If you are only interested in Media, you are eliminating the "live Music" factor. There is a marked difference. When we use pure Acoustic Music, the "vibrations" (to make it easier to understand than sound waves) are able to flow into & be accepted & processed by the brain. Try standing a few feet away from someone playing the bagpipes! You can literally feel the Music vibrating your body--for real!! The sound waves of recorded Music are quite different. The aural stuff which is horribly distorted by electronic means is not going to have the same effect. It will affect the brain in much the same way as the old science project of playing classical music to one plant which grows gracefully & beautifully, as compared to the hard rock "music" played to the 2nd plant which grows in a disfigured & distorted way--DUH!! My degree is in teaching Music to Special Ed kids (& so called "normal" too), so I have studied how to get inside the brain of those whose brains are often "wired" differently. The fact that Music stimulates growth of neuropathways in the brain & braincells--as believed by many--is nothing new, however, the fact is that live acoustic Music is by far the most stimulating. With children, we know that partial brain damage can be "made up for" of sorts by bypassing that part of the brain & using other portions/creating new neuropathways. I have also noticed that using live acoustic Music with alzheimer's patients has a fascinatingly similar effect. I have used repeated exposure to various Music activities to stimulate short term memory--& it has worked! As long as I kept the activities going on a regular basis-almost daily-I saw improvement. As a Music Educator, I know how to use many methods of learning in Music activities all at the same time, as this offers more opportunity for the person to "get it."
    Catters, try getting yourselves & kids in the middle of a bagpipe band or a steel drum band!! You & the kids will be fascinated by what you feel, hear, & see. Especially--what you feel.