Product Trends Magazine

About the company: The A&E Television Networks have exclusive DVD collections from Modern Marvels to World War II, and far beyond. The three channels that make up the networks, A&E, History, and Biography, have a host of educational and fascinating programs available, all of which is very affordable.

The big pitch: Quality A&E programming at prices far less than you expect.

The A&E Television Networks have regular sales and an incredible range of gifts for the holidays. There are a couple of navigation options, including “shop by show”, which leads you to a list of the shows for all three channels on the network and allows you to go through them in alphabetical order. There is also a menu on the left on the alphabetized page that lists several of the more popular buys.

You can also shop by subject, looking at everything from sci-fi and fantasy (like Thunderbirds, Stingray, and Supercar) to Science and Tech (like Medicine, Space & Exploration, and Weapons) to Ancient Civilizations (like The Mayans, Egypt, and Ancient Greece). Each of these categories opens up into a page full of great choices for both education and entertainment. There is literally something for everyone’s tastes.

You can also shop tabs for special offers, best sellers, and their new releases. A&E Television Networks makes it easy to find exactly what you are looking for on their easy-to-use site. There is also a tab on the side of the screen that leads into toys and games. Mostly educational and all fun, these games are a great gift idea. And if you don’t know what to give, the site offers gift certificates as well.

If you would rather take your time and browse on the go, request a catalog with their easy fill-in form, and you can be shopping the site in the park or the doctor’s office in just a few days. There is no hassle, and no pressure to buy.

With the ease of use, variety of products, and many ways to surf, this site is a number one in our book. There is something for every taste, all you have to do is take a look.

The Product Trends rating: The site is easy to use, and has a great list of products to entertain a wide range of people. There are plenty of search options and even a mailing list where you can sign up for special offers. The site is secure and pleasant to navigate. Five stars!
— Reviewed by Dionne Obeso

To try A&E for yourself, click the image below:

About the company: “Founded in 1961 as the book division of Time Inc., by 1966, Time-Life had combined its book offerings with music collections and packaged them as a sturdy box set. Throughout the ’70s and ’80s, the selection of books, music, and then video grew, diversifying into all genres. Today, Time-Life is one of the world’s pre-eminent creators and direct marketers of unique book, music, video/DVD, and multimedia products. The Time-Life name is one of the most recognized and trusted brands in existence today.”

The big pitch: A leader in the sale of music and video products, the Time-Life brand offers great value for quality entertainment products.

You are up late one night watching television and you come across a commercial for Time-Life music or video products, and wanted to order but didn’t get the number down in time. Hey, it happens - but now, Time-Life has created a website that you can visit and review all of the music, videos, and other product that they offer, without the need to dig behind the couch cushions for a pen that works.

How do you find that product you saw on television? Easy - just click on the “As Seen on TV" icon on the home page, category pages, and product pages throughout the site, to find the products advertised on TV. You can also search for the product that you are looking for by using the empty search box option that appears on every page. Just enter the product name and hit go, and all of the products will come up.

Want to listen to some of the music before purchasing? That option is also available on the site. If your product includes music CDs, you can listen to a 30-second sample of almost any song you choose - just click the song you want and it will play right there on your PC speakers.

Ultimately, Time-Life is the home of the various artists’ box set. With titles such as Legends: Ultimate Rock, Lifetime of Romance, and Classic Soul Ballads, you know pretty quickly what you’re in for. I mean, there’s just no confusing Superstars of the 80’s as being anything more than a collection of songs by the likes of Billy Ocean, Cyndi Lauper, Rick Springfield, Fine Young Cannibals and Huey Lewis and the News. But what may surprise is just how huge these box sets are. The Superstars of the 80’s set, for example, boasts discs for every genre - ten of them, in fact. In essence, with just one of these box sets, you could be purchasing enough music to get you from Jacksonville Florida to Spokane Washington without ever hearing the same song twice, or having to fiddle with a radio dial.

The video side of things is even more impressive, with DVDs of entire runs of classic TV shows, from Columbo to Murder She Wrote, Hee Haw to Second City Television. Even better, Time-Life regularly lists items for sale in their ‘clearance’ department, with prices dropping from the usual $16.99 to as little as $5.99. In addition, if you buy more items, you earn big discounts - buy 3 and get 10% off, buy 6 and get 15% off, or buy 9 and get a whopping 20% discount. That’s great stuff.

Customer Service is a number one priority for Time-Life. They are there for you before, during, and well after your purchase to answer any questions you may have, and to assure you are happy with our products and service. You have three ways of getting to customer service: Call Toll-Free: 1-800-950-7887. Call between 8 a.m. and 10 p.m., ET, Monday through Friday, and Saturday between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m., except holidays. Send an email using the customer service form provided on the website, or if you prefer the age old methods, mail ‘em a letter.

If customer service matters to you, then Time-Life has our heartiest recommendation. When I called and asked various questions about the products, they were very helpful and easy to speak with. The return policy is fair and clear to the customers.

The Product Trends rating: If fast, quick and quality entertainment products are what you are looking for, then Time-Life products are for you. Five stars. —Reviewed by Denise Seegobin

To try Time-Life for yourself, click the image below:

About the company: No matter whether you’re looking for video games, toys, games, standees, soundtracks, home furnishings, gift certificates, convention items, DVDs, collectibles, clothing, books, stationery, artwork or posters, if it has something to do with Star Wars, you’ll find it sold at the officially mandated, Lucasfilm-owned Star Wars Shop.

The big pitch: Discounted items for sale everyday, including exclusives that you won’t find anywhere else.

