Fisher-Price Digital Arts & Crafts Studio Reviews

• I just don't know about this one

  
  By A18YJGCTKFATXK on 2007-11-15
  I was really excited when I saw this product. The first two I bought didn't have disks in them, so it was back to the store twice, but on the third try, I was able to install successfully. I didn't really have much trouble with the install (a microsoft blip where it froze while preparing to install, but that's all).
  
  When I tried it, I have to say, I was disappointed. I have a 5 year old and a 3 year old. I thought they'd have a great time with this, but I'm not even sure which functions would be suitable for them. Now, in fairness, they are computer games kids, not crafts kids, so maybe I'm biased.
  
  First, yes, the colouring is great and I can see that being a hit. The dot to dot? No. It's too hard to control the stylus, even for me, let alone a child still working on drawing straight lines in 'real life'. And I can buy them dot to dot books, if that's what they want, for much cheaper than this.
  
  As for the other projects, I really like the calendar function, but it would be of limited use to my kids. The card function is nice, but, again, its of limited use for my little ones. Essentially, most of the projects will need supervision for young kids. I can see this being great for an older child that likes crafts, though.
  
  A couple of complaints:
  
  1. to exit a project, you are asked if you want to print and finish or not exit. There's no option to not print. In my case, I keep the printer off and delete the queue. Then you're asked if you want to save after asking if you want to print. It should be the other way around and you should not have to print every time you leave a project. You should be able to just save it and come back later.
  
  2. I know this is a tough one, but hand-eye coordination is tough enough for adults, let alone kids. Some type of display on the pad would be nice, even if it doesn't have all the best quality display. That way, a child can see exactly where the stylus needs to be placed, rather than trying to guess by moving it over a spot and looking up the the computer screen. For the current price point, I don't know how Fisher Price could accomodate this, but this is hard for my guys.
  
  3. I don't like that I have to turn off the unit to get back to the computer. Sure, it's a great feature to keep your kids off your computer, but in truth, they soon learn that if they hit that very big on/off button, they can get into Mom's computer anyway. It's an inconvenience for me, because if you want to import your own pictures, you actually have to move them into the software's directory before they're available. This means that you have to know which pictures you want, move them, then turn on the system. If you've forgotten one or change your mind, you exit the system and go back to windows to move the picture you need. Then you turn on the system and start at the beginning again (including sitting through the logo placement at the beginning). I would want to be able to toggle between the Art board and my keyboard to do whatever needs doing. If I have to send an email (or turn off a printer error notification), I shouldn't have to interrupt my son's playing completely for a quickly couple of mouse strokes in my work.
  
  4. The colour rainbow was not that flexible. I appreciate that it's hard to provide buttons for all the colours, but once in the rainbow, it seems too easy to pick the wrong colour. You pick one, and if your stylus slides over another before the system has recognised your pick, you end up with the wrong colour.
  
  5. Importing your own pictures. To find out how to do this, you have to go to the parental controls, which were not that easy to find. In fact, I think I had to press the print button, then use a menu or something like that. It's not intuitive or in the instructions. Once you find out that the pictures have to be in the "Add Pictures" directory (and you exit the system to move your pictures and re-enter the system again), you find that choosing them is slow, if you've got large picture files. In essence, importing the pictures is a slow process, not minutes, but several seconds at least. It would be nice if this was faster.
  
  6. Once you get your pictures up, you can either use them as a background or a stamp. For a stamp, there are three sizes. It seemed the small was too small (perfect for a stamp size, though), and the medium was too big. If I just wanted the picture large enough to see, but not covering everthing, it was not easy to do. Also, once you place the stamp, you could either "do over" (using the undo button) or leave it where it was. There is no drag and drop type of function to place it where you want it. If there was ghosting to show where it would be placed before you press the stylus, I would understand that, but essentially, they're assuming kids won't mind it not being where they want it. In addition, you can't edit or crop your pictures with this tool at all, but you can distort them, which is fun for kids.
  
  7. The undo button is limited to undoing only the last thing done. You can erase your entire picture, but not undo more than one thing, which takes some planning.
  
