Your Ocarina stopped. What now?

Ocarina said goodbye after fifteen years, and the players still play, because the audio was always plain files in the device's own memory. Koobiba is built on that same independence — but Ocarina was a player, where this is a player with a family around it: an app to manage what is on it, a link so a grandparent can record a story from anywhere and have it land on the device, and a catalogue coming. You filled an Ocarina from a computer, by yourself.

What happened

Ocarina said goodbye after fifteen years. Its homepage carries a farewell from the Ocarina team — "It's time to say goodbye. Thank you for listening" — saying the site would stay up and orders would be handled until Wednesday 4 March 2026. One oddity we will not tidy away: when we checked on 23 September 2026, more than six months after that date, the shop and checkout were still working.

What still works

An Ocarina keeps playing. Its audio is ordinary files in the device's own memory, loaded over USB, and the maker's own FAQ says the player is always offline and supports no streaming service — nothing about it needed the company to stay in business. What stopped with the company is everything around the player: there was no app, no way for someone else to send a story to it, and no catalogue to draw on. If you are replacing one, that is the part worth asking about.

Source: https://www.ocarinaplayer.com/

Koobiba Expected €90–110** Reservations open
Ocarina €104.90** No longer sold
How the child chooses
Buttons Source: Koobiba, How the child chooses Three big buttons, no screen and nothing to insert
Buttons Source: Ocarina, How the child chooses Buttons and a menu on the device move through the playlists you loaded
Age
1+ Source: Koobiba, Age Designed for children from one year old
1.5+ Source: Ocarina, Age The maker designed it for children from 18 months, with no upper limit
Stories and music available
In development Source: Koobiba, Stories and music available Planned: an hour of stories, music and white noise on the device. The curated Koobiba Library is in development; its titles, languages and dates are not announced yet
Not verified the maker publishes no total count of its stories
Adding your family's audio
No extra purchase required Source: Koobiba, Adding your family's audio Open the app → send it → the child presses a button. Nothing to buy; our catalogue is separate and optional
Not verified no longer sold
Getting audio on
From your phone Source: Koobiba, Getting audio on The app sends audio to the device over your home WiFi or the device's own hotspot, no internet needed. Downloading from the Koobiba Library will need the internet on your phone
From a computer Source: Ocarina, Getting audio on Plugs into a computer like a USB stick, and your MP3s are dragged straight onto it
Plays something on day one
Yes Source: Koobiba, Plays something on day one Planned: it comes with an hour of stories, music and white noise, and your own audio goes on from the app
Not verified no longer sold, so there is no box
Price **
€90–110 Source: Koobiba, Price ** Estimated retail price; final pricing is confirmed closer to launch
€104.90 Source: Ocarina, Price ** List price of the Classic Edition; the closing-down sale showed €84.90 when checked
Availability
Reservations open Source: Koobiba, Availability Priority reservations are open; the player is not shipping yet
No longer sold Source: Ocarina, Availability The maker said it would stop taking orders in March 2026, but the shop was still open when checked
Losing 5 items *
€0 Source: Koobiba, Losing 5 items * Nothing physical per story, so nothing to replace
€0 Source: Ocarina, Losing 5 items * Playlists are files stored inside the device, not things that can be lost
Works offline
Fully Source: Koobiba, Works offline Everything on the device plays with the internet off; Wi-Fi is how new audio arrives
Fully Source: Ocarina, Works offline Always offline, the maker says, with no streaming at all
Account
Optional Source: Koobiba, Account Only for connected features such as a shared recording link and the catalogue
Optional Source: Ocarina, Account An account buys playlists and firmware updates; your own files need none
Subscription
None Source: Koobiba, Subscription No subscription is required to use the player
None Source: Ocarina, Subscription No subscription — playlists are bought one at a time, up to €11 each
Screen
None Source: Koobiba, Screen
Small display Source: Ocarina, Screen A small text display

* What it costs to replace five lost cards, figurines or chips at the vendor's retail price. Where the audio comes back without paying again, the table says "Content retained": Yoto, for example, keeps a lost card's title in your app and re-links it to a blank card. Koobiba has nothing physical per story, so nothing to replace.

** Price is what the vendor charges for the cheapest way to own the player, at list price, in its own currency. Some vendors sell the player alone; others sell it only in a set, and the note under the price says what the set includes.

Where these facts come from

Compare with

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