Amazon.com Product Description

My Body, Myself takes kids (ages 7 to 12) on a thrilling adventure through the human body. Cruise the bloodstream or tour a rotating human eye. This instructional software program from the experts at Encyclopedia Britannica features 3-D and virtual reality models designed to stimulate kids' interest in human physiology and anatomy. They'll discover how their muscles move, how internal organs function, how the brain processes information, and more.

Loaded with animated text, full-screen videos, photos, slide shows, and diagrams, My Body, Myself creates a rich learning environment for kids. Now when your child eats, laughs, plays, or reads a book, they'll understand the life processes that make it all possible. The software even comes with a personal desktop tool that kids can use to store text, videos, and photos for easy access. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Mediocre presentation, frozen in time
Poor artwork, mediocre animations. Looks like it was made 8 years ago. Could have been made better. Dorling Kindersley's Human Body is a better buy anyday. ... Read more

Amazon.com Product Description

Finally see the heavens as they were meant to be seen. In Planetarium, you can view the sky as it appears from any virtual location in the world, and at any time of day--even as it will appear in the future. View galaxies, comets, constellations, and planets moving in real time at your command. Watch stars move in time-lapse over the course of 1,000 years in only a few minutes. Learn astronomical facts with narrated photographs from the Hubble Space Telescope. Includes more than 260,000 cataloged celestial bodies. ... Read more

Amazon.com Product Description

There's a treasure hunt in Animal Junction. Hit the trail with Zoboomafoo, the incredible leaping lemur, and leave no stone unturned. In this zany adventure children will play unique animal activities, and be rewarded pieces to a magical puzzle. On their journey children will discover a myriad of animals through fun learning games, animal videos, and printable activities. Solve the clues and the magical puzzle will reveal a map that will lead the way to the hidden treasure. ... Read more

Reviews (9)

zoboomafoo creature quest
This has so far been a disappointment. It takes like 12 steps to go through the introductory screens, and if you mess up, you have to start completely over. It also loads awfully slow and we have a top of the line loaded new computer. The game instructions are very long, and you have to listen to them every time, and they are mostly unnecessary, they should be under a help option. You can't even click to skip it, meaning you have to have a lot of patience while waiting. The animals are pretty obscure and not common/familiar. The animal facts I cant imagine ever being of much interest to a kid. I expected much better stuff from the Learning Company, especially since this program has received so many awards (no doubt through reputation). In comparison with other products, I can't identify one redeeming aspect for this software. The games are boring and mundane and many are a step down from even other "toddler" programs that are targeted to lower ages. Here I was looking to step up from the toddler programs which our daughter has already mastered. At least I got it very cheap. Its not much fun or entertaining. Not much area to navigate about and explore. No animation to speak of, other than the videos. Nothing clever or interesting or rewarding for mouse clicks. I have to report there are many better programs, and I could never recommend this one for fun, challenge, entertainment, or educational value. It does not hold her attention, she easily handles most of the games/activities, and she's like okay now what. And she still has a long ways to go before reaching age 3. The only games on this CD that she doesn't really know what she is doing is the chameleon and the coyotes, but even those she guesses her way to completion. I can't imagine her growing into liking this CD any more than she does now, in fact I'm certain she will like it less and less because she already expects more stimulation. Even now she prefers clicking around under encarta encylopedia more so than using this CD when it comes to short video clips. Even the logic aspect of finding puzzle pieces seems lame to me when compared to other such programs. I don't forsee her ever wanting to come back to this program when she's ready for more sofisticated logic games and ready to spell or do math. I should mention we started out our daughter on kids computer games before age 1, and she is just fascinated to the point of playing them every day, and she is just amazingly competent with them and now already figures out most kid games on her own. She is very familiar with counting and colors and shapes and mazes and matching and patterns and searching and picture drawing. She has pretty much seen it all. And this CD doesn't cut the mustard for new exciting stuff.

fun, entertaining and age-appropriate software
Little Zoboo fans rejoice! This entertaining software is stable, charming and fun. Multiple cut scenes feature the Kratt Brothers and Zoboomafoo's friends in Zoboo-Land, as kids click on objects scattered around Animal Junction. With two exceptions the eight activities are age-appropriate and well-implemented, with three skill levels in coloring, mazes, matching, object identification, counting, bubble popping and pattern match; the latter two games are unnecessarily difficult and confusing, but kids can get through them by clicking away randomly. Also included is a virtual tape recorder with mini-films and factoids about a number of animals. Well done.

