Questions about hörbert

Please try the following after starting the hörbert software and inserting the SD card. In the software menu at the top, go to Extras -> Select destination manually. The card should then be selectable there.

If this is not possible, our development department has taken precautions:
You can simply select a file folder on your hard drive – and not your memory card. After that, the hörbert software works on the file folder as if it *were* a memory card. And if your memory card is usable with the card reader under your operating system and mounted correctly, you can simply copy the contents of this folder to the memory card afterwards. This feature is intended for when the memory card’s mount directory still doesn’t work for some reason, and when alternatives like “Sox” also fail.

The microphone is built into the hörbert model on the inside.
This gives you the possibility to record your own voice and play it back from hörbert’s colourful buttons.

When ordering a hörbert, we install it straight from the factory. It’s very small and sits on an equally small microphone circuit board inside hörbert on the front underside. From the outside, only a small opening in the wood next to the hörbert logo can be seen.

To record speech with the microphone, two settings must first be made:

1. Choose which of the colourful hörbert buttons voice recordings can be saved on.
You might not want to allow voice recordings on every button. For example, if you’ve loaded one of the buttons with connected audio stories and tales. The chapters of these stories shouldn’t be interrupted.

You have two options to activate the microphone and define the playlists on which voice recordings should be allowed.

a. Via the Browser Set Mode, a convenient web interface – for this you need neither a computer, nor an SD card reader, nor hörbert software. Here’s the tutorial video for starting Browser Set Mode.
Note: Browser Set Mode is only available if your hörbert is running the Butterfly firmware, which has been available since November 2024. Here’s the link to the FIRMWARE UPDATE

b. The hörbert software also offers the possibility for you to set at your home computer which playlists you’d like to allow voice recordings for. Start the hörbert software, select the new hörbert model and read the card. Open the button on which you want to allow recordings.
Select “Allow voice recordings here” at the bottom of the window and close the button content window again via the green tick at the top right.
Note: At least one audio file must already be saved on the playlist for a recording to succeed.
In the same way, you can also set where recordings from Bluetooth streams or internet radio should end up.

Always eject the SD card properly first before disconnecting it from the computer and putting it back into hörbert.

2. Activate the microphone via SET mode on your hörbert

Here’s how:
1) Switch hörbert on. Press the small SET button inside hörbert. Now the front colourful buttons of hörbert are in SET mode.
2) Then activate the microphone function by pressing the dark green button at the front once. The included SET template makes it very easy for you to find the right button. Press once: “on” (single signal tone), press again “off” (double signal tone)
3) Press the SET button inside again to save the setting. hörbert has now saved the setting and the microphone is active.

4) Now you can screw hörbert back together and switch it on.

5) Start recording
When you’re in the corresponding, allowed playlist, you can start a recording by holding down the black button at the bottom left and then simultaneously pressing the dark grey button at the bottom right. You can then release both buttons again whilst you speak something.

Yes, since 12/2020 the hörbert software is also available for Linux (tested on Ubuntu >16.0.4) for download here:

SOFTWARE DOWNLOAD

The publishers of our supplied content offer even more beautiful music and stories – in some cases even free of charge.

You can find the sources here: hörbert’s preregistered contents

In addition there are many contents which you can buy as MP3 download or M4a download and which really belong to you. In Amazon and iTunes you can find them under the category “”Music downloads””. There is not only music, but also stories to download.

You can find even more contents for your hörbert here on our website

Important note: For the new hörbert model 2021 with Butterfly firmware (release October 2024), you no longer need hörbert software to load the memory card. You can do this conveniently via the browser set mode or save your own files to the SD card using copy & paste via your computer’s file manager.

Find out more in this BLOG ARTICLE.

For the older hörbert model 2011 with toggle switch, you will need the hörbert software. There is also an upgrade option for your hörbert 2011 to the new version.

The software is included on the memory card of a new hörbert. As we cannot guarantee that this is the latest version of the hörbert software, we recommend downloading the latest version from this page:

hörbert software download

System requirements:

PC or Mac (Intel), operating system: Windows 10 or higher, or Mac OS X version 10.14 or higher, Linux (tested on Ubuntu

>16.0.4) If you have an operating system older than those mentioned above, please contact our service team for support.

Screen resolution of at least 1024×768 pixels

At least 4 GB of free hard disk space

At least 2 GB of RAM

hörbert accepts files in the following common formats: mp3, wav – with the restriction that DRM (Digital Rights Management)-protected files won’t work. DRM content from (streaming) services like Audible or Deezer are copy-protected and can be played by hörbert.

However, the current hörbert model offers the possibility to simultaneously record the Bluetooth streams that hörbert is currently playing. This way you can get new audio content for free if you pair hörbert with your phone, then stream the Spotify, deezer, audible… playlist to hörbert and record it at the same time.
Furthermore, the new hörbert can serve as a radio for internet radio streams. You can also record this content simultaneously onto hörbert’s memory card whilst listening.

More about the recording functions of the hörbert 2021 model

See also our article on uploading your own content to hörbert’s memory card.

A CD with copy protection can normally be identified by the corresponding IFPI copy protection logo. It’s a black circle with a white triangle. You can find it here: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kopierschutz

A tip: It is recommended to read a CD first with a program like iTunes and import it to your computer. Then the transfer to hörbert’s memory card is even faster. ITunes also has a good converter that brings the tracks into the optimal format (m4a or better still mp3). This is similarly convenient under Windows with the Media Player, but you have to set the mp3 format there, because the hörbert software does not read files with the extension.wma. After importing into iTunes, you can drag and drop songs directly from the iTunes library to the corresponding playlist window in the hörbert software using the hörbert software.

A software is necessary to conveniently arrange the tracks in the playlists and in the correct order, because if you would simply copy MP3 files to a memory card, the player would still not know in which order it should play them from which button. Another advantage is that you can also use files in OGG, WAV or FLAC format and directly from audio CDs as source material, or other common formats, which is not possible with most MP3 players. Instead of referring to hörbert as an MP3, Ogg, WAV and FLAC Player, only the term “MP3 Player” can be used as category or generic name. Otherwise you would not find our hörbert in any shop, because there is not even a category for “Audio-Player”, but at most “MP3-Player”. The term “universal audio player for children” would of course be quite correct. But we have to meet the potential customers looking for a player and limit ourselves here to the term “MP3 player” as a generic term, although hörbert can do much more.