  8. Once a background is placed, you can only change it, not get rid of it, unless you erase the entire picture (or it's the last thing you did and you use the undo button). That's annoying.
  
  9. Some of the projects don't seem to have an exit button. All you can do is press the home button on the tablet and you are given the print and exit choice.
  
  Good things:
  
  1. As I said, for little ones, the colouring is really fun. (although, it's not that easy for them to colour in their own drawings, because you have to remember to close all your lines)
  
  2. Any user will improve their hand-eye coordination, which is good for budding artists.
  
  3. The card projects can be simple and fun for kids, if you're willing to let your child use your printer or willing to help them with it. If you're an adult, I would suggest Print Shop for your own card projects, though.
  
  4. Any projects you save will make a .png file in the directory, which you can access and use in other software or emails. This might be fun for a child to see, say, a slide show (using other software) of their work, import their drawing to your blog or send it to grandma via email.
  
  5. The buttons are easy for a child to use and their purposes are reasonably clear, based on the pictures. However, for some things, it's better if the child can read what's needed on the screen, ie: the print and save or other directions. The good thing is, though, the instructions are also spoken, so make sure you have the sound on for your kids.
  
  All in all, I'm not sure I'll keep this product. I think Fisher Price will come up with better versions. My kids are young enough that I can wait for the future products.
  
  As I said earlier, if your child loves crafts, this might be really fun. If your child just loves computer colouring, that function is available. If you want your child to be able to play with their own pictures and draw on them, this might get used. If you want to teach more about hand-eye coordination, the stylus will help with that. It might even teach a child who's slow to pick up a pencil properly how to do just that.
  
  But if you have active kids who want to play games or sports or trucks or pretend, not sit and colour, this probably isn't the right product for you. Get them a colouring book and markers for the times they might feel like colouring. Also, there are a lot or really good computer games and systems out there that are educational and would be money better spent, such as the Leapster or the Vtech smile systems.
  
  

• An excellent system!

  
  By A2WO1BUEMU5IST on 2007-10-24
  My daughter loves to create art, including computer art, so we got her this for her 5th birthday. We are really impressed by how much is in this system! I especially like the themes within features such as the backgrounds and stampers, and you can upload your own images as well.
  
  Complaints: It does have some bugs. We have gotten into modes where it seems to respond to the prior command rather than the current one. For example, you click on one stamper and it applies the prior one, or you pick blue and it applies brown. That is quite frustrating but it only happens rarely. Also, the tablet takes a bit of getting used to. I've seen older kids really struggle with it. My daughter picked up on it right away but she has quite a bit of patience.
  
  My daughter has explored many of the features and we have many more to go. I know this will be an enjoyable system for her for a long time. It will adjust with her abilities.
  
  

• Don't listen to bad reviews...

  
  By A3OX3SKPXE9WNA on 2007-11-04
  My daughter got this from her grandmother as a 4th birthday present...
  
  I had my reservations about it, due to bad reviews. I was absolutely wrong...this toy is GREAT.
  
  The problem, the way I see it, is that people failed to read the system requirements.
  
  Just because it is considered a "toy", don't automatically assume that your outdated computer will be able to run it.
  
  The application NEEDS a video card with 64MB of ram, and DirectX 9.0c.
  Any pc that is able to play any games released in the past few years has WELL OVER these specs. (my current pc has 256MB video ram for example)
  
  (If your pc is 10 years old, this may be a problem...just read the system requirements, just as you would with any other computer software or hardware...right from the box in front of me:
  --
  windows vista/2000/xp
  750mhz processor
  256mb memory
  64mb video ram
  1024x768 video resolution
  --
  
  There were no software hangups, etc. The tablet works EXACTLY as advertised, we love it. My 4 year old loves it, my 7 year old had a go with it and had fun, and even my wife and I have been playing with it.
  
  GREAT present for any kid that loves to draw and play...give it a try!
  
  

• AWFUL!!! Don't waste your money....

