What these new products do is embed music with beats and pulses that entrain your brain waves to a specific frequency. You just put in right CD or MP3 for your activity (you don't wan't an Alpha state for analytical work), and you get better brain function. Science? Partly.

It is well established that our brain wave frequencies change with our mental states and vice-versa. It is has also been clearly demonstrated that meditators can go into an alpha state at will, and that this has beneficial effects (lowering of stress, blood pressure, etc.). Do tapes accomplish this more easily?

Yes, in my experience. I've found two products that put me in a peaceful state unlike any other music or meditative practice. Studies will prove effects (some have already), and disprove wilder claims of some of these products. Given results I experienced, however, I wouldn't wait for research, any more than I would have waited for proof of existence of vitamin C before I'd continue eating limes to cure scurvy a hundred years ago.

Wait for more evidence of benefits of brainwave entrainment, if you must, but why not try classical music next time you need to study, just to see if it helps? Experiment with music - I haven't yet heard of any damage caused by Mozart.

“I bargained with life for a penny And Life would pay no more, However I begged at evening When I counted my scanty store.

For Life is a just employer, He gives you what you ask, But once you have set wages, Why, you must bear task.

I worked for a menial’s hire, Only to learn, dismayed, That any wage I had asked of Life, Life would have willingly paid.”

Do you see life as being willing to pay a penny’s worth of value? Or more? The Universe won’t second-guess you. If you only ask for a penny, it will assume you know what you want, and be accommodating enough to give it to you.

Ourselves. This might be hardest of all. Do we see ourselves as average? Stuck? Not as smart, or not good enough? Then we’re not. But even our self-limiting beliefs are comfortable. They become part of our identity. But these beliefs have gotten us into whatever position we’re in. If we want to change that position, we’ve got to change thinking. If I want new furniture in my living room, I need to get rid of old furniture to make room, no matter how comfortable I’ve gotten with it. If I want new thoughts in my head, I need to sacrifice old ones.

So sacrifice isn’t such an awful thing. Its short-term pain makes room for long-term growth. And as long as we know where we’re growing to, it’s a process to welcome.