Yoto's fourth-gen child-friendly speakers are simply the best of the best, and I enlisted a kid to prove it

Getting your kids into reading is a challenge that basically any parent knows can feel insurmountable – and I say that without a kid of my own right now. Still, talking to my friends with young ones, the challenge of encouraging their sprogs to foster imagination and enjoy stories without accidentally opening a floodgate of AI slop and low-quality content.

All of the parents I know also said independently that they were being relentlessly advertised at by Yoto, the biggest name in child-friendly audio right now. So, when Yoto asked if I wanted to check out its new fourth-generation players, I was keen to see how those parents found them if I shared the love.

Now, a good few weeks later, I've collected their feedback and thoughts (both from the parents and from the kids), to confirm that Yoto's new players are just about the most convenient way to get your kid into stories independently, although there are a couple of small asterisks to discuss.

A pair of lovely, thoughtful designs

There are two Yoto models to choose from right now, and they both have some big advantages. The standard model is a chunky box that can sit on a counter easily and has a quite large light-up display as its main face. It's heavy enough to feel sturdy, but not so much that it's a burden.

The mini version of the player is far smaller and lighter, but features all the same controls, just in a far smaller package. This makes it miles better for trips and journeys away from home, but does mean that it has limitations when it comes to its maximum volume, for what it's worth.

Both players have the same battery life, at 16 hours or so between charges, so you don't make a compromise on that front – it's more about whether you want your player to be a real life-saver when on the move, or if it's intended to be a bedroom stalwart that only occasionally gets picked up.

Either way, you get the same physical controls on the players, in the form of some adorably tactile knobs and dials. These let you, or your kid, change the volume, navigate simple icon-based menus, swap between playlists and use various other controls. They're impressively designed so that they're doable for smaller fingers, with an exception in the form of the power button, which is one that you don't want to be accidentally activated.

Then, of course, there are the cards that give you actual audio. I'll get to the economics of this, but once you've set your player up, it's just a matter of slotting a card in to get going with its audio. Whether that's music or a set of stories, the experience is similarly slick either way.

Yoto sent both of my samples with the optional silicone cases that it sells for a little more drop protection, and they're pretty excellent additions. They might collect a bit of dust and grime over time, but the carrying handles are really welcome, and that added durability is welcome for anything used by kids.

Crucially, though, only the mini player has any official water resistance. It's got an IP67 rating, which counts for quite a lot. The bigger player misses this, but it does have wireless charging, which is pretty convenient.

A new world of audio – but is it better?

The big question mark I had in my mind as I started to familiarise myself with Yoto's offering was whether it was actually better than the simpler, old alternatives – CDs, tapes, or your phone connected to a speaker.

That last one can be relatively easily dismissed; sure, it's a good way to get audio going, but it doesn't involve your kid in the process at all, and gives them no control. It's not a great solution, basically, and using a smart speaker can feel pretty weird the younger they are, too.

Tapes and CDs haven't died the death that we all expected, though, and a combination of the timelessness of good children's stories with a robust used market means you could take this route quite happily. I've never encountered a tape deck or CD player with kid-friendly controls like Yoto's, though, and they're almost always bulky, power-hungry and inconvenient. They probably win on economics, but not on any other front.

So, Yoto enters the fray with a proprietary card system that takes a little getting used to. Let's get the bad out of the way – I don't love the fact that buying a Yoto audio card doesn't really mean ownership of the audio. You don't get access to MP3 files, you can't back them up in a real way, and if Yoto ever folded, there's a real chance you'd be out of luck on your audio.

That said, the convenience offered by the system is pretty huge. You can share cards easily among friends if you know others with Yotos (although each will only be in one person's library at once), and they're quick to operate.

On the parent's side, there are a bunch of useful controls and systems to make things easier, too. You can set up playlists from your owned cards, chop and choose between them, and also take advantage of unsurprisingly robust parental controls around timings and more.

The silver lining to the card system is that Yoto does let you make your own ones. These are cheap to buy, and you can load them with audio files that you've sourced yourself, with the assumption being that you own those files from other media (like CDs).

The verdict: It's easily worth it

Checking in with my friends to see how they felt their respective Yoto players held up, the readout wasn't exactly complicated. All of them agreed that the old days of cassettes weren't so bad, but they also all loved how their Yoto had made storytime a little simpler and easier.

Audio quality isn't necessarily the be-all or end-all here, but it's solid in both cases, though those in louder households will welcome the added heft of the bigger Yoto's stereo speakers. That said, I've been impressed by how decent the Mini can be on this front.

That really means that, since they effectively have near-total feature parity, you really should be thinking about how you and your family will use a Yoto, to decide which is best for you.

For those who want a travel device that can be a total godsend if delays hit at the airport, or if an anxious child needs calming on holiday, the Mini player is the safest bet. It can do the home stuff capably, but it has more flexibility.

If you want a bedside speaker, though, and things like a nightlight and wireless charging sound like they could make the difference, the standard player is excellent, too. It can flex up to cater to more listeners at once, thanks to its punchier volume, and that gives it a different advantage.

So: there's no wrong answer here, unless you have (understandable) concerns about wanting a more tangible sense of ownership over the audio you're going to end up buying for your player.