  
  By AF66GAIJVCU83 on 2007-09-03
  my 8-year-old saved her money and bought this system and was so excited to get it home! Our computer met the requirements, but it took several tries to get the software to download. it actually caused a fatal error, so we had to stop and restore the system. then, we finally got it loaded and it still wouldn't work properly. the paintbucket function made noise, but never worked and after 10 minutes of playing, the system would freeze and a fatal error would appear on the screen. after restoring the system five times, we decided that was enough. the company sent us another start-up disc, but it still wouldn't work properly. we had to completely remove the downloaded program because it messed up her entire computer!! needless to say, we returned it and my daughter is so disappointed.
  
  

• Not Just for Little Kids--Inexpensive Basic Drawing Tablet

  
  By AWLBYYO1XUOOQ on 2007-10-17
  Ok, I was desperate. I write children's books, and I can't draw worth beans. My daughter, an art major, had received a drawing tablet for her previous birthday, and had let me play with it to do some of my illustrating--that is, the stuff she didn't have time to do. She leaves for college, and I don't have $350 for a tablet. After searching the Internet high and low for something I could afford, I happened to find this item in of all places (where else do you find anything anymore), Wal-Mart. So, as I usually do, I came and looked it up on Amazon.com and got a fantastic price for it.
  
  I waited anxiously, and sure enough, I was like a kid at Christmas. It took me about 30 seconds to make my first picture--I didn't draw it, I was just playing with the buttons to see what they did. Of course, there are several things built in that I just won't use (I guess, unless I'm terribly bored) such as a connect-the-dots option, arts & crafts projects, etc.
  
  As for the tablet, it's a very basic but workable toy. The hardest problem I have is that the stylus pen is very thick, both to hold and to draw; it's not for detailed work. However, once you get used to "playing" with it, it's adequate, at least for what I needed.
  
  There is even a way to retrieve your artwork (if you don't manage to erase it first) and alter it in another "real" art program; of course, my best work I deleted, but at least I printed a copy of it first.
  
  If you're a serious artist, buy it for your kid--this isn't what you are looking for. If you are illustrating (very basic) kid's books, it's very good; although I must admit, I still do a lot of my illustrating with a mouse in the "draw" mode.
  
  
• Highly recommend
  By A3NWN21HH5CEWZ on 2007-11-12
  Kids as young as 2 and as old as 10 have used this system in our house. I find myself using it as well. It is so easy to use and really encourages artful expression that is missing in school these days. Printing is very easy and hooking it up once downloading the software is as easy as plugging into the usb cord. Kids 5 and over can work without any help at all. I would recommend getting a cheap printer with cheap ink catridges and set a limit on print outs. Otherwise you will have 20+ printouts after each session!! I like that I can add software to it for more pictures and ideas down the line - this will prolong its life and interest with my kids. Walmart has an animal bonus disc included (retail [...]) and $[...] shipping! I am saving the animal disc for the holidays.\
  
  UPDATE: This is still getting plenty of use in our house and we have downloaded it on our 2nd computer without problems as well. We make thank you cards, teacher notes, decorate photographs and so forth. Lots of longevity in this toy which is rarely seen in my house.
  
  Most of these 1 star reviews are for people who don't check out the box requirements prior to purchasing and they give a false review since they have never even tried the product to review it. How some people can plug it in and play immediately whereas others can't install just shows it is their computer, NOT the toy. Make sure you check your requirements and enjoy!! It is well worth the money.
  
  
• Don't waste your money!
  By A1JORKVX9K1LOY on 2007-09-10
  This toy did not work even though our computer met the system requirements. Upon calling fisher price customer service, they basically told us we were out of luck.
  
  
• A Wonderful product!
  By A7ASMIGMIED8F on 2007-11-12
  My kids (ages 2, 4, and 6) absolutely love this product. They are each able to use it succesfully and have so much fun being able to paint and draw on the computer. Dd is working on making placecards for our Thanksgiving table. There are so many fun things to do! Love it! Plus, it's not messy!!
  
