I'd suggest two different devices, unless there's no chance you'd expect her to share them with the other girls.
If she gets into the music device, she's probably going to want reasonable space quickly. Zoe has my hand-me-down Palm for music (I'm not yet comfortable with her wearing ear phones, it has a speaker), and it's kind of scary how quickly you can fill up memory cards, just with music and books on CD.
We have a DS, and have since Zoe was 2. I bought it for the plane trips. My husband now has more games for it than Zoe does (she mostly plays nintendogs). There are times when I'm fine with her having her game where I wouldn't want her to listen to her music. Partly this is because most of her games are communal. Music, with ear phones, would be more isolating. So I'm fine with us playing candyland on the DS while we're waiting in a restaurant, but I'd not be ok with her hanging out with earphones on. That might not even make sense. *grin*
iPods do videos nicely. We've used my husband's iPod as music + books on cd + movies on trips. I don't know that you could get away with that with 3 girls, since the screen's so small, but it definitely works for an individual.
I admit I tend not to like the "all in one" devices anyway. Our DS, for instance, is 3 years old and fulfilling its duties just fine. My husband's iPod is only 2 years old, and he wouldn't mind a new one. It's reasonable to want to replace/upgrade devices on a different schedule, or you'll find that the device is wonderful at X, but only mediocre at Y.
FWIW, Zoe has no "over use" problems with the DS; she tends not to play it for more than several minutes. She really doesn't seek it out to play with it unless I bring it out. It's almost exclusively used for trips and doctors offices. So my husband plays it between times.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2008-05-13 02:58 am (UTC)If she gets into the music device, she's probably going to want reasonable space quickly. Zoe has my hand-me-down Palm for music (I'm not yet comfortable with her wearing ear phones, it has a speaker), and it's kind of scary how quickly you can fill up memory cards, just with music and books on CD.
We have a DS, and have since Zoe was 2. I bought it for the plane trips. My husband now has more games for it than Zoe does (she mostly plays nintendogs). There are times when I'm fine with her having her game where I wouldn't want her to listen to her music. Partly this is because most of her games are communal. Music, with ear phones, would be more isolating. So I'm fine with us playing candyland on the DS while we're waiting in a restaurant, but I'd not be ok with her hanging out with earphones on. That might not even make sense. *grin*
iPods do videos nicely. We've used my husband's iPod as music + books on cd + movies on trips. I don't know that you could get away with that with 3 girls, since the screen's so small, but it definitely works for an individual.
I admit I tend not to like the "all in one" devices anyway. Our DS, for instance, is 3 years old and fulfilling its duties just fine. My husband's iPod is only 2 years old, and he wouldn't mind a new one. It's reasonable to want to replace/upgrade devices on a different schedule, or you'll find that the device is wonderful at X, but only mediocre at Y.
FWIW, Zoe has no "over use" problems with the DS; she tends not to play it for more than several minutes. She really doesn't seek it out to play with it unless I bring it out. It's almost exclusively used for trips and doctors offices. So my husband plays it between times.