Check if the FAQ can help you...
Click on one of the questions below if you think that it can help you to answer your question. Else, click on the checkbox at the bottom.
How to download the tunes?
View your order in your account, then click on the "Download" tab. Click on a title to download the corresponding tune.
Another method is available, by clicking with the right button of the mouse on the alternate download link and select "save as..." or "download..." in the menu that appears.
You cannot reuse the address (URL) of the MP3 file: it disappears at the end of the transfer. You have to download the file before playing it.
Please make sure that you have clicked on the link included in the e-mail that was sent to you when you have created your account. We do this check to avoid errors in e-mail addresses: your account will not be accessible until you click on this link to activate it.
To get a new password, click on the like to your account on the top right hand corner of the page. The login window appears: click on the "???" tab and enter your e-mail address.
[First generation MP3 teddy bears only]
If your MP3 teddy bear switches on by itself when you touch it or when it receives a small bump, it is probably because you have activated the automatic wake-up on crying baby...
To deactivate it and tune your MP3 teddy bear, you can use the Baby Bidou Widget and untick the box "Enable noise monitoring".
Check if the FAQ can help you...
Click on one of the questions below if you think that it can help you to answer your question. Else, click on the checkbox at the bottom.
How to lock/unlock the buttons?How do I download music on my MP3 teddy bear?
You just have to plug your MP3 teddy bear on your computer. It is then recognized like a USB key (or an external disk) and its lights switch on. Under Windows, it appears as a new drive in the file explorer. Under Mac OSX, it appears on the desktop. Now, copy the musical files between the MP3 teddy bear and the computer.
It may happen on some computers that your MP3 teddy bear is not recognized: try the other USB connectors on the computer. You can also try, under Windows or Linux, to update your USB drivers. If you still have a problem, try the MP3 teddy bear on another computer. If the problem is still there, contact our technical service.
Our MP3 teddy bears are compatible with Mac OSX. They are recognized like a typical USB memory key.
However, we have received feedback from customers using old versions of Mac OSX - 10.6 (Snow Leopard) ou 10.7 (Lion). Some MP3 teddy bears are then not recognized by some Mac when plugged on the USB port. Apparently it is possible to solve the problem by using the PC emulator on the Mac. The best is still to upgrade to Mac OSX 10.8 (Mountain Lion).
Warning: there are some particular behaviors with Mac OSX:
- If you want to delete files from the MP3 teddy bear, place them in the trash, then select "Empty trash..." in the Finder. Files are not actually deleted until you empty the trash, so they take useless memory space on the MP3 teddy bear.
- When you want to disconnect your MP3 teddy bear, move its icon on the trash or click on the "Eject" button. For some faster models, you then have to quickly unplug the MP3 teddy bear, or it will reappear one or two seconds afterwards.
- If you want to reformat your MP3 teddy bear, use the Disk Utility, click on the icon corresonding to the MP3 teddy bear (there are 2 of them, select the firt, leftmost one), then click on "Erase" and imperatively choose the "MS-DOS (FAT)" option. WARNING!!! Never try this manipulation on 2nd generation MP3 teddy bears!!
To copy the tunes from an audio CD, you first have to convert the tunes to MP3 format. This can be done with different software (iTunes, Windows Media Player, CDex...)
For example, Windows Media Player 11 automatically converts the tunes during the copy to the MP3 teddy bear. iTunes automatically proposes to import a CD as soon as it is inserted (in preferences, set the importation encoder to MP3). If you don't have these softwares, there are several free softwares to do this operation, like CDex for example.
We knew it may happen! You can download them again on this page (only if you have registered your product).
[2nd generation MP3 teddy bears only]
If files have been progressively added, the playing order can be random. There is then a solution to play them in a particular order:
- Transfer them on the computer and delete every musical file from the MP3 teddy bear (don't forget to empty the trash on Mac)
- Select on the computer the tunes that you want to put in order, and place them in a directory (still on the computer) by alphabetical order (adding 001- , 002- ... before each file name, for example)
- Copy the directory itself on the MP3 teddy bear, all at once
- Move then all tunes out of the directory and place them at the root level (at the top of the directory tree) of the MP3 teddy bear. This is not a copy, but just a file move, it should be fast.
Once this operation is done, tunes are in the desired order!
MP3 teddy bears play music files that are not protected by DRM (digital locks). The musical files sold on Baby Bidou's Web site are obviously all compatible, and are encoded in high quality.
Supported formats are MP3,WAV and non-protected WMA. Other formats will probably not be played correctly and will be ignored.
It is possible that a corrupted file would block playback. In this case, you just have to remove the concerned file to restore the normal MP3 teddy bear behavior. To check that your files are correct, use the "MP3 checker" utility.