  
• Had to "hack" it to install it
  By A2BCJUVDXO5MWC on 2007-12-16
  On our old computer we had a GeForce 6800 256 MB graphics card. We now NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTX 768MB video card. Both times we had the same issue. Our computer is used for gaming by my husband and we have MORE than the requirements. For some reason on install, it kept telling us that we didn't have a large enough video card and we needed at least 64M. I don't know what kind of math Fisher Price is using, but 768 is bigger than 64. From the CD itself, my husband had to go to Tools, Folder Options, View, uncheck "Hide extensions for known file types", make sure "show Hidden Files and Folders" is marked, copy the disc to a new folder on the desktop then from that folder on the desktop, do the same thing to view all the files. Then click on the options.ini file and change the 0 to a 1. From there, you install the program from the folder on the desktop, not on the CD. It will still show an error, but will allow you to at least install it. My daughter is only 19 months old, but it having a ball with this. She loves drawing on paper and loves using the computer to play on Nick Jr or Noggin, so we thought this would be the perfect marriage. It took her minutes to figure out how to get the colors she wants, get backgrounds, and get her favorite animals as stamps. This toy is of course WAY too much for her right now and I will enjoy seeing how her use of it changes as she gets older. Right now its a really cool way to scribble on the computer without screwing up Mommy and Daddy's files. I can't wait until she wants to make an actual art project! I'm going to make her 2nd birthday invitations and party hats with this thing.
  
  Update 09/30/08: We've own this thing for 9 months now and still love it. Our daughter is now nearly 2 1/2 and has for the most part, has the working of it down. She spends about 20 minutes a night on it before bed- enough time for me to clean up dinner. She can choose stamps, backgrounds, different erase tools, and more from the wheel. She just figured out how to print the other day, so we'll have to set the parental options to limited printing. At first she only used the blank page to scribble, but now she uses the color book feature also. Now that she knows her letters, she is attempting the dot-to-dots, but her coordination isn't there yet. I can't wait until she gets into the crafts projects. The Digital Arts and Crafts Studio has grown with her just as we expected and she still has so much more to figure out and grow with. We have put the new Fisher Price Fun-2-Learn Computer Cool School (horrible name!) on her wish list for this year.
  
  
• Good Computerized Alternative To Crayons and Coloring Books!
  By AC2EGRJTJYVBA on 2007-12-05
  This is not destined to be a favorite toy in our house, but it's quite fun and the kids are enjoying it. As other reviewers have stressed, make sure your computer meets minimum requirements. Graphics card must have at least 64MB.
  
  The toy is well designed and should operate fine for most kids. You DO have to press rather firmly with the stylus to activate the computer graphics, but most kids won't have a problem with the process.
  
  I like the different activities available with this toy. Coloring books, connect-the-dots, stamping, basic drawing...there is a wide variety of things for kids to enjoy.
  
  Don't mistake this toy for a real art studio program. Drawings and graphics are rudimentary. But, it's a fun toy for kids and a good computerized alternative to crayons and coloring books.
  
  Also, don't forget you can buy expansion packs for this toy to make it more interesting. My kids are really enjoying the Fisher-Price: Digital Arts and Crafts Studio - Go, Diego Go!.
  
  
  
  
• It's Okay but not great.
  By A2DCN5CM5RJAI6 on 2007-11-23
  My son received this for his 5th birthday. We were both very excited to use it. The software took forever to load. Once we got it installed we found that it wasn't as easy to use as we thought. First of all, the pen is difficult to manipulate. My son tried to do one of the dot-to-dots and got vey frustrated because the pen wouldn't draw a straight line. The results of writing with the pens looks just like what your signature looks like when you sign your name on the gizmo at the stores.
  
  It does have a lot of coloring pages and related stamps. And it's suppose to allow you to import your own photos, but we haven't tried that feature yet.
  
  Both my daughter and sone have tried to use this and were okay at first but tired of being frustarted and now it's sitting in the closet....forgotten.
  
  Gayle
  
  
• Nice idea...
  By AYS3OOSY2RJXF on 2007-12-27
  Sadly, it doesn't work for me. My vista laptop doesn't recognize it (it is Vista after all) And my mac running parallels only worked for a couple days. Also, the support site is down. Wow.
  
