Thursday, February 28, 2008

Toys R Us Top 15 Toys For The Holidays 2006

Finding that perfect gift for children always seems easier than finding a great gift for adults. Just head to a toy store, pick something out and be on your way, right? Wrong. Unfortunately, its not that easy. Sure, the kids might love the gift right out of the box, but will it get played with months (or heck, even weeks) later?

Thats the question you have to ask yourself each gift buying occasion when shopping for children. Luckily, there are guides and hot lists to help you in your search. For Christmas 2006, there are a myriad of hot toys. If you dont wait until the very last minute to shop, you should have no trouble finding most of them.

To help us, Toys R Us has released a list of the top 15 toys and has provided suggestions for toys in each age range as well.

The top 15 toys, in no particular order, include:

Doras Talking Cash Register (Fisher Price)
Laugh & Learn Baby Grand Piano (Fisher Price)
ESPN Fast Action Football (Fisher Price)
T.M.X Elmo (Fisher Price)
Kid-Tough Digital Camera (Fisher Price)
Sound City Railway (Imaginarium)
Tap Dancing Mumble (Thinkway)
Wii (Nintendo)
Blue Man Group Percussion Tubes (ToyQuest)
Speed Stack StackPack (Play Along)
Mindstorms NXT (Lego)
Designers World (Tiger Games)
My Scene My Bling Bling Styling Head (Mattel)
Power Rangers Deluxe Manticore Megazord (Bandai)
Pink Nitro Notebook (Vtech)

Now, if you are looking for the best toy buys for each age group, heres a sampling of Toys R Us recommendations.

For Babys First Christmas

Lets Play Together Peek N Play Discovery Dome (Playskool)
This is an interactive toy that lets parents get in on the fun, with peek-a-book curtains. Fifteen Activities are designed to encourage hand-eye coordination

Laugh & Learn Learning Bunny (Fisher Price)
This bunny is plush, but hes no slouch. He can help babies learn how to count to 10, learn their colors and textures and other skills. He also plays music.

Laugh & Learn Baby Grand Piano (Fisher Price)
This is one of TRUs hot picks listed above. It teaches colors, numbers and opposites while also teaching about various elements of music.

For children 13 months to 2 years old

Learn & Groove Alphabet Drum (LeapFrog)
LeapFrog always offers innovative toys for young children. This toy introduces the alphabet while also playing music, encouraging physical activity and teaching numbers. Also introduces Spanish!

SmartVille Alphabet Train Station (Vtech)
The train here heads from stop to stop, all while introducing colors, alphabets, numbers, animals and time.

T.M.X. Elmo (Fisher Price)
This new Elmo, which has been flying off toy shelves since its introduction in September, not only laughs, but gets on the floor and giggles until his belly shakes.

Darla (You & Me a TRU brand)
Darla can be woken with a light tap, and will cry for ma ma. Shes a fully interactive doll that also makes realistic feeding sounds.

For children 2 to 4 years old

Kid-Tough Digital Camera (Fisher Price)
This hot pick features big buttons for tiny hands and a rough exterior that helps it hold up to the tough love preschoolers can dish out.

LeapsterTV (LeapFrog)
This console plugs into the family TV for big-screen play. Works with all Leapster software programs and tracks the play of each player, so they can see their progress on the big screen. Good for pre-K to 4th grade players.

Tap Dancing Mumble (Thinkway)
This is based on the main character from the fall-release movie Happy Feet. It dances/taps every time it hears music, or the children talk to it.

For children 5 to 7 years old

Amazing Allysen (Playmates)
This doll is designed to be your childs best friend when her real life friend isnt around. Allysen responds to key commands and comments with lifelike expressions and emotions. She also knows your childs favorites, so she can chat with your child about her favorite things.

Wherifone GPS Locator Phone from Wherify Wireless
This phone will help you keep tabs on your children, as with its GPS capabilities, it tells you the location of your children at all times (assuming the phone is with them).

Pink Nitro Notebook (VTech)
Designed for budding readers, this pink laptop computer reads stories aloud, and has a variety of games designed to help children with literacy and other skills.

For children 8 to 11 years old

Blue Man Group Percussion Tubes (ToyQuest)
Kids can hook their MP3 players up to this toy and manipulate the sounds and play music of their own.

Giga Pets Explorer TV Game System (Tiger Games)
This game that you hook up to the TV takes kids to the Giga World, where they can play games, go on mission and solve the Giga mystery. This also includes a handheld game

Star Wars Ultimate Collectors AT-ST set (Lego)
Kids can build their own AT-ST with the more than 1,000 lego pieces included in this set. TRU exclusive set.

Cathy Franklin is a mother of three and the owner of Toys Store Online. She finds the top family friendly toys for children of all ages that are fun for kids, age appropriate, and inexpensive for any family's budget. http://www.toys-store-online.com.

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The Birth of Legal Music Downloads

In recent years, less people have been buying CDs and many are now downloading music online. This is due to the emergence of music download sites like Napster, and the rising popularity of MP3 players from iPod and other similar companies. People are now choosing downloads over CDs because of the expensive price of a whole CD, and they want to take advantage of the free music that downloads can offer. However, a crackdown on free music a few years ago has made shareware illegal and turned legal music downloads a popular alternative.

The creation of legal music downloads came about because of the complaints of many artists and musicians. They pleaded with the government that they owned their music, and it therefore should not be available for free downloading through shareware like Napster. The government decided that shareware sites are indeed illegal, and allowed companies to provide music downloads for a small fee, as long as it was not free or through shareware.

As a result, music downloading websites began popping up online, with ITunes being the most popular. Napster also began providing legal music downloads to consumers for a monthly subscription fee. ITunes became increasingly popular mainly because they provided legal music downloads for a very nominal fee of only ninety-nine cents per song, and it was also more convenient than other sources. You dont have to pay a costly monthly subscription if you just want to one or two songs. There are now more than a hundred of sites that offer music downloads ranging from small start up companies to established ones like Yahoo and ITunes.

There are even a handful of international sites that offer legal music downloads. Russia has the most popular and widespread international sites. However, they are monitored very closely because they offer songs for as little as five cents each. Music companies and artists are not very fond of music being sold for that little. It has been difficult to crack down on them because other countries do not fully recognize intellectual property laws.

You can find legal music downloads in several ways. It is advisable that you go through reputable and well known sites such as Itunes or Yahoo. You can also take a risk and download your music through one of the international sites that currently offer legal music downloads. However, you have to run the chance of a government crackdown or glitches in the site that can prevent you from fully downloading the music you paid for.

Morgan Hamilton offers expert advice and great tips regarding all aspects concerning Legal Music Downloads. Get more information by visiting http://www.mymusicreport.com/music--more/music/the-birth-of-legal-music-downloads.html.

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