We're running the game on an iMac and have had no problems with installation or crashes.

Note: Creature Quest is much better than Zoboomafoo Animal Alphabet; if you have a little Zoboo fan in the house, I'd recommend you purchase this title rather than Animal Alphabet.

We both love it!
My 3 year old daughter and I both love this software! She still needs some help with the mouse, so I have to play with her, and this is the only software we have that I don't mind playing after a few minutes! She's not so interested yet in the animal facts, but I like them!

Great for fans of the T.V show
I got this game for my 4 year old for christmas. She loves the T.V. program and learning about animals, so I figured it would be a hit with her, and it was. She loves playing it and trying to find all the puzzle pieces to find the treasure. Kids learn about some animals and their habitatis, numbers and patterns. You have to look for hidden treasure and there are 3 levels of play on the games. My daughter loved it first off simply because it contains the whole Zoboomafoo theme song! She runs it on her iMac. Only one little problem, it occasionally locks up when left unattended for a pretty long period of time, and the game is left running.

How Frustrating and Disappointing
Wish I could give this 0 stars. I cannot get this to run on our WIn 95 machine (yes I know it's a dinosoar but that's what we have for my child) and it continually crashes on our XP machine. Broderbund (the software company) has not responded to my pleas for help except to give me 4 different case #'s. AAAGGGGHHHH. My 3 year old and I are frustrated to the extreme. ... Read more

Amazon.com Product Description

Explore the cultural treasures of ancient Egypt with this package of four interactive, multimedia CD-ROMs. You can take a detailed journey throughEgypt, from the Sphinx and the Rosetta Stone to Tutankhamen's tomb and thebanks of the Nile. The package also offers 3-D virtual tours of tombs andpyramids, extensive photographs, animations, audio commentaries, and slideshows.

• Journey Down the Nile lets you explore pyramids, temples, andother landmarks. The 18 periods of Egyptian history are examined, from theNeolithic Period (6000 B.C.) to the Modern Age. There is also a section onEgyptology covering various explorers, pharaohs, and religion.
• The Age of Pharaohs uncovers the great mysteries and lives ofEgypt's pharaohs. There is also a section about everyday life in ancientEgypt that captures the daily lives of residents. This CD-ROM also introduces you to the world of hieroglyphics, the ancient Egyptian system of writing based on pictorial symbols.
• Wonders of Past & Present gives you a personal, 3-D virtual tourof Tutankhamen's tomb, the pyramid of Cheops, Nefertari's tomb, and a cruisedown the Nile. Explore these areas by yourself, or take the guided tour andsimply sit back, listen, and watch. There are detailed explanations, abeautiful soundtrack, and an easy-to-use interface.
• Voyage in Egypt has explanations of everything Egyptian, including a detailed list of divinities and their functions in Egyptian religion. There is a special section on famous ancient Egyptians and explorers, as well as a comprehensive glossary for understanding terms associated with Egyptology. Other categories include architecture, daily life, science and technology, and more. Hyperlinked words in the text also enable you to learn more about a particular subject.

Reviews (3)

Note
I bought Discovering Egypt because the box looked interesting. Unfortunately, I found out after installing it on my system that it is NOT compatible with Windows XP. Their web site even says this (which I read after-the-fact). No update is planned by them. Please be aware of that.

Not intended for anyone over age 12!
The cd set will be quite acceptable to those who know nothing of Ancient Egypt, it's culture, history or religion. However, anyone who has even a limited knowledge of Ancient Egypt will find this set dissapointing. The serious minded seeker will not find any in-depth description or commentary about that which they seek.

I was very dissapointed and not at all impressed. A waste of money if intended to learn anything serious about Ancient Egypt.

Calean

Grest Learning Experience
I think that Discovering Egypt was a great set of discs for learning about Egypt. I learned a lot from it and it helped me out in school and in projects. I would reccomend this for the ages 10 and up. ... Read more

Features

• Complete educational tool with more than 30 full version, challenging programs (Ages 6 - 9)
• Reinforce lessons learned at school, encourage students to explore and advance at their own pace
• Exciting format, with 3 or more program levels per subject
• Math, Language Arts, Sciences, History, Geography
• [Windows 95/98/NT]

Reviews (2)

This program would not work on any of my 3 computers!
This program seemed to start out fine, but consistently froze up and caused my computers (all three of them-I tried each!) to shut the program down. This program looks as though it would be really fun if I could get it to run!
If anyone knows how to solve the Windows QuickTime 32 Error that shuts the program down please let me know. I tried to contact the makers of the program, but they seem to have fallen off the face of the earth-emails returned undeliverable, website no longer up and running, etc.

Quite disappointed so far!

Uncle Albert's Magical Album a real gem
I love to buy and play software games with my girls. This was
really a challenging game for kids and adults to play. Some of the puzzles were complex yet they gave you enough clues to help you figure it out (eventually!). But besides the fun complexity of each puzzle, there was something to learn about for every animal and plant you encountered. I give a big thumbs up for this one! ... Read more

Reviews (1)

SHAM: New Package Old Software
I feel like ive been ripped off. This software is supposed to be new but it is a bundle of titles I purchased back in 1999 (human 3d reference edition and interctive human body). Infact two of the programs OurBody and Human 3D are the SAME thing with a slightly different interface. This thing is a sham, DONT FALL FOR IT. ... Read more

Amazon.com Product Description

Birds of the World, Express Edition is a content-rich boxed set featuring three CD-ROMs for both the serious birder and the whole family. Thousands of species are covered from all over the world. The North American Bird Reference Book is filled with information, maps, photographs, and bird songs of 910 species. Also included in this special set are Birds of the World and Encyclopedia of Australian Birds. Both are informative multimedia CDs that include video clips, maps, and plenty of information.

Encyclopedia of Australian Birds explores the rich and exotic world of Australia's avian wildlife. This CD-ROM includes more than 1,500 color images, sound samples, more than 40 minutes of video, and a wealth of text. Birds of the World is a multimedia exploration of some of the hundreds of bird species that inhabit our earth: rare birds, endangered birds, unique and bizarre species, and common varieties. Learn about bird anatomy, courtship and mating rituals, nesting, and migration cycles. Find out which birds are endangered, what is being done to prevent habitat destruction, and why species diversity is so important in gauging the world's ecological stability. ... Read more

Reviews (5)

For the birds?
If you want to learn ABOUT birds, this software can be a useful teaching tool. And it's certainly not going to break the bank. But really, this is a mish-mosh of several items; a bird encyclopedia, birdsongs on CD-Rom, and a directory of Australian birds (hmmm, how many of us are going to be lucky enough to travel down under to see a kookaburra?) It looks as if someone took bird database information, some of it rather long in the tooth and a bit of this and that and threw together this set.

If you want to LEARN birds, identifying which ones are in your back yard or out on a field trip, this software is disappointing. It's not nearly as useful as a good field manual and even frustrating to use. And there are NOT enough birdsongs to make it comprehensive, though we did identify one scary night-screamer that had us perplexed for quite a while--it was a kind of owl that made a most eerie call in the night and we did manage to identify it using the birdcall portion of the software.

In summary; not a bad piece of educational software for the price, but not the ultimate in a bird reference for your computer.

