When I saw this opportunity to review Beamz – Interactive Music System I was all over it.? My family is a very musical family and my kids love to learn to play with new musical toys.? From all the videos we had seen online regarding this player the kids would have the ability to use the laser technology in the Beamz Player and make music of their own.? When we received the player we were quite disappointed to learn that no in fact you listen to the music on the computer and when you break the laser it randomly adds a drum beat etc. into the song.? Not very fun I am afraid for your average family.? I think it would work well for a DJ service or something of the like.
After we got the The Beamz player opened up and out of the box we went ahead and tried to install it on my computer.? It took us three tries before we got it installed properly so it could be used, we were not off to a very good start at all.? Then when the kids went in to explore the software they discovered a follow the Beamz game that they cannot get to work with our system.? Honestly this has been out of the box twice and not since, it is just not something that our family would use, The Beamz kids get very bored of it very quickly.
The Beamz player comes with 50 songs included in categories like modern pop, rock, dance/hip hop, jazz, kidz and even some video jamz.? Maddisyn really liked the kidz section because she was able to play with the song B-I-N-G-O and Old MacDonald.? Really the music selection is awesome for Beamz and there is so many more you can purchase to add on for prices starting at $2.99.? The Beamz Player itself can be purchased for $199.95 for the C4 model and $299.95 for the DJ & Pro model.? You can also buy a stand to put your Beamz player on so no worries about where to set it.? The stand sells for $49.95, perhaps as my kids grow I will see more use out of the Beamz player and will buy them the stand so I can have my kitchen table back.
The Beamz does say on their website that it provides musical and occupational therapy applications by interactively assisting special needs individuals with music.? “Beamz is an innovative and fun musical instrument that enables special needs kids and individuals of all ages to interactively create and play music.? It is a great tool in a variety of special needs and rehabilitation applications, most notably including physical and recreational therapy with children and senior citizens, building inspiration without discouragement.”
Also stated it would be great for educational applications by interactively engaging kids of all ages into music.? “Beamz is an innovative and fun musical instrument that brings kids of all ages into the experience of creating and playing music. It is an authentically ?cool? instrument and engagement tool for teachers to bring their students into music in an extraordinary way.”
All in all for our home setting I would say The Beamz Interactive Music Player will not be a regular thing out to play with but I am sure the kids will be more then happy to haul it out to show it off to their friends and our family.