It may happen sometimes that an oxydation appears when the MP3 teddy bear has been affected by excessive moisture. In this case, it is often sufficient to repetitively press the button 10 or 20 times (pressing hard) to remove this oxydation. The button then functions correctly again.
This could happen if your batteries are slightly shorter than average (a bump causes the batteries to move and stops powering the device).
To fix this problem, we advise you to slightly bend the metallic contacts towards the inside, so that the electrical contact is better. Batteries are then well in place during movements, and the MP3 teddy bear does not switch off any more!
Some MP3 teddy bear have indeed been preloaded with a tune that contained an error. This tune is "The savannah party" from Papoune (file pap112.mp3) which plays like "kschhhhh" after 2mn.
To get a clean version of this tune, you can download it here
You need 2 standard 1.5V AA batteries (normal stick-format batteries). These batteries are available from our site: click here to get a pack of 1.5V AA alkaline batteries.
You can also use AA sized rechargeable batteries: they work perfectly. For a longer operating time, we advise you to use 2300 mAh (or higher) NiMH batteries.
The memory capacity displayed for your MP3 teddy bear is the capacity of the component built in your toy. However, the total space available to store your musical files is smaller than this value. Indeed the firmware and hidden system files are always present.
If you have the impression that the available memory is really too low, it may be because old musical files that you wanted to remove were not actually erased: this is the case with Mac OSX for example. You then have to empty the trash (when your MP3 is connected) to recover the full memory.
Your MP3 teddy bear does not switch on at all, or starts and switches off completely? Possible cause:
| Batteries are discharged... |
Insert 2 new batteries or rechargeable batteries, AA/LR6 type |
| Musical files are corrupted |
Try to delete all files from the toy, except one (preferably one of those that were pre-recorded on the MP3 teddy bear when you purchased it, or an MP3 downloaded from our site). Delete the Voice or Record directories as well.
Some MP3 files can contain images (e.g. picture of the album), or they can be protected by DRMs (digital locks), or be encoded in an unsupported format. in the first case, you should cleanup the file header (ID3) with an utility: e.g. look for "id3 cleaner" on Google. In other cases, you need to re-export files in a correct format (select MP3 encoding with 128 kbps). |
| Batteries are not correctly maintained |
Slightly bend the metallic contacts towards the center, so that they touch the batteries and firmly maintain them in place. |
If this does not work, check whether Doctor Bidou can help you to find a solution...
For 1st generation MP3 Bidou only...
Your MP3 teddy bear switches on its bowtie at startup, but doesn't play any music? There are several possible causes, you can generally solve your problem (try the first solutions first):
| Volume is too low |
Increase volume with the "Volume +"  button. If the sound is still very low, volume may have been limited by parental control. You can setup this parameter on the setup page. |
| There are no musical files |
Plug the MP3 teddy bear on the computer, and transfer musical files (MP3, AAC, WMA, WAV or OGG) in the MP3 teddy bear (directly in the root directory, not in a subdirectory) |
| A recording with the microphone is not audible |
This happens when your child find it funny to press the "record"  button, or just slept on it! You then see the body lights blinking but do not hear anything. Plug your MP3 teddy bear on the computer and remove the .WAV file in the "Record" directory.
It is possible to disable the "record" button on the setup page.
Note: On Mac OSX, files are not actually removed until you select "Empty trash..." in the Finder.
|
| Memory of the MP3 teddy bear is too full |
Typical symptom: lights in the bowtie are switched on, but nothing happens. This can happen if your MP3 teddy bear does not have enough space to create the playlist. In that case, remove the .WAV file in the "Record" directory, or try to remove a musical file.
Note: On Mac OSX, files are not actually removed until you select "Empty trash..." in the Finder.
|
| The playlist is corrupted |
Plug the MP3 teddy bear on the computer, and remove the following files: RAMLIST.DAT, STDBDATA.DAT, STDBSTR.DAT, STDBDATA.IDX, STDBSTR.IDX. On PC running Windows, these files are hidden : in the Explorer, menu Tools/Folder Options, View tab, Under Hidden files and folders, click Show hidden files and folders. |
| The partition is corrupted |
You can reformat the MP3 teddy bear's memory. First make sure that you have a backup of the musical files that you want to keep. Then perform the following action:
Under Windows:
In the explorer, right-click on the Babybidou drive, and select the menu "Format...". Select FAT file system, then click on "Start".
Under Mac OSX:
Start the "Disk Utility" application in the folder Application -> Utilities. In the window, select the Babybidou drive. In the "Erase" tab, select the MSDOS/FAT16 file system and click on "Erase".
|
| It's more serious!! |
Download the last version of the Firmware (requires a PC running Windows), from the Firmware update page. |
| It's even more serious!! |
Contact us, our technical support will take care of you! :-) |
© Baby Bidou 2013