I Am T-Pain Mic

$40, Smart Toy

Teaches: music

CTR Rating: 82.5%

CTR Review

I Am T-Pain Mic ($40, Jakks Pacific) combines three rhythm tracks, an MP3 Player, auto-tune technology, a speaker, an audio-out jack and a USB port, with enough memory to store up to three minutes of your voice. So does it work? Actually, yes. The final version, tested in October 2011, had a very high novelty effect with our testers. It's fun to try out for a few minutes. You wouldn't want to use it for any serious work, however, it could be a good way for young children to play with their voice. Your goal, of course, is to sound like rapper T-Pain, one of the first to use auto-tune technology in his music. Powered by 3 AAA batteries, the Mic comes in four styles. You can sing in freestyle, or record and play back your songs. The three demo beat and soundbytes were created by Nappy Boy's Young Fyre. See the demo at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxFEvpESSgo