any thoughts on the VTech Ereader ?

[chrstene]

My mother-in-law wants to get my DD (4) the VTech Ereader for Christmas, but always asks our opinion on gifts first.  We dont 'have any video type games for her, although do let her play on our laptops, etc. 

I checked it out online and it seems cute enough.  I just don't want something that will be training grounds for walking around with a DS 24 hrs a day, as I"ve seen so many kids doing these days.  

Anyone have one ?  worth the $$ ?  What about the downloadable stories that they have online ???  

[ellairiesmom]

Funny...I just found out that my mom got dd (3) and dn (4) the v-reader.  I am now trying to find out more about what is available online for downloading because she also got dd the fisher price ixl for her bday & it hardly has any games/books available.  I went through the whole process of downloading everything but it seems that I can't see what's available until I actually hook up the v-reader to the computer so we'll have to wait till christmas.  

A friend's dd has one & they love it...they actually have seen her reading books with it to her little sister.  I need to ask them about what's available to download online & for free though.

In another thread in this forum we were just discussing the itouch & it's versatility vs these various educational systems available right now.   Because there is a refurbished itouch option (around $129), I keep wondering if in the end-it would have been a better route for our dd.  it does everything (games, educational apps, music, pictures) & you can use any adult e reader program for free on it.  it's just a smaller screen.  

I guess we'll see how she does with this stuff.  

As for the amount of time they spend with it...like anything, it will become something we have to monitor & have rules about.  Can be a pain in our house.

[chrstene]

AH YES, limiting the time is the big problem here too.  I have to deal with whining and such everytime I do it !  

I did the EXACT same thing as you...downloaded the software etc and couldn't get to the download center.  I called them too and one person I spoke to told me that he didn't have a list, but "there's a lot of books" !  Since that wasn't too useful, I got someone else who was supposedly going to try to find a list he could email to me.  If he does follow through with this, I'll post it.