Good and bad points
The program runs well and the bird calls are great, but most birdwatchers see a bird, then want to look it up to see what it is. With this program you must know the name or at least the family group of the bird to look it up. It would be much improved if they had thumbnails from which to select a bird to learn about. Good program for people with previous ornothology knowledge, but kind of useless for the everyday bird watcher.

Where do I begin?
Where do I begin to tell you how much I hate this product?

Should I start with its complete lack of any categorical organization to simplify the search method other than an alphabetical listing of hundreds of Latin names and a "search" function that requires too many steps?

Or how about the fact that the only online "help" (a term I'll use loosely here) is through the tedious audio that sounds more like a promotional demo than instructions?

Or how about the fact that this product looks very much like something that was created back on the bad old DOS days, and only "upgraded" since then by the random pasting in of some useless film montages of birds flying by? Or the fact that you can't even navigate to the program with the Windows taskbar (further proof that it's just a re-packaged DOS product)?

No, I think I should complain first about the fact that the actual "descriptive" material (another loosely used term here) is so terse as to be virtually useless.

I have been a bird lover all my life. I figured "how can I not love a CD about birds?" Well, this is my answer. This product is so user-vicious that not only is it a waste of precious disk space (Oh, did I forget to mention that even though you MUST install it on your hard drive, it still won't work without the CD? Sorry.), but it's a waste of the paper it was wrapped in. They should have saved the tree for birds to nest in.

I also get the distinct feeling that the people who threw this together had no concept of what a bird lover might be interested in; instead, it's just a regurgitation of species definitions with such rudimentary "illustrations" that they're completely useless (again, probably a throw-back to the DOS era). There are photos included too, but those are scenic at best and virtually useless for any purposes of identification. And even with the CD, they take forever to load.

And it's a shame too, because any good VB programmer could fix half the embarrassingly obvious interface problems in this program, but they obviously never even bothered to check before rushing it out to market.

If anybody can recommend a good product, please email me. But do NOT buy this one. It's so bad that you might end up losing your interest in birds.

Save your money. For the price of just shipping this crummy CD, you could just buy a good guide book (the Golden and Petersen series books are great, with illustrations and explanations that actually help), stick it in your pocket, and go out and enjoy the birds.

Its Great!!
My dad recently bought this and I think this program is wonderful, There was a little error I found concerning a song a bird sang but other than that, I love it!! The Birds of the World CDROM is so good, the videos are wonderful and the pictures are beautiful!! The sound is as clear as a whistle, and its just a lovely program. The Encyclopedia of Austrailian Birds is so cool, the videos are so clear and lovely and the pictures and sounds are so good!!!

The North American Bird Reference Book, has a couple of errors but the pictures and sounds are great and its a great program. If you like birds or you just like nature I highly reccomend this program.

Birds of the World
This three volume set is quite a buy. The North American Bird Reference book is a delight. Some of the bird names and families are incorrect, but a newer version is available from the original author. Some pictures are not great, but overall the price is fantastic if you only used this CDROM. The Birds of the World and Australia CDROM's are not as thorough, but have some nice movie clips. Overall the latter CDROMS are better than average, but the North American Birds CDROM is still the centerpiece! ... Read more

Features

• The ultimate home-learning experience
• Includes everything from aardvarks to zebras
• Meet the creatures of the wild
• An exciting and educational 4-CD set
• For ages 10 to adult

Features

• Fun learning software for kids ages 5 to 7
• Topics include animals, numbers, patterns, and more
• 8 interactive activities; real animal videos
• Search a wild and wacky world for hidden treasure
• Treasure hunter certificates and printable treasure maps included

Reviews (3)

Much Too Complex for 3 year olds
Although my daughter asks to play with this a lot (cute characters) she gets frustrated immediately with the navigation. Perhaps I'll hold on to it until she is 4+, but the material is too mature for her at 3 & 1/2.

terrific introduction to time and geography for little ones
This is our first Edmark product, but it won't be our last. This is a fine program with easy controls, a user-friendly interface, and fun educational activities. Kids can work on five tasks in one of two modes. For example, in Jellybean Hunt, your perspective is as an ant on a grid-patterned tablecloth. Jellybeans are scattered at various locations. In exploration mode, you can use arrows designated as relative directions (forward, left or right) or absolute directions (labelled N, S, E and W), to find jelly beans; in task mode, you are asked to get a particular jellybean using a specific arrow set.