  I'll give it more stars when it works.
  
  The durability is great; it still looks fine after being thrown off the balcony.
  
  
• Make sure you have the requirments.
  By AKDIDTPD6QYCZ on 2007-12-12
  In good faith I couldn't give this toy a bad review just because of all the hassles that it has caused me. My system is about four or five years old so I did not have a video card with enough ram. I also only have a black and white printer, but I knew this coming in. I asked my folks to buy this toy and a printer for my twin girls for the holidays. The video card cost me another 50 bucks (make sure you have enough video ram, 64, or know how to install one of these babies or the toy is useless). After all was said and done I am glad I went through the hassle because my kids love this toy. They are almost nine and after leaving them alone with the toy for half an hour each, they pretty much knew how to do everything and could navigate the site themselves. This in and of itself is reason enough to buy it, I haven't had to help them with anything which is awesome. The major annoyances are, one, typing is a hassle, especially since it won't let you use a regular keyboard (hopefully they will change this in later models) and drawing is very difficult and looks pretty lame. My kids said that themselves and they have pretty steady hands at their age. Nevertheless, they love the coloring templates and all the cool effects they can use to color everything. Overall, I'd say buy this if your children are into coloring and art and are good at using technology. (I wouldn't have bought this for a five year old, but I am not the most patient person)
  
  
• Disappointing from the very beginning....
  By A2J5ZEL1ZOD2QH on 2007-12-31
  We were very excited to see something like this for my 4 year old to play with. The excitement ended as soon as I tried to install the software. It took about 15 minutes on a 2.8GHz dual processor machine running XP Pro SP2; this has been a very stable machine for the past several years. The software should have taken a couple of seconds to load when you consider the features relative to a full featured drawing program such as Photoshop. After loading, this machine can no longer access the internet. The software freezes every few minutes. The controls may be easy for a young child to learn, but THE CONTROLS ARE NOT USEFUL KEYBOARDING AND MOUSING SKILLS FOR OTHER PROGRAMS that my young one already knows when using websites such as starfall.com. Also, it is unpredictable which settings are sticky (i.e., stay around after adjusting something else). For example, when using the connect-the-dots activity, if you change pen colors, the line drawing style always goes back to the curvy-line style; not very helpful when you are trying to connect-the-dots with straight lines.
  
  Long story short, the software is buggy, the product teaches your kid very little computing skills that can transfer to another application and you are risking having a major headache in getting your computer to connect to the internet after software installation.
  
  
• great product. I hope my daughter likes it for Xmass.
  By A3K93MVHNR8F5J on 2007-11-29
  
  I bought this for my 5 yo daughter for Xmass. I decided to install it on her computer before we gave it to her. The install would not let me proceed since I did not have the minimum requirements for the video card. I knew this before my purchase but wanted to see if would install and work with my 32MB card. It did not. Then I bought a used video card with 64MB for $10, installed it and now it all works.
  
  A bit confusing on how to use it so here are some tips:
  
  1. plug the device into the usb.
  2. run the install software from the CD.
  3. after the install is finished, POWER THE STUDIO ON (press on button).
  
  THAT is it. You cannot start the software by using your desktop/mouse. Also, when you need to move the Studio curser, use the Studio Pen. Your keyboard and mouse does not function until you exit by turning the studio off (pressing the button). Then you get your desktop back after entering the password (if you set it up like that).
  
  .....
  
  no problems with install on Windows 2000 and Vista (as long as you meet the minimum reqs).
  
  
  
  
• Horrible product that doesn't work
  By AZ49MMH3641FL on 2008-01-03
  Fisher-Price Digital Arts & Crafts Studio
  
  My daughter received this as a gift from her grandmother for Christmas, and what a disappointment! I'm very computer savvy, but after spending 3 hours trying to get it to work, I finally gave up. The thing locked up all the time, each section (dot to dot, coloring, etc.) had squiggly lines through everything and did not clear up, even after I made sure all the graphics settings matched the product specs. I too had no luck reaching a live person at Fisher Price customer service, and their web page support is nothing more than a copy of the 2-page product manual and a phone number. I can't believe they haven't responded to their customers with at least some mention that they intend to provide a software patch. I will never purchase a Fisher Price product again.
  
