Baby Einstein: Baby's First Sounds: Discoveries for Little Ears is a low-key learning tool for the 6 months and up crowd. The focus of the DVD is to introduce babies to the five basic sounds ("ah", "buh", "duh", "ee" and "mm") and then connect those sounds to basic words in English, French and Spanish. Each section is broken up into short segments, no longer than two minutes; first, the basic sound is introduced by a puppet who repeats the sound a few times. From there, a soft voice will say a word, like "baby" or "ball", while pictures of various babies and balls appear on screen. The first word is in English while the others are in different languages, which is where I feel the DVD goes a little off-track.

On one hand, I understand that people acquire languages easier if they start early, but the DVD spends too much time with other languages rather than focusing on the first sounds -- which is the stated "point" of the DVD. Also, there isn't that much of a connection between the word and object shown in the picture. There are even instances where the object being shown isn't clear, or the words sound a little garbled. This could lead to some confusion.

Although there are issues with the main presentation, the extra exercises included in the "Fun with Phonemes" bonus feature are more focused and do a pretty good job at introducing the sounds and how they connect to form simple words.

One of the most beneficial aspects of the DVD, at least from my perspective, is the "Fun Times Together" feature, which is a parent-targeted explanation about how to foster early language skills. Though some of it may come off as common sense knowledge, the explanations are really clear and helped me understand how my friend's 16-month old learns new words. However, the feature was a bit of a double-edged sword when it came to judging the DVD since it made me wonder how effective the DVD's contents were, especially when taken against a few studies regarding early TV exposure.

While it shouldn't be used as a substitute for parent/ child interaction, Baby's First Sounds seems like a good supplemental tool for parents, but only when used alongside the "Fun Times Together" exercises.