Talking Photo Album

* What it does: Puts voices and other sounds in the same book as photos

* Price: $45

* Manufacturer: Brookstone

* Niche: Those who want to add short, recorded commentaries to pictures in a photo album. Up to 10 sound clips-- each a maximum of 19 seconds in length-- can be recorded.

* The good: It’s a swell idea. If this product worked better, it would be an ideal way to send relatives pictures and voices of loved ones.

* The bad: The Talking Photo Album suffers on a number of fronts. The instructions-- even for loading the not-included batteries-- are difficult to follow, the electronics are temperamental and worst of all the sound quality is awful. Also the album is heavy, especially considering it holds only 10 pages of photos.

* Bottom Line: Hopefully, Brookstone or another company will come out with a better version. Like we said, it’s a great idea. But for now, it’s not worth the money.