My Piano has an audio recorder so you can record and listen to what you play. Also, the built-in metronome helps keep your rhythm steady. One of the neatest features of this software is its ability to connect to a MIDI piano. Once it's connected, the program can inform the student of what mistakes he or she made.

My Piano from eMedia is available for $29.95 for the PC or Mac. For more information, or to order, visit Amazon.com.

Program Requirements

Pentium II PC
Windows 98/2000/NT/Me/XP/Vista
64 MB of free RAM, CD-ROM
CD-ROM drive, sound card, 256+ color display
speakers or headphones

Power PC G3 or better (Intel OK)
Mac OS X 10.1+
64 MB of free RAM, CD-ROM
CD-ROM drive, 256+ color display
speakers or headphones

Software Companies Mentioned

Rosetta Stone
Harrisonburg, VA
Phone: 1-800-788-0822
URL http://www.rosettastone.com

eMedia Music Corporation
664 NE Northlake Way
Seattle, WA 98105
Phone: 206-329-5657
URL: http://www.emediamusic.com

Cyber News and Reviews is a monthly column published since 1995 for parents, teachers and small business and home business owners offering articles on some of the best computer products available. I cover business software, education, entertainment with freeware and shareware, and some hardware too. Over the years, I've reviewed computer programs from Microsoft, Knowledge Adventure (Davidson) and others. When my kids were young, they couldn't wait for the software to arrive and have fun testing the games and lessons with me. And, in the past few years they've contributed some of their own reviews with opinions. The best advice on software is from the children who use it. Also, many of the business programs reviewed are useful for home business and small business owners.

My writing began in 1979 when I entered the world of personal computers. One of the very first computers was in kit form made by Motorola, with a tiny amount of memory. It used a teletype for typing and it printed the text. I belonged to the local computer group where we exchanged software, helped each other expand our computers and bought the new computers when they came out. I had them all: from the Apple II, Atari, Commodore 64, Radio Shack TRS-80 to the IBM PC desktops. Radio Shack and Sharp made the first portable and pocket computers. Eventually, all the computers came with a form of Microsoft Basic language that let you write your own programs. I started writing articles on beginning Basic programming for Byte Magazine, Kilobaud, Personal Computing and others. My articles evolved into two books on beginning Basic programs, first for the TRS-80 and Apple II, then later for the Atari, Commodore and IBM PC. To my delight, the books were used to help teach the Basic Language in elementary and high school computer classes from 1980 to 1986.--Howard Berenbon

Rosetta Stone Personal Edition Hebrew Level 1, 2 & 3 CD-ROM Set

By Becky Berenbon

Rosetta Stone, a language learning software, is definitely one of a kind. The software calls its system Dynamic Immersion™, which models the way you learned your first language as a young child. Through images, intuition, interactivity, instruction, and immersion, you can learn a new language. There is absolutely no memorizing involved. Hard to believe? I wanted to see this for myself, so I tried out the program. The installation process took about 10 minutes, including actual installation and set-up. Before getting started, the software builds your course based on what you want to learn. For example, I had already learned the Hebrew alphabet, so I chose not to focus on learning this.

Each language program is divided into levels, sold separately or in bundles. And levels expand on what was previously learned. Rosetta Stone has just recently updated some of their language programs, including Hebrew, adding a third level to the series.

Each level has units, focusing on topics like “Greetings and Introductions” or “Work and School.” The units contain four lessons. New vocabulary is introduced at the beginning of each lesson, and then worked with during each activity. Once you have finished a unit, you’ll do the milestone, testing out your new language skills in an everyday situation, like on a camping trip or a bus ride.