I have to admit, I hated, hated, hated the last three Star Wars movies. I know certain people love them and get all up ins, but to me, they were some of the worst big budget filmmaking in the last thirty years, like a trio of Waterworlds all lined up in a row. But hey, what do I know? I have a life that doesn’t involve Yoda-talk, so maybe I’m just missing out.

For those that aren’t missing out and worship the ground that George Lucas walks on, there’s the Star Wars Shop, the official Lucasfilm merchandise outlet that sells everything from ‘holiday edition Darth Vader statues’ to something called a ‘Lando in Skiff Guard Disguise Mini-Bust’.

I have to say, I wouldn’t know a ‘Covert Ops Clone Trooper Figure’ from a ‘Star Wars Porcelain Character Ornament Set’, but one thing I can tell you is that the items on sale at the Star Wars Shop are a lot cheaper than you would expect, especially seeing as much of it is limited edition collectible gear. I don’t know that I’d personally spend $279.99 on an ‘Attackus Wicket Statue’ or $399.99 on a 15 inch ‘Attackus Tusken Raider Statue’, but presumably someone out there will be saving every last penny of their summer babysitting money to do just that, in the expectation that one day it’ll be worth, like, $405 or something. So good luck to ‘em.

But you don’t have to be the geekiest geek of all geekdom to shop at the Star Wars Shop. Even a Star Wars hater like me can geek out a little at the General Greivous Bobbleheads (for just $16.99!), or the Framed Episode IV Film Cells (a snap at $69.99). And yeah, okay, I’ll admit that I wigged out a little at the Dark Side basketball jersey, though there’s no way I’d meet the hundred-dollar price tag for it.

All in all, what could have been a giant nerd rip-off is actually a collection of reasonably priced merchandise (for the most part) that will find a warm place in the hearts of those who dig it. We abide.

The Product Trends rating: It’s not our scene, but credit where it’s due, some of this is good stuff, especially to those who have The Empire Strikes Back memorized down to the last line, or have hung an Attack of the Clones poster over their john. If you go to sleep at night thinking about scenes from Return of the Jedi, then this is the store for you. 3.5 stars.

To try the Star Wars Shop for yourself, click the image below:

About the company: Intelliflix is the world’s largest combined online movie and game rental destination, offering more than 40,000 titles of movies and games to customers in all 50 states. In 2004, we surpassed Netflix with the largest number of distribution centers in the continental United States. This allows us to provide our customers with typically 1-2 day delivery to most areas of the country. We are the only online company to provide both unlimited subscription programs and individual pay-per rental (PPR) plans.

The big pitch: 3-out Unlimited Rental subscription plans for just $8.25!3-out Unlimited Rental subscription plans for just $8.25! Pay-per-rental plans are also available, starting at $3.95 per movie/game.

Netflix hit the movie industry like a hurricane, bringing online movie rental into the population’s mindset at such a fast rate that established bricks and mortar chain stores like Blockbuster and Hollywood Video have seen their profit margins severely slashed.

Intelliflix is just the latest of many upstarts to have entered the market seeking to take back Netflix’s crown, but it’ll be a hard road to hoe if they have any ideas of beating the original - the company that created the industry from scratch. Thankfully, Intelliflix does a lot of things well, and indeed does some things better than Netflix does - and some that Netflix doesn’t do at all.

The way online DVD rental works is simple. You choose the movies you want on Intelliflix’s website, put them in order of preference, and wait. That day, the Intelliflix staff will send the movie you asked for out to you by mail, for you to watch whenever you want. If you watch it right away and stick it straight back in the post (using the free postage-paid return envelopes that they supply you), as soon as they receive your returned movie, they send out the next one on your queue and you receive it the next day.

The best part? Hard to say - it could be that you can keep the movie as long as you want with no late fees. Or it could be that they send you out 3 movies at a time, so you should always have something waiting to be watched. Or it could be that you never have to get to the video store, fighting traffic and queues, to return a movie that sucked. Whatever you think is the best reason to rent online, take it from us, a group of people who are all heavily addicted to online movie rentals - it rules.

Intelliflix is a good option to begin your online rental experience, for several reasons. For starters, their 3-out online DVD rental subscription plan is just $16.95 per month, which is dirt cheap. In fact, at the time of writing, Intelliflix was offering an incredible $8.25 discount price on that plan, and though that can’t last long, it’s the sort of discount that makes people sit up and take notice. If you prefer to pay per rental, which works better for casual renters, you can do so for $3.95 per title, for a five-day-rental, with up to four movies at a time, again with free shipping, which matches any video store that I know of.

To help you decide if Intelliflix is right for you, they’ll give you one free month trial with every new account, and not only will that get you three movies, free of charge, delivered right to your mailbox, but you can also choose from video games as well. In fact, Intelliflix has over 40,000 video games and movies waiting for you to rent, right now - including mature/adult movies. Alternately, Netflix doesn’t offer adult titles OR video games.

Another great forward step for Intelliflix is that they’re integrating their service into actual bricks and mortar stores across the US, which will mean you’ll be able to order your films and pick them up later that day, rather than waiting for the mail, if you choose to do so.

Lastly, Intelliflix processes orders on Saturdays - not just Monday to Friday like Netflix does, which means you’ll get more discs per month, and have your weekend turnaround times slashed by a day. Great stuff.

The Product Trends rating: We didn’t think that anyone could beat Netflix, which is a truly great, innovative, dedicated to customer service kind of company, but Intelliflix gives them a real run for their money. Four and a half stars.

To try Intelliflix for yourself, click the image below: