Screen-free audio players solve a specific problem: a child who wants a story at bedtime, and a parent who does not want to hand over a tablet to provide one.
The two names everyone knows are Toniebox and Yoto. A Toniebox 2 is around £99.95 and a Yoto Player around £89.99. Those are reasonable prices, and they are also not the number that decides what this costs you.
The device is the small purchase. The content is the large one. That is the thing worth understanding before buying anything in this category, and it is where the alilo player below takes a genuinely different approach.
Where the money actually goes
Toniebox and Yoto both work on physical content you buy: a Tonie figure for the former, a card for the latter. Tonies are roughly £14.99 each. Yoto cards start around £2.99 and climb.
That model has real advantages. A child choosing a figure, putting it on the box and hearing it start is a satisfying ritual, and the physical object is half the appeal. Collections grow, get given as presents, and last.
It also means the running total keeps moving. A Toniebox with five figures is around £175 rather than £100. Whether that is a problem depends entirely on how you feel about buying content, and plenty of families are glad to.
The alternative is a player that arrives with the content already on it. No cards, no figures, no ongoing spend, and no collecting ritual either. That is the trade, stated plainly, and neither answer is wrong.
Our picks
alilo Honey Bunny Pro Kids Music Player: £79.99
A screen-free player preloaded with nursery rhymes and stories, with Bluetooth, a night light and a voice recorder built in. At £79.99 it sits below a Toniebox 2 and a Yoto Player on the device price, and the gap widens every time you would otherwise have bought a figure or a card.
What it does differently: the content is included. Bluetooth also means it plays whatever you send it from a phone, so it is not limited to what it shipped with, which is the usual worry about a closed preloaded device.
What you give up: the collecting. There is no physical object to choose, no shelf of characters, and no birthday present that slots into the system. For a lot of children that ritual is most of the appeal, and if it is, buy the Toniebox and enjoy it.
Verdict: The better buy if you want the function and not the ecosystem. The worse buy if the ecosystem is the point.
alilo White Noise Machine: £59.99
A different job from the same brand: steady sound rather than stories, for babies and for adults.
The case for a dedicated unit over a phone app is simple and has nothing to do with sound quality. A phone used as a sound machine is a phone left in the bedroom all night, needing to be charged, and going off when someone rings. A £59.99 box does one thing and stays there.
Verdict: Worth it if you are currently using a phone for this. Unnecessary if you are not using anything and sleeping fine.
How the options compare
| Device price | Content | Extra per story | Collecting | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| alilo Honey Bunny Pro | £79.99 | Preloaded, plus Bluetooth | None | No |
| Yoto Player | Around £89.99 | Cards, bought separately | From about £2.99 | Yes, cards |
| Toniebox 2 | Around £99.95 | Tonie figures, separate | About £14.99 | Yes, figures |
Read the last two columns together. A Toniebox and five figures lands near £175; the alilo does not move from its price. Whether that matters depends on whether you want a collection or an appliance.
Frequently asked
Is preloaded content a disadvantage? It would be on a closed device, because you would be stuck with what shipped. Bluetooth removes most of that, since anything you can play on a phone you can send to the speaker. What it does not replicate is a child independently choosing something without asking an adult, which is the real appeal of cards and figures.
Which is best for a toddler? The physical systems, generally. Putting an object on a box is a simpler action than navigating buttons, and independence is much of the point at that age.
Do these need Wi-Fi? The card-based players need setup and then largely work offline. The alilo works out of the box. If your concern is a device that phones home, all of these are far less connected than a tablet, which is usually why people are shopping in this category.
Is a white noise machine actually necessary? No. It is useful if you are already using a phone for the job or if the room is noisy. If nobody is having trouble sleeping, it is a solution looking for a problem.
What about just using a smart speaker? It works, and it is cheaper if you own one. What you lose is a device a child can operate alone without a voice assistant listening, which for some households is the entire reason for buying a separate box.
How we chose these
Our own prices are read live from the retailer as this page loads, so they are current rather than whatever they were when this was written.
The Toniebox and Yoto figures are current UK prices at the time of writing, given as approximate because both brands run frequent bundles and starter sets that move the number. The content costs are the important ones and the ones most likely to drift, so treat them as indicative and check before committing to a system.
We have not tested these side by side with a child, which is the only test that would settle it. The checkable parts are what each device costs, whether content comes with it or is bought separately, and what that does to the total over a year. That last figure is the one buyers consistently underestimate.
The bottom line
Work out whether you want an appliance or a collection, because that is the actual decision and the price follows from it.
If you want a player that arrives ready and never asks for more money, the alilo Honey Bunny Pro does that, and Bluetooth keeps it from being a closed box. If the ritual of choosing a figure is what you are buying, a Toniebox is worth its ongoing cost, and saying otherwise would be dishonest.
The white noise machine is a separate question with a simpler answer: worth it if a phone is currently doing the job.
Everything else for children sits under Baby & Kids. If you are weighing up another pricey bit of baby kit, our bottle washer piece and our baby monitor comparison ask the same thing of those.