We do almost everything for our kids. And as new parents,, reading to them is one of the fundamental joys. But in an age of two working parents, free time sometimes becomes hard to find. Even non-working parents would agree. So we sit our kids in front of the TV and find other activities to keep "our lil darlins busy". Disney has another alternative. For $80 bucks a year, they will provide access to books on the web. Will parents bite; I'm not so sure.
"DisneyDigitalBooks.com, which is aimed at children ages 3 to 12, is organized by reading level. In the “look and listen” section for beginning readers, the books will be read aloud by voice actors to accompanying music (with each word highlighted on the screen as it is spoken). Another area is dedicated to children who read on their own. Find an unfamiliar word? Click on it and a voice says it aloud. Chapter books for teenagers and trivia features round out the service." Does this subscription offer access to other devices. It doesn't appear to. As E-book readers are becoming the hot product, Disney prefers to tether their product to the PC. And that may be what hurts it. Parents have many more alternatives in the home. It is when we are on the go, away from home, that we seek "help" to distract and entertain our children. We hand them our iPhone, gameboys, blackberries, and other devices. That is when we are most vulnerable and that is when it is easy to buy the app on the iPhone to offer something new.
Disney offers wonderful content and finding new revenue streams for content is what keeps companies growing. Still, I doubt there will be many that bite at this particular offering. Expand its reach to external devices and price competitively and I believe this could potentially be a huge winner for Disney.
I prefer to sit down in a big rocking chair with my kids and have the experience of turning pages.
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