> and it seems doable to use standard NFC cards and associate them with content I own
It's not, I've tried.
When you buy their blank cards (~£2 each last I checked) they come with a unique URI pre-flashed, that contains a form of unique identifier, what you're buying when you buy their blank cards is a licence (to the online storage, 500MB I think), when you scan it, it activates on your account and you now have a physical card linked to a virtual card/allowance; though you can also link existing digital cards (already scanned on your phone) to a physical card (still has to be one of theirs), in which case you don't benefit from the storage.
I ripped one of my daughter's favourite CDs and uploaded it through the app to link to a blank card I bought from Yoto.
This is not my experience. I purchased blank NFC cards and made myself this guide to get them working just fine:
1. Use NXP TagWriter to format card to NDEF format.
2. Use Smart NFC tools app to copy from existing MyYo card to new one.
3. Using the Yoto app, Play the playlist on the target Yoto. This will trigger the tracks to download onto the YoTo.
4. Make sure all tracks are downloaded onto Yoto before inserting new card.
After a few years now with two kids using Yoto, however, I think it is a little overkill to go this route and the reduced friction of using Yoto’s own cards makes it worth it, despite the cost. But this may help others who use them differently than we do!
This unlocked something very special for us. We have a card for each parent, grandparent and many others reading books to our 3 year old. It's very easy to link a blank nfc card to a playlist that corresponds to the reader. He loves picking a family member after we finish books to read more while he falls asleep.
Are you sure of that? One of the replies you got matches what I had found on Reddit before buying. Both could be right I guess, all the standard blank cards made from the same Yoto blank use the same 500MB storage chunk.
It's not, I've tried.
When you buy their blank cards (~£2 each last I checked) they come with a unique URI pre-flashed, that contains a form of unique identifier, what you're buying when you buy their blank cards is a licence (to the online storage, 500MB I think), when you scan it, it activates on your account and you now have a physical card linked to a virtual card/allowance; though you can also link existing digital cards (already scanned on your phone) to a physical card (still has to be one of theirs), in which case you don't benefit from the storage.
I ripped one of my daughter's favourite CDs and uploaded it through the app to link to a blank card I bought from Yoto.