Baby Einstein products

[bigglet]

What do you think of them? Are they worth it?
Does anyone have any recommendations of a good one? I don't want to buy a lot of them but I don't know which ones are good....

[PhAnToM]

Bigglet, we bought the Baby Galileo first. Found both kids loved watching it.
They are really bright and lots of motion and music.
So we bought the whole set of 19 DVDs from ebay for $86 (worth over $700 if you buy them individually). They are original and brand new in packaging.

DD watched a couple on Sunday and DS couldn't take his eyes off the tv either. I think we got REAL value for money.:thumbsup:

[bigglet]

Thanks for that Lut!
Will check them out :)

[DB&O]

We have bought Liv a few items from the range, 1 DVD, 1 CD some bath toys & a couple of books & she has loved all of it. They use lots of bright colours & the music is fun. They definately get a big :thumbsup: from us.
Happy shopping.

Oh, btw Big W usually has the CDs & DVDs a bit cheaper than some of the other stores.

Ciao,
Brooke.

[novy]

We have Baby Einstein and Brainy Baby range, and my son prefers Brainy Baby. If you just want to try it out before buying it, some local libraries have some you can borrow.

[TinyStar]

I bought the mozart one for my DD but she didn't like it. I have since figured out she is not a great fan of TV in general.

They do have some great foam blocks (lots of textures, lots of colour) and other toys which I think are just great.

At the end of the day it's all marketing, you could put on ABC classical radio, and make some sock puppets out of DH's holey old work socks and seriously engage your child more than just whacking on a DVD.

[Briswegian]

:thumbsup: Tiny Star
Buy these if you want your child to have something bright and colourful to look at while you do other necessary tasks....there is no evidence of long term benefit of such products.
However, in general, music is good for right brain so playing all kinds of music, not just classical is good as are contrasting colours and different textures.
If you do decide to buy...they are in demand so you could always sell it once you're done.

[PhAnToM]

:thumbsup: Tiny Star
Buy these if you want your child to have something bright and colourful to look at while you do other necessary tasks....there is no evidence of long term benefit of such products.
However, in general, music is good for right brain so playing all kinds of music, not just classical is good as are contrasting colours and different textures.
If you do decide to buy...they are in demand so you could always sell it once you're done.

Actually Mozart and Middle-Eastern music have been found to stimulate babies' brain (particulalrly right) and there was a particular study that showed greater brain development in children exposed to this kind of music.
This is my area of study.. I hope to do my Masters/PhD on this. :D

[EskimoMumma]

I am interested in these products too. It hink my dd would like it because she has always, since day one, gone to sleep with Light Classical music on! (sometimes they would play light jazz too) i know my DS will lik eit as he LOVES little einstiens.

[Tulp]

To those who bought the DVD set off E-bay, do you know if they are any different from the ones sold here individually?

[Briswegian]

yes, but does brain size = increased function? I used to run an infant lab at uni and so got asked these questions lots. I've yet to find anything which suggests that there is any long term improvement in function. The most consistent evidence I can find is that if played before taking an IQ test, listening to motzart can improve performance on spatial tests.

So for me at least, I think that listening to music is great but just don't belive the hype....at least until Lut has done her PhD!:)

[bigglet]

Tulp - I just bought the box set off ebay and it isn't individually boxed - it is just 20 DVD's in a box with no instructions or details on each disc.
I've watched a random sample of the 20 and so far it seems ok. It's cheaper than buying them individually that's for sure!

[Tulp]

Thanks for that bigglet. Suppose if it's the same stuff they are selling here, you can read up some information of each DVD on the Baby Einstein website http://www.babyeinstein.com.au/

Just viewed some of the demos on the Einstein site. Think i will also have a look at Brainy Baby.

[PhAnToM]

yes, but does brain size = increased function? I used to run an infant lab at uni and so got asked these questions lots. I've yet to find anything which suggests that there is any long term improvement in function. The most consistent evidence I can find is that if played before taking an IQ test, listening to motzart can improve performance on spatial tests.

So for me at least, I think that listening to music is great but just don't belive the hype....at least until Lut has done her PhD!:)

hahaha..
I actually had a lecturer in my undergrad last year who had told us about a study on the effects of Mozart on the infant's brain.
I found it really interesting.
I emailed her at the start of this year for the details of that study so i can find it (cos i couldn't without author etc) and she read my email, but I think when she noticed I was doing my postgrad at another uni, she didn't reply. Which is just plain nasty imo!

So hopefully next year, I will get to go on and do studies on it myself. :fingerscrossed:

[Harlequin]

To those who bought the DVD set off E-bay, do you know if they are any different from the ones sold here individually?

Usually when you get dvd sets for REALLY cheap on ebay they are bootlegs from overseas. They will be the same as the ones you buy in shops but you wont get packaging with them.

Not sure about the Baby Einstein dvds though, they could be legit. :)

[PhAnToM]

To those who bought the DVD set off E-bay, do you know if they are any different from the ones sold here individually?

From what i've seen, yes they are.
I bought the set and before that we bought Baby Galileo. They are the same, just that the box set (as Harlequin pointed out) doesn't come individually packaged.
They just come in one big box. But they aren't pirate and the ones i've tested so far have been brilliant quality.

[Harlequin]

Usually the ones on ebay without individual boxes are actually bootlegs. Good bootlegs, yeah, but bootlegs nonetheless :D

Ones that say they 'may have some asian writing on the cover' are bootlegs from countries like Thailand/China/Bali etc.
Ones that say they are legit and are in USA format but are shipped from HK are bootlegs.

You can usually tell what you've got if you get a legitimate copy and compare the discs and boxes they come in. There will be tiny differences.

They usually say they remove all the inner boxes to save you on shipping prices. If you write to them and tell them you want the boxes, and they say you can't have them or play dumb, they are bootlegs :yes:

Basically, if a dvd set is worth hundreds of dollars, but people are selling it for an incredibly cheap price, then its most likely not a legitimate copy. So if you are bothered by that kind of thing then you have to be careful buying box sets on ebay cos the place is full to the brim of pirate dvds!!

[bigglet]

Ones that say they 'may have some asian writing on the cover' are bootlegs from countries like Thailand/China/Bali etc.
Ones that say they are legit and are in USA format but are shipped from HK are bootlegs.

Oh I didn't know that!!! Thanks for that!
I've bought a few things off ebay (CD and DVD's) and the seller was located in Australia but the goods came from HK (which I was surprised!) but in both instances they were in English and said it was from the USA.

[Harlequin]

No worries.

Ive bought a couple as well. My boxes came with asian writing on the covers though so I knew straight away... well that and the fact that there were no inner boxes... which kinda sucked. I like having the plastic dvd boxes.

Sometimes they will spell stuff incorrectly on the box, or that bit of writing at the bottom of the back with all the director/producer/actor etc etc stuff will have weird gibberish in it. :D

The underside of the dvds themselves will sometimes shine a different colour to legitimate copies and the print on the top of the dvd will usually look different. It can be hard to tell though. I mean think about it, all they have to do is copy a legitimate cover and bobs yer uncle.

Another dead giveaway are those that have asian languages and english for the audio but not any other languages.
Another is when the dvd is multi region or all region (region 0).

But yeah, if something is overly cheap it should set off alarm bells straight away on ebay :D