The Baby Einstein Company, producer of developmental media products for infants, today announced it will release “Digital Board Book(TM)” versions of “Baby Einstein(TM),” “Baby Mozart®,” “Baby Bach(TM)” and “Baby Shakespeare(TM).” The announcement was
made at the American International Toy Fair. All four DVD titles will be released in April.

“As a publishing format, DVD offers three extraordinary advantages: interactivity; the capability to store video, audio and print programming; and stunning digital playback quality,” said Julie Aigner-Clark, founder and CEO of The Baby Einstein Company. “The ability of parents to control the images and sound stored on DVD makes this emerging technology a revolutionary teaching tool.”

According to Aigner-Clark, each “Digital Board Book” will feature three activity centers — The Baby Einstein Home Theatre, The Baby Einstein Listening Center and The Baby Einstein Language Lab. The company’s award-winning videos will be presented in the Home Theatre. DVD chapter cues will be encoded throughout the videos, allowing parents to repeat or skip particular parts of the programs.
The Baby Einstein Listening Centers will offer several musical experiences, including a 30-minute concert of Bach, Mozart or Beethoven music, plus special sets of “bedtime” and “playtime” tracks. Each musical piece will be identified on the video screen as it plays.

The company’s multilingual “Baby Webster(TM)” flash cards have been recreated in video still frames and multiple language audio tracks. A parent and child will be able to “step” through the 30 visuals, identifying pictures together, labeling the visuals with written vocabulary words, and hearing the words pronounced in any of seven languages (English, Spanish, French, German, Hebrew, Japanese and Russian). Manipulation of just two buttons on the DVD remote unit provides complete control of the electronic flash cards.

The “Baby Shakespeare” Digital Board Book will also feature an interactive version of the “Baby Shakespeare Poetry Anthology,” a 28-page book presently available in print format. The suggested retail price of each Digital Board Book will be $24.95.