  
• Has promise but very buggy under Vista
  By A56ZFJT182P1R on 2007-12-27
  I was very excited about this product because my daughter is very artistic and loves to draw and color.
  
  Unfortunately this product is very buggy under Windows Vista. I have a fairly new graphics card, a Radeon 1950Pro with 256MB of ram with the latest drivers installed so its not a requirements problem because my PC meets the requirements easily.
  
  One of the programs features (fill paint) freezes the program fairly often, you can hear the sound effects still working and you can even click the buttons on the console and it responds but the graphics are completely frozen and no changes appear on screen. The only solution is to close the program with task manager. This happens after about every 15-20 uses of the fill paint feature making it useless.
  
  The readme file says to hit ctrl/alt/delete and to use task manager to close "DACS.exe" However the file in Vista is called NEWDACS.exe. The readme instructions are obviously written for XP only not VISTA, you can tell by the file names not matching up and the way it directs you to open task manager which is different under VISTA than XP. (you still use CTRL-ALT-DELETE but the actual steps vary slightly)
  
  When you close the program using the task manager, the "c" key on the keyboard no longer works when you type! Also the "f" key turns into a hotkey to start a program I have installed called File Transfer Manager completely unrelated to this product! This only happens if you close the program with CTRL-ALT-DLT. That behaviour stops if you close another process this program needs called "minidacs" however if you close minidacs.exe, the on/off button on the console no longer starts the program.
  
  Bottom line for us is this program freeezes up way too often to even begin to enjoy it, and then leaves the PC in an unstable state after closing it with task manger.
  
  Finally you cannot register the product at the URL referenced in the readme file, because when you go there the page says "try back soon!"
  
  
  
  
• Does NOT work
  By A2ZSL5K1D1WKBX on 2007-12-30
  I am very computer savvy, but could not get this product to work. My kids received this from their grandparents for Christmas, and they really wanted to play with it, so I spent a lot of time trying to get it working for them.
  
  First, let me explain that the only way to launch the program once it is installed is to push the power button on the art studio. The directions for the studio state that if it locks up, you must control-alt-delete to close the program. Also, the program doesn't give you an option of where to install it (if that matters to you). It is very clunky programming to say the least.
  
  Although it would install on the kids' computer, when I pressed the power button on the art studio, it didn't do anything. There just isn't much to troubleshoot when a program won't even launch. But I uninstalled/reinstalled multiple times with no success.
  
  I then tried installing it on my computer. Once it successfully installed and launched the program, my kids started jumping up and down and ran over to play. However, the game locked up instantly and had lines through the picture from the moment it opened. Again, we uninstalled and tried again...same scenario.
  
  My mother-in-law was upset that the kids weren't going to get to play with this, so she tried it on her system when she got it home. It wouldn't even let her install it, telling her that she didn't have enough free space...but when I looked at her system later, she had 6 GB free.
  
  I recommend saving your time, energy, and money!
  
  
• Good Luck
  By A1O1A7TLAZ4Y7V on 2008-01-27
  Good luck getting this to run at all. Do some research via Google and you will see that it is nothing but problems to get it to not only install, but to even run. Being a Programming Analyst I know plenty about computers and build my own computers so this isn't a lack of knowledge. It a poorly written program that will give you nothing but headaches. Good Luck.
  
  
  
• Sparks creativity, once you get past install problems
  By A24DFJ42ESJ6FP on 2008-02-08
  The Digital Arts & Craft Studio from Fisher-Price is fun for the whole family (I think I used it more the first night than my 3 year old!), but you may be driven crazy by problems with the install process. Buyer beware if you are not willing to troubleshoot potential problems with buggy software.
  
  In my case, I received the "Common Language Runtime Debugging error." If you do too, and your system meets the minimum requirements (and the firmware test, which comes with the software, works) then the problem is most likely your Microsoft .NET Framework installation.
  
  I had 1.1 installed and it appears the program installs both a hotfix and .NET 2.0. To fix: uninstall everything (add/Remove programs). First, the Studio software, then NET 2.0, then the hotfix, and finally NET 1.1. Reboot, and reinstall from the CD. Everything should now work.
  
  Took about an hour, but then we were up and running. Is it worth the money? My toddler is fascinated by the computer, and loves to draw, making this toy the perfect combination to keep her occupied (at least for a little while).
  
  
• Good idea, bad software
  By AKQ1CLR85LMC2 on 2008-02-16
  This toy is hard to connect to the computer. The latest version says it works fine with Windows Vista, however I never got my computer to recognize the device. I have a laptop with Windows XP and I was able to connect it, however sometimes the computer cannot recognize the device. I tried to go into the website that the instructions say provide updates to the software and it still under construction. When connected it is a lot of fun for my daughter, but it is really frustrating getting to that point for both her and me. I believe it is too expensive for such simple technology with no possibility of upgrade at least for now. If you have a lot of patience, then you can buy, if you get desperate with computers, please don't it will drive you nuts!
  
  
• CUTE BUT MAYBE NOT WORTH IT
  By AJ64IGZX3RCE7 on 2007-11-30
  THOUGHT IT WOULD BE ALOT DIFFERENT. WRITING PENCIL IS VERY HARD FOR MY 4 YEAR OLD TO WRITE WITH. YOU HAVE TO PUSH DOWN AND WRITE AT THE SAME TIME, AND IT IS VERY SKETCHY AT BEST. IN THE PHOTO FRAME AREA NOT MUCH ROOM TO CUSTOMIZE THEIR PRINTS. DOWNLOADING PICTURES FROM YOUR COMPUTER FOR STAMPS IS A LITTLE DIFFICULT (DOESN'T ALWAYS WORK) AND WHEN YOU PRINT THERE ARE NO PROPERTY OPTIONS TO CHANGE BEFORE PRINTING (IN CASE YOU PRINTED YOUR LAST DOCUMENT IN BLACK) BUT I DID GET THE BEST PRICE AND WHEN ALL THE STORES WERE SOLD OUT I WAS ABLE TO GET IT HERE.
  
  
• Excellent Creative Fun
  By A3M1E13C6BGMO7 on 2007-12-18
  My hard-to-please 4-yr-old niece loved it. Spent 2 hrs straightaway on it. Only thing is, don't let the kids repeatedly press the pen when it asks to save something. That might jam it up a bit or freeze the screen. Unlimited possibilities for crafts and hours of keeping them entertained. Might buy a second one for my nephew.
  
  
• Great educational toy for children over 4!
  By A1I9U7NGHGSZ77 on 2007-12-26
  The Dital Arts studio by Fisher Price connected easily and worked great from the start. My 4 yr. old loves it and was making great picture within minutes. Nice product!
  
  
• Wonderful!
  By A1STZKXC0ATBS0 on 2007-12-26
  This toy is so cool! My daughter loves to draw, color, anything creative. This product is amazing for her, she will spend hours and hours playing with it if I let her. The best part is that she can save her creations, email them to our family members, etc. instead of paper laying all around my house (it does give the option to print them out too, if you want). Anyway, it was way worth what we spent for it!
  
  
• Nephew Took Right To It
  By A2T5BWDMI3NZMN on 2007-12-27
  I bought this for my three year old nephew for Christmas and he's loving it. As one who uses a Wacom graphics tablet and pen I was a bit shocked at the fact that you have to push the nib of the pen that comes with this down so hard, and because my nephew is used to my Wacom which is pressure sensitive (no pressing required) I was a bit concerned, but he took to it like a duck to water.
  
  To the person who complained about the kids being able to turn it off...you can set a parental password so they will never be able to gain access to your computers desktop or hard drive.
  
  On the technical side I'd like to make a few notes:
  
  Installing Microsoft .net framework and updating DirectX takes a long time, so installing this takes a loooong time. (My Adobe Photoshop upgrade took less time to install!!)
  