Other tasks include: (1) a world map that asks you to identify large land masses or bodies of water and take pictures of them (and clicking on specific places brings up pictures and facts about that place); (2) analog and digital time telling; (3) a scene with dials for seconds, minutes, hours, days and months -- when you click on a dial, the scene is sped up in those increments; (4) a proto-Sim City where kids can place design elements (towns, hills, rivers, roads, etc) on a grid that maps to a sandbox, where the elements take shape.

These activities are well designed and educational as well as fun. As someone who has used Reader Rabbit, Jumpstart and many other children's software titles, I think this compares favorably, and heartily recommend it for your child. Very nice!

Trudy's Time and PLace
Once again Edmark keeps our kids happy with another outstanding product. I've seen kids from 3+ to 7 play this. Several different activities with both Q/A mode or explore mode keeps kids with varied levels of skills busy, entertained and learning. The games "grow" with the kids. Both educational and loads of fun, it's a must for all homes.

We have enjoyed it so much, we continue to buy it for gifts. ... Read more

Amazon.com Product Description

This four CD-ROM package includes Webster's The Great Barrier Reef, Webster's Encyclopedia of Australian Mammals, Webster's Encyclopedia of Australian Reptiles & Frogs, and Webster's Encyclopedia of Australia 2000.

Australia's rich and unique wildlife and history are explored in these CD-ROMs, with features such as video footage of Australian wildlife, games, and interactive tools. Webster's Encyclopedia of Australia 2000 is a resource for studying the political as well as natural history of Australia. All CD-ROMs include the Project Creator option, which allows you to produce and save your own projects using the text and pictures from any part of the CD. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Magic School Bus Explores the Ocean
Like all of the Scholastic games, this is an excellent game for children but this game may or may not work with Windows XP Home Edition. This is the only Magic School Bus series game that I cannot get to work on my PC. Note: All the other Magic School Bus games will work in the compatibility mode.

easy to run through, then it is done
My daughter ran through this one in about 2 hours. While there are some nice facts in it to learn and a few games, once you run through it, it's essentially done. She occasionally goes back to it, but knows that there is rather little to see on the excursion part. As such, it adds to the pile of played out software. And she is only 5.

Also, as with many fact-based science CD-Roms, there is hardly anything conceptual. With the exception of a few disjointed facts, evolution, pollution, and ecology - or even that life exists in a balance! - are neither introduced as concepts nor much mentioned. At five, my daughter is too young for this at a sophisticated level, but why not introduce these notions now? As it stands, she just gets disjointed facts from this rather than a taste of things to come or an enticement to dig further.

That is very disappointing. Nonetheless, the images are nice, as are some of the special effects. You just can't dig very far into it.

This is a great game!
I like this game because it teaches a lot of science about the ocean. My sister, who is 5 years old, likes it, but it is not her favorite. I learned about kelp forests and the open ocean. Kids who like the ocean and science will love this game.

Great Game for Magic School Bus Lovers
You are going on a field trip to the beach with the Magic School Bus Class. You look in the water and find a treasure map. You have to get the answers to the three questions in order to find the treasure. Along the way you can explore each zone of the ocean and play fun games that earn you fish cards. It is hard to get all the fish cards and I haven't even done it yet but I've started the second page. You can even print out your fish cards. Kids will have a lot of fun exploring the ocean and learning about sea life. You can also see animations by just clicking on a picture. This is a very easy game to use and I think you should buy it. If you don't you're missing out on something great. ... Read more