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If you have a friend or relative who's about to graduate from high school or college, you can easily save time and effort by buying them a digital gift that's a perfect fit for their interests. Several companies now make it easy to purchase a gift online and have it delivered instantly to the recipient by e-mail, without sacrificing any of the personalization or value of a physical gift. You can select a specific item to send, add a personal message, and in many cases add an attractive e-gift card--and there's an extremely wide range of options on offer, with digital gifts now available to please graduates of every type.

For the gamer

The online game platform Steam allows you to give games as a gift to any PC or Mac user--just visit the Steam store, select a game (prices start at $0.99), add it your shopping cart, click "Purchase as Gift," and choose either to e-mail your purchase or send it directly to the recipient's Steam account. You're then given the option to add a gift message, and after entering your payment information, the item is sent instantly.

For the entertainment addict

Similarly, Apple's iTunes lets you select any song, album, movie, TV show, audiobook or app in the iTunes catalog and send it as a gift. Just find the item in the iTunes Store, click on the arrow to the right of the Buy button, and choose the Gift option in the resulting pull-down menu. Then enter the recipient's name, e-mail address and a personal message, and you're done. Alternatively, iTunes gift certificates can purchased in denominations of $10 to $50.

For the film lover

Netflix makes it very simple to purchase gift subscriptions to its service. A $7.99-per-month option includes an unlimited number of instant downloads to the recipient's TV or computer, while $9.99 per month adds DVDs by mail, as well. You can give subscriptions lasting either one month, two months, three months, six months or a year, and you can send the recipient a notification instantly by e-mail with a personalized message.

For the photographer

Several e-gift options are available for photography buffs. The photo sharing site Flickr allows you to purchase a one-year subscription to a Flickr Pro account for $24.95, then e-mail a redeemable gift code to your recipient--Flickr Pro provides unlimited uploads and storage, unlimited bandwidth, archiving of high-resolution original images, ad-free browsing and sharing, and more. Alternatively, for photo printing, both Snapfish and Shutterfly offer e-mailable gift certificates in denominations of $10 to $100.

For the newshound

News site Salon.com makes it easy to purchase a gift subscription to Salon Premium, priced at $29 for a one-year membership, $45 for a one-year ad-free membership, or $70 for a two-year ad-free membership--all memberships provide a wide range of additional content and services. To purchase the gift, you simply provide the recipient's name and e-mail address, add a custom message, and provide your billing information.

For charity

JustGive.org's GiveNow Card allows you to select any gift amount from $10 and up, choose one of a dozen e-cards, choose a delivery date, and add a personal message--the recipient can then choose to give the gift amount to any of the approximately 1.5 million charities in JustGive's database. The site's online guide divides charities into categories, and enables users to search for organizations in their local area, as well.

For everyone else

Most leading retail Web sites offer gift cards that can be e-mailed instantly. Amazon.com allows you to choose between sending a gift card by e-mail, as a Wall post on Facebook, as a printable PDF file that you can print and hand deliver, or as a physical gift card with free one-day shipping. More than 80 e-card design options are available, and you can gift any amount up to $5,000.

And Amazon is far from the only option--similar e-mail gift cards are also available at countless other sites. Buy.com allows you to gift any amount up to $2,000 by e-mail with a personalized message attached, Target.com offers e-GiftCards for any amount between $5 and $5,000, and Macy's offers e-gift cards in any denomination from $10 to $1,000.

Don't even want to restrict the recipient to a single store? GiftCertificates.com allows you to purchase and email an e-SuperCertificate (in any denomination from $5 to $5,000), which can be redeemed for use at hundreds of different stores, airlines, hotels, theaters, restaurants and more.

For related Schools.com articles, read:

• 10 great gadget gifts for grads
• Schools.com guide to online safety for distance learners
• 5 ways to use social media to get into college