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This 'toy' has it all! Music, visual stimulation, stunning design, intelligent interaction, and enormous fun factor. It also happens to be useful -it's an alarm clock and speakers for your mp3 player. Whether played with while alone or with friends, the feeling of being a futuristic DJ is engrossing, while the combinations of sounds is limitless -this is possible because you can record your own sample to mix with all the other sounds that it already comes with! What makes it especially fantastic in the design category is the way in which you interact to mix the music. Rather than just turning knobs or pushing sliders, you use beautiful little sculptures! Everything about the Zizzle Zoundz is amazing, and we're getting another one to have at the office.

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This "toy" is a bit pricey, admittedly, but the expense is at least justified with a great and imaginative product. If you got sucked in by the iDog or the iPuppy and were disappointed, fear not. These Zounds, though similar in concept, really deliver. I bought one for a six year old girl and opened it up to customize the square piece with her name. Boy, will she be surprised to find her name in there with the sounds on Christmas day. After loading the batteries I gave it a run-through and a had a great time experimenting, and I'm a 39 year-old man. It's back in the box and now I'm ordering more for my two sets of nieces, aged 6 to 18. Maybe somewhere in there I'll really get a chance to play with this, I'm hoping. The great thing is that the spots on the board are sensitive to the pieces even if you just wave them over it, hence you can get endless variations with sounds and compositions. It's really a futuristic instrument but simple enough that anyone can make good sound. Very satisfying for non-musicians. I have Garage Band on my Mac and this is a simlar loop-based concept. In fact, some of the loops are the same but they're packaged into a much more visceral experience. I could see a creative professional having this somewhere in their office or reception area actually, admittedly in a non-plastic, classier looking version. In the meantime this "toy" stands up to the hype.

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This should be in the tech gadget category as well as toys. I brought it into my IT shop and was instanly sourrounded by techies going oo and ah

a fantastic way to work with sound. It may become my Christmas best seller.

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If you were down with EPCOT center in days of yore and remember the playground that was on the second floor of the "Journey Into Imagination" ride, you'll have some idea of the creative thrill this toy provides.

My five-year-old daughter received this today for Christmas and it was the hit of the day. Everyone played with the toy, people in their 20's to 50's... it is addictive and hard to put down.

The little sculptures used to make the music are beautiful and appear to be lighted from within when they are on the spotlights of the playing board. They are all made of plastic, rubber, or cloth, so there is little fear of breakage if dropped. There are three "hot spots" on the board, and depending on where you place a piece, you get a different looping riff. The orange spikey piece is percussion, the red cylinder is bass, the purple cone is "cosmic," and so on, with each piece having three different themes. The clear cube is the "record your own noise" piece, where you get five seconds of record time. No microphone is needed, as there is an internal one in the base unit... just hold down two of the buttons and when the piece glows red, it is ready to record. The unit speaks to you in a dramatic female voice when telling you the time or going through menu options.

The light show produced by the toy is really beautiful and changes based on what pieces you have on the board. If you have ever seen a color-changing LED light like they have in some hot tubs, you will have an idea of the smooth effects the lights in Zoundz are capable of. Small children can create some impressive-sounding music, and if they are like my daughter, will be inspired to dance around to their creations! The toy does the work of getting all the pieces' sounds to come in on the same beat and blend together beautifully. You can also adjust the tempo. volume, echo, and reverb of the music. Fans of trace-type music will get a kick out of the many possible combinations of melody.

If you are a parent buying this toy for your child, don't feel surprised when you get a slightly haughty feeling that you are buying a superiorly creative and mentally stimulating toy instead of another piece of Dora crap or Bratz garbage that will be quickly outgrown or forgotten-because you will be justified! This toy will provide amusement and dreamy atmosphere for years to come. As another reviewer pointed out, it can be used as an alarm clock, waking you to the last musical composition you made, or a "modern cuckoo clock to chime the hour" (according to the box). I haven't figured out how to set the clock yet but I can say that it is possible to create music that would indeed be pleasant to wake up to (or go to sleep to, as the unit also has a "sleep" button).

It may pay to compare prices for this item-I paid $45 for it but have since seen it for as low as $30. Yes, it is more than I would normally pay for a toy, but when I think of all the toys that have gone to the thrift store in the past few years, I believe it is worth the price, especially if your child enjoys musical toys as much as mine does. Time will tell if the toy is well-made enough to withstand years of play, but my hopes are high. The combination of art and music is just all-around pleasing and I applaud the creative minds that made it possible.

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I purchased this as a gift for my grandchild, age 13. She was really thrilled with it and found all different kinds of things to do with it. Kept experimenting with different functions. Not only that, but her two brothers (11 & 6) were also very facinated with it. It's a gift that has kept on being used and not put aside after a couple of weeks.