Preschoolers learn their MP3s

Quick, name the places you're most likely to spot a pair of iPod earbuds. Train? Gym? Sidewalk? Beach?

Preschool?

Yes, MP3 players have trickled down to the SpongeBob set. To any parent who has lost the Radio Disney vs. NPR battle, well, let's just say it's no surprise.

Children under 10 are buying iPods and downloading music - with their parents' help - like crazy. iTunes lists thousands of songs in its "Children's Music" category, to say nothing of its "Kids and Family" video, TV show, movie and audiobook sections.

Stores such as the 'tween mecca Limited Too draw moms and dads inside under the pretense of clothing their children. But once trapped, they are more than likely to spend money on one of many MP3-related items on sale.

These are gateway toys, designed to close the distance - at least in the child's mind - between snuggling with stuffed animals and tuning out teenager-style. Shelves strain with IDogs, Icy Penguins (toys that move and flash light patterns indicating their "mood" when plugged into a music player), and fleecy pocketbooks in which they can be carried. There are also plush leopard-print headphones, "Bling" MP3 players, heart-shaped earbuds bedazzled with rhinestones, and the inevitable "Barbie Girls" players that come with the girl herself.

So what exactly is on the playlist of someone who was only recently singing the potty song? And who's going to put it on there for him?

Lisa Vagnoni of Palmyra has created a playlist for 4-year-old Luca on her iPod. So far, he's requested a mix of things he's heard on her stereo (the Vapors, the Rolling Stones), classic children's music (several versions of "I've Been Workin' on the Railroad"), and catchy pop tunes (Avril Lavigne's "Girlfriend"). She's run the latter through the "Garage Band" music-editing program, placing the sound of a DJ's scratch over the song's naughty bits.

Shara Gordon, a supervisor at South Philly's DiSilvestro Playground, notes that most of her younger kids carry MP3-playing cell phones that feature Soulja Boy's "Crank That" as a near-constant refrain, with occasional breaks for Beyoncé and Alicia Keys.

Friends Select third grader Emily Mansfield is partial to movie musicals, such as

Hairspray

and

Once on This Island

. And sensitive guy Brett Rodos, a third grader at Dresher's Thomas Fitzwater Elementary, digs James Blunt's "Beautiful" and the Plain White Ts' "Hey There Delilah."

But whether they're a little bit hip-hop or a little bit rock-and-roll, at heart these MP3-toting shorties are almost all a little bit country. And each group, from the city to the suburbs, counts Hannah Montana as a favorite.

Both Mansfield and Queen Village's 9-year-old Ellery Schiller are the lucky recipients of a parent's hand-me-down iPod (though Schiller says she skips over her mom's songs - except Elton John's "Crocodile Rock"). And quite often, when an older sibling gets a portable player, the younger ones do, too.

Brett's 6-year-old brother Blake just got his silver Nano for Hanukkah and wanted it loaded with everything Brett has, "minus the love songs." But for the Rodos family, at least, all this file-sharing isn't exactly a family affair. While dad Brad happily buys and downloads music for his boys, mom Michelle admits: "We don't even have our own iPods. We work for our money!"

Cheltenham's Waldman family, with three music-loving girls - Carly, 10; Sophie, 8; and Maggie, 3 - have several varieties of music players to suit each child's taste. Carly received her Nano as an 8th-birthday present and listens to top-40 music such as the Black Eyed Peas and Gwen Stefani "every single day."

Sophie, inspired by her big sister ("she had all the cool songs, so I wanted one"), got her Cheetah Girls MP3 player last year at Hanukkah. Since then, she's upgraded to a Nano filled with Radio Disney favorites, such as songs by

That's So Raven

's Raven Symone, Kelly Clarkson, and the

High School Musical

soundtrack.

Mom Sloane Waldman says she's spent about $60 downloading music for Maggie's Fisher-Price "FP3" player, although it already comes loaded with decidedly uncool songs like, "If You're Happy and You Know It." Now Maggie can listen to Curious George stories and rock out to all the Kidz Bop albums she wants.

How does Sloane justify the purchases? "At least four days a week," she says, laughing, "the three of them get together and make up dances and little shows for us based on what they're listening to. It's really cute."

The Fisher-Price player comes with just two limited-volume settings, but parents may worry about the long-term effects of kids getting their first set of earphones - most without volume restrictions - at age 3 and using them long into adulthood.

But William Potsic, chairman of the Department of Pediatric Otolaryngology at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, doesn't think listening to an MP3 player is necessarily a problem for little ears. "It's all a matter of the volume and the duration," he says.

"It's almost like a dose-related issue. A child's hearing can drop for a few hours and then recover, but with repeated exposure the trauma accumulates and they may not recover. When kids have their earphones set at nontoxic levels, they can use them like anyone else."

How can parents tell if their child is using or abusing their eardrums? (This assessment, of course, doesn't include declaring the "Cha Cha Slide" toxic.) Potsic recommends trying on the earphones at their current volume and picking up a "relatively inexpensive" sound meter from Radio Shack to measure the levels in a particular environment.

Or you can always use the method favored by parents since the birth of the Walkman: If the child is nearby and you can hear what they're hearing, it's too loud. Now if you could only get them to listen to something you want to hear. . . .