Online Privacy Policy

Cyber News and Reviews is a monthly column published for parents, teachers & business owners featuring educational software reviews, business software reviews (small business & home business), games and entertainment articles, since 1995. We also review freeware, shareware, and some hardware too. Over the years, I've reviewed computer programs from Microsoft, Knowledge Adventure (Davidson) and others. When my kids were young, they couldn't wait for the software to arrive and have fun testing the games and lessons with me. And, in the past few years they've contributed some of their own reviews with opinions. The best advice on software is from the children who use it. Also, many of the business programs reviewed are useful for home business and small business owners. HB

My Piano from eMedia Music Corporation

By Becky Berenbon

In February 2008 I reviewed My Guitar from eMedia Music Corporation, and this month I had a chance to review My Piano, another music instruction program from eMedia.

After a quick installation, I was immediately greeted by Pam the Piano, a cheery animated piano. She was there to guide me throughout the program with tips and instructions. The interface was easy enough for a child to navigate, especially with Pam's help.

First, the program gave some insight on the different kinds of pianos. Then, basics like positions and finger numbers were taught. Also, it gave lessons on reading music, including notes, rests, and rhythms. It then teaches the names of the keys, with many games along the way. Soon enough, I was playing simple songs. By sprinkling in fun songs, the program can keep a child's interest. As the course went on, harder concepts were introduced, like time signatures, tempos, ties, and shorter notes.

Near the end of the course, young musicians are even taught to play songs with a both melody and harmony (two hands).

We have been reviewing business, education and entertainment software products since 1995 with the best and most popular software from major and minor manufacturers. All reviews are freely available and archived at our site.

Rosetta Stone Japanese Level 1, 2 & 3 and My Piano from eMedia

Rosetta Stone Japanese Level 1, 2 & 3

By Howard Berenbon

If you or any of your kids decide it would be a challenge to learn the Japanese language, then you can get help with the latest software from Rosetta Stone. Their new 3-level Japanese language software, Rosetta Stone Japanese, offers a real-world approach to learning Japanese, and after a few weeks of testing, it does work! Basically, Rosetta Stone teaches language by connecting words to objects, with real life events. They help you learn to think in the language by offering native speech along with images and events, just the way you’d learn if you born into the region. They cleverly use voice recognition to analyze your progress, and include a quality headset, with earphones and a microphone, just for that purpose. In the past few years, computer processor speeds and memory size has increased to the point where voice recognition is more reliable. So, Rosetta Stone “hears” what you’re saying and can correct you. And by repetition, you’ll eventually speak the language like a native.

We did have an idea of how the software might perform because of our review of Rosetta Stone Hebrew last month, and was highly praised. So, we were slightly biased before running the software, and it did work out the way we thought. It’s an excellent program. Open the box and you’ll find 4 CDs with the program and 3 lessons, a detailed, printed, User Guide, the very important headset so you can interact with the software, and also a quick start 4-page printed card with clear installation instructions and course setup. If you need help later, they offer an excellent Help feature while you’re learning. Also, a Help icon is on the top of each page so you an get specific help for that screen. And more help is available online if you need it.
Japanese is not an easy language to learn, because it consists of symbols, called Kanji, and letters, and lots of rules you need to know to get it right. It’s not like learning French or Spanish, especially when your native language is English using the same familiar letters. Japanese uses a combination of symbols and letters, which makes it so much more difficult.

My 16-year-old daughter, Sarah, who is studying Japanese in High School, has been using Rosetta Stone Japanese for the past two months and it seems to be helping. Here’s what she has to say:

“Rosetta Stone Japanese is very similar to its Hebrew counterpart. The
native speakers were a definite plus, and the option to display the
kanji was my favorite feature. The only downside is the interface,
which is a little slow on my 3-year-old computer. Regardless, I'd highly
recommend this software to anyone learning another language."

So, you can’t go wrong using any of the Rosetta Stone language products, especially for the more difficult languages. We highly recommend their products.

Rosetta Stone Japanese Personal Edition Level 1, 2 & 3 sells for a street price of $449.10 with a no risk 100% money back guarantee for six months. It will run on any multimedia PC, 1 GHz or faster processor, 512 MB RAM with Windows 2000/XP/Vista, 600 MB of disk space and a CD-ROM drive. It will also run on an Apple Macintosh, operating system 10.3.9 or later. For more information, or to order, visit Amazon.com