Munchkin Mozart Magic Cube

As a musician, the sound this cube produces is so terrible, I shudder every time I hear it. When I first heard it, I immediately thought the batteries were dead and changed them, only to discover that brand new batteries made no difference whatsoever. My 11 month old son pressed the buttons eagerly to see what would happen, frowned, and then quickly pressed them again to make it stop and pointed at the CD player from which there is almost always some sort of music playing! He by far prefers a CD or even an MP3, so this toy has now been abandoned. The distinction between the different instruments is very slight. My violin sounds nothing like this supposed violin sound. The rest of the instruments do not resemble their real counterparts very much either, and even the intonation is not exact.

As an engineer, I know that even the simplest synthesizers and even the most terrible audio compression algorithms produce better audio quality. Why couldn't the engineers of this toy make this sound better? If anything, I would think the audio auality of this toy would put a musically oriented child off of music entirely. For this price you can buy a better electronic keyboard and play with truly different sounds with your little one.

As for selection, aside from a few obvious ones that are acceptable, there are numerous more interesting and more familiar pieces composed by Mozart. I'd love to know who chose these pieces and why.

So far, this toy has mostly been thrown around. As such, it has not yet broken, though I too have experienced the need to turn it off and on again in order to get it to function "properly" again.

So, I would wait for a new version of this toy to come out with considerably better electronics before buying. Or, at the very least, listen to it at the store before you buy it to see if you can stomach the sound yourself.


Fun music with fun play.   July 1, 2003
Joshua Koppel (Chicago, IL United States)
111 out of 116 found this review helpful

I am on my second child and this toy continues to be a favorite.

The cube has six buttons. It will play one of six Mozart tunes. One button switches between the tunes while the others turn on and off specific instruments (piano, violin, harp, french horn, flute).

The cube has rounded corners with durable rubber bumpers that make it both safe and durable. It is amazing how much abuse this toy can take.

My oldest received the toy when she was 13 months and now nearly three years later she is still playing with it as is her younger brother.

A little pricey, but very-well made. A toy that will last from one child to another.


Greaat for babies of all ages!   October 15, 2001
57 out of 57 found this review helpful

We bought this last year for Christmas for our (then) 18-month-old. She loved it, but the real surprise was last month when our 10-month-old discovered it. To say he loved it would be a real understatement!! He loves to crawl around after it and will play with it for 30 minutes at a time--amazing for a baby to play with something for that long.

The music is a pleasure to listen to, especially compared with most musical baby toys. Like the other reviewers, I would have liked the addition of a volume control, but otherwise this toy is perfect. The batteries even seem to last a very long time. I was amazed that my 2-1/2 year old and 10-month-old can be mesmerized by the same toy.


My son loves this toy!!!   October 28, 2003
Mike (Irvine, CA United States)
27 out of 27 found this review helpful

My son received this toy when he was 4 months old, and was instantly taken with the music. Now at 15 months, he still loves this toy, but he can also press the buttons to make the music play himself. I have noticed that he almost always presses the flute button, so I think that he has learned from this toy which sounds he likes better. So not only is this toy great fun for little ones, but it is also educational. I have also given this toy as a gift to many of my friends babies and have always gotten positive feedback.