Without question, the coolest thing about Disney"s Song Factory is its interactive element: Pop it into a CD-ROM drive, and it turns an ordinary computer keyboard into multiple musical instruments. Depending on which of the Aladar"s adventure-themed songs kids are playing along with, they can hit any letter on, say, the A row of keys and find themselves commandeering electric guitar, synthetic strings, acoustic piano, overdrive electric guitar, or synthetic brass while also jamming on rock organ, steel drums, slap bass, or vibraphone on a different row. Just as on a piano, the farther little fingers wander to the right, the higher the notes go. Especially fun for kids learning to read music is the onscreen staff, which allows for tracking chord creations and random notes, none of which, thanks to technology, can be off-key.Song Factory no doubt took shape from findings more recent than prehistoric--research from the American Music Conference shows that music benefits kids most when they"re active participants in making it. Not to be given short shrift, though, are the songs themselves. A genre-spanning collection of eight thoroughly modern-sounding tunes satisfies hard rockers ("Dino Beat"), alterna-punks ("Top of the Food Chain"), R&B smoothies ("Paradise"), and pure poppers ("Break an Egg," a big borrower of the Smash Mouth sound). Selective shoppers looking to unearth a single remnant among the deluge of "Dinosaur"-derived products will do well to stick by "Song Factory"; its sound plus its play-along factor add up to built-in staying power. --Tammy La Gorce