a distraction it was there and my hubby and I enjoyed a conversation together:)
Cons: The battery life isn't great, but I just keep it plugged in with the car adapter that comes with it and the rest of the time is fine. Also, I don't know if the software that comes with it works with Vista yet, so I saved it on my older desktop. It can also be tricky to load some video files from your computer, but it's pretty easy usually.
SO I say, go find one! There are places on the internet to get deals on 'em, and it was TOTALLY worth it. I love it for a mazillion of reasons, mostly now a easy baby distracter, but I also get to use it myself as often as I can.