  It runs a service in the background associated to the .net framework...you can disable that service safely...it'll just needlessly eat up resources if left running.
  
  When it is not in use do a ctrl-alt-delete to bring up your task manager, and stop it's 'Mini App' utility from running. This too will eat up resources and it does not need to be running when the unit is unplugged from the USB port.
  
  It does seem to use a *lot* of CPU power.
  
  Left running for a while, but not in use it caused my fast machine to freeze up, and the only way I could exit it was to turn off the power button on my PC.
  
  I think it would be nicer if you didn't have to press down on the pen so hard and was pressure sensitive, but I also know that if it were pressure sensitive it would be very costly.
  
  All in all I think this is a wonderful high tech toy for tots. While I personally find it cumbersome, my nephew who is only 3, zips around this thing with no problems.
  
  I would recommend this to others. (Just make SURE that you READ the SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS before buying. My nephew can use this here at my house because I have a pretty good machine, but he cannot use it at home where they have an older, slower machine)
  
  Last word:
  It's Fisher Price so you know it's tough.
  
  
• This thing stinks...
  By A1WA70CMQ8EW3C on 2007-12-28
  I bought this for my daughter. I have tried to get to work on 2 different PC's (which have more than the requirements needed) and nothing. One fails to load, and on the other the projects come up a blurry mess. Fisher Price says I need DirectX 10, which is not in the requirements (and the app installs version 9 so I figure that is BS). Not happy at all. Good luck to those who try this out.
  
  
• my granddaughter loves it
  By A1AKHGJCKEG6I0 on 2007-12-28
  My granddaughter loves to make arts and crafts and cards for people. So far she is loving what she can do with this. The only downfall is the instructions are not very well written to make cards. I had to play with it for awhile before christmas to figure it out. But can make great cards for kids to learn and can download your own pictures. It does not turn off very easy but starts up easily. Overall it put a big smile on her face and she played for hours on christmas.
  
  
• huge disappointement
  By A2PVPGAO94D6TT on 2007-12-28
  I was so excited for my 5 year old to get this toy for Christmas, but I am so disappointed in it. He played with it for a little, and he had fun, but the problem happened when we went to shut it off. There is an on/off button, and the directions tell you to exit, you just hit the button, but that is not true. When I hit the button, it took me back to where you enter your password. If I hit ok, then it just takes me back to the activities, and the system isn't even on. I tried unplugging it from my usb port, and it just told me to plug it back in. On top of that, there is a chance that your keyboard and mouse might not work with it plugged in, and mine didn't, so I could not restart my computer. The only way I get it to go off was just turning my computer off my hitting the off button on my tower, which you are not supposed to do because it can ruin your computer. To top it all off, when I tried to call the company, I got an answering service that told me do to a huge number of calls, my call could not be answered at this time. It told me to call back at a later time, or reach them through their website. When I went to their website, I was not able to send an email, all it does is give you a phone number. I will probably be returning this product, because I cannot have my computer ruined by this product. If anyone has any suggestions on how to get the digital art studio off my computer without turning my computer off, I would love to hear them. All in all, I am really disappointed and would NOT suggest buying this toy.
  
  
• Arts & Crafts Fun
  By A1C9D20PUJIMUN on 2007-12-30
  This was a Christmas present for my granddaughter. She is an artist in training. Her creativity has blossomed, she enjoys the ease of mastering her projects.
  
  

• Fisher-Price Easy Link Internet Launch Pad
• Fisher-Price Smart Cycle
• Hello Kitty Blk Girls Tall Boot - 12.0
• Fun 2 Learn Computer Cool School Scooby-Doo Software
• Fun 2 Learn Computer Cool School SpongeBob SquarePants Software

• Fisher-Price Digital Arts and Crafts Studio-Dinosaur
• Fisher-Price Digital Arts and Crafts Studio-Dora the Explorer
• Vtech - Kidizoom Digital Camera - Blue
• Jakks EyeClops Bionic Eye
• Fisher-Price Digital Arts and Crafts Studio Barbie Story Book Creator