Find the Best Artistic Animated Ecards

The world of electronic greeting cards, or ecards, and more specifically artistic animated ecards, provides one of the most dynamic examples possible of the power that the Internet possesses to change for the better the way we all live. They harness the unique ability of the worldwide web to enhance the quality of our lives and relationships on a very human level.

Most people will likely be familiar with ecards through the websites of the longtime major players in the paper-and-ink greeting cards business, Hallmark and American Greetings. Both companies' sites provide an incomparably large selection of electronic greeting cards, literally thousands in a wide range of subjects and styles, which can at first produce the kind of overwhelmed feeling you get upon entering a brick-and-mortar card store. If you're searching for a card to email for a special occasion like Christmas, Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, Thanksgiving, or a loved one's birthday, you could well spend more time than you'd like just clicking and sampling.

Such efforts can lead to truly artistic results. Witness "Angels We Have Heard" from American Greetings (also available through the website of Blue Mountain, which the company acquired in 2001). As we hear a children's choir sing the traditional carol of that title, a brilliant star descends from the night sky and illuminates an evergreen, streetlights, churches, and homes in a traditional wintry town, then rises back into the heavens to become the tip of a wand held by a beautiful angel.

Yes, it's beautiful. But many of the big card companies' offerings can have the slightly homogenized mass-market feeling of the printed greeting cards you encounter again and again in real-world stores. Furthermore, while these major players offer many free ecards, the best often cost money to send: a $13.99 annual membership with American Greetings, or $1.99 apiece from Hallmark.