Marelleo story box
Ranked 2 of 3 kids audio players by recommenders
Open-source ESP32 story box for kids, praised as a Yoto alternative with public firmware, KiCad files and 3D models. Caveat: one reader found the write-up hard to finish.
Open-source ESP32 story box for kids, praised as a Yoto alternative with public firmware, KiCad files and 3D models. Caveat: one reader found the write-up hard to finish.
14 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 14
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 2 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 14 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 2 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Fully open source, MIT licensed
“Everything is fully open-source (firmware, KiCad files, 3D models under MIT license) on GitHub”
Comment from 27 Oct 2026 in “Show HN: Marelleo, an open-source story box I built for my kids using ESP32” “Love that it's open source”
Comment from 31 Oct 2026 in “Show HN: Marelleo, an open-source story box I built for my kids using ESP32” Inspiring, well-made project
“This is one of the most interesting projects I have seen on hn lately”
Comment from 31 Oct 2026 in “Show HN: Marelleo, an open-source story box I built for my kids using ESP32” “This is an excellent project! Congrats and thanks for sharing!”
Comment from 31 Oct 2026 in “Show HN: Marelleo, an open-source story box I built for my kids using ESP32” “your progress from breadboard to finished project is amazing”
Comment from 1 Nov 2026 in “Show HN: Marelleo, an open-source story box I built for my kids using ESP32” - Comment from 31 Oct 2026 in “Show HN: Marelleo, an open-source story box I built for my kids using ESP32”
- Comment from 31 Oct 2026 in “Show HN: Marelleo, an open-source story box I built for my kids using ESP32”
Worked first attempt, clear progress
“love it! incredible! and you got it to work at first attempt!”
Comment from 31 Oct 2026 in “Show HN: Marelleo, an open-source story box I built for my kids using ESP32” “your progress from breadboard to finished project is amazing”
Comment from 1 Nov 2026 in “Show HN: Marelleo, an open-source story box I built for my kids using ESP32”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Writing is painful to read
“the writing was genuinely painful to read”
Comment from 31 Oct 2026 in “Show HN: Marelleo, an open-source story box I built for my kids using ESP32” Hard to finish the article
“I couldn't finish it, unfortunately, but props for building it!”
Comment from 31 Oct 2026 in “Show HN: Marelleo, an open-source story box I built for my kids using ESP32”
Other kids audio players people recommend
The two most recommended other kids audio players, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yoto Player | 24 | 6 | 80% | 3 | — | — |
| Marelleo story boxThis page | 14 | 0 | 100% | 2 | — | — |
| Toniebox | 7 | 2 | 78% | 4 | — | — |
What people said
13 of the 14 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“your progress from breadboard to finished project is amazing”
“This is one of the most interesting projects I have seen on hn lately”
“Omg this is amazing and solves so many of the issues I have with Yoto!”
“Love that it's open source”
“the writing was genuinely painful to read”
“Inspiring product, thank you for sharing.”
“I loved the article. This is a project I've been wanting to do myself.”
“love it! incredible! and you got it to work at first attempt!”
“I read through the whole thing and found it informative, LLM or not.”
“This is an excellent project! Congrats and thanks for sharing!”
“Great job, this is really inspiring.”
“I couldn't finish it, unfortunately, but props for building it!”
“Everything is fully open-source (firmware, KiCad files, 3D models under MIT license) on GitHub”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.