German MP3 player specialist Maxfield has launched a digital music player for kids. Pitched at children between the ages of six and 12, the primary colour player sports a playground-safe water-resistant shell and limits the decibels lest the young ones' passion for loud metal play havoc with their wee ear-drums.

The Max-Joy limits the audio output to 60dB, Maxfield said today, and it sports a pair of Koss-designed earphones which come with a 15-year guarantee - alas the player's own warranty cover doesn't extend so far.

The controls are larger than you'd find on a regular music player, the better to help small hands. Pocket friendly, the ovoid player measures 8 x 5.6 x 2.6cm.

The 50g device has 256MB of on-board storage, though you can add more using the SD memory card slot. Maxfield said it will bundle a 128MB MMC complete with gratis kid-friendly music and audio books. The player supports MP3, WMA and WMA DRM. Track details appear on an "extra-luminous" two-colour OLED screen, and the sound can be tweaked using six EQ pre-sets.

The Max-Joy runs off a single AAA battery, which yields up to 19 hours' playback time - plenty to keep chippers happy on long, boring car journeys.

Maxfield is branching out to the UK, initially through a deal with Amazon.co.uk. The Max-Joy is available "shortly" through the e-tailer for £61. ®

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