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« October 2005 | Main | December 2005 »

November 30, 2005

Podcast History

I decided to take a hand at recording my own Wikipedia entry today. The results, for better or worse, can be found here with my rendition of Wikipedia's entry for Podcasting. I was astonished to see how much the definition and history of podcasting had expanded over the past few weeks (then again, just look at how much Wikipedia itself has grown in the last year). I keep up with podcasting's development on a daily basis so I have an incremental knowledge of what's happening and what might happen. When you actually step back and take stock of what's changed in this sphere over the last few months, you see the incredible strides the medium has made.

Personally speaking, I've never had such direct access to an emerging technology much less known at the moment that I was actually taking a small part in its development. Thanks to podcasting I basically got a crash course in how the internet of the 21st century works. We started doing our own shows at LearnOutLoud last February and that seems like a million years ago now. Back then we didn't know if anyone was listening to these things or if this whole medium had any legs at all. Now even my mother knows what a podcast is, and she’s beginning to think about trading her walkman in for an iPod nano. I still can't predict the future of the art much less tell you what the present state of it is at any given instance. If anything I've come to know that technology is no longer a static thing (if indeed it ever was) and I've become accustomed to this constant flux.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy my reading for you. It has really placed the recent past into perspective for me and I think it serves perfectly as a podcast definition. It is also a valuable primer for all of the new listeners that join the podcasting community on a regular basis. With podcasting, the history books are being re-written every single day, and every moment of this is recorded by people like you and me.

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Posted by LOLSeth | Permalink

November 29, 2005

...and Furled...and Lifehacked...and Yahoo'ed!

It's been a bit of a wild last 30 hours or so. First the front page of Digg. Then the front page for del.icio.us where we still are over 30 hours later (I have no idea how that works). Furl kicked in a little bit. Then we thought the coast was clear.

Then around 1 PM PST today we got posted on the front page of a very cool blog called Lifehacker. (Apparently it's very popular as well.) Then, to double our pleasure (or pain depending on how the server is acting at that minute) we see that Lifehacker's article is syndicated to Yahoo! News. So in the span of 24 hours we go from nothing to getting posted on five of the biggest websites on the Net. Crazy...

Anyway, just two reasons for posting this. First, to explain why the site has been sluggish and apologize for any less-than-stellar experience that you have had with the site. We think we're in the clear now publicity-wise although the way the last couple of days have gone I wouldn't be surprised if Oprah gave me a call later tonight. ;)

Second, to say that this is all really cool. It's fun to see all the support for what we're doing and I hope that many of the thousands of people who've been introduced to the site in the last couple of days will return soon and often. It's also really cool to me personally that maybe, just maybe, for a few of you who visited this might have been a spark to figure out what this whole "audio learning" thing is all about. If all of the Diggs, Furls, del.icio.us bookmarks, etc. cause one new person to view their commute tomorrow as "prime learning time" then for me the headache of trying to keep up a server over the last 30 straight hours that I've been awake has been well, well worth it. :)

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(Updated 11/30/05 - Had the wrong URL for Furl...)

Posted by jbischke | Permalink

November 28, 2005

We've been dugg! (and del.icio.us'zed...)

If you've been on the site at all today you've probably noticed that it's a bit sluggish (or downright inaccessible). This was due to a huge influx of new visitors that happened when we made the homepage over at Digg.com. We made the homepage around 10 AM PST today and within an hour we were the victim of the "Digg Effect" (something so common that it even has its own Wikipedia entry).

We've been working hard to get the site up and it looks like most of the site is functioning properly (albeit a bit sluggishly) with the exception of the Free Audio and Video Directory which we've replaced with a static page until things stabilize. It also didn't help that in addition to being "buried" (the alternative moniker to the Digg Effect) we also have been on the popular list over at del.icio.us for a good chunk of the day.

Anyway, thanks to all the new folks for stopping by. We hope to have the site fully operational soon so you can see all we have to offer. In the meantime, bookmark us (or bookmark us in the del.icio.us), sign up for our newsletter or subscribe to our blog or podcast so we can keep in touch with you. Apologies to all of you for the inconvenience.

(And if you're not familiar with Digg.com or del.icio.us I would definitely recommend to go check them out. They're two of the coolest sites on the Net!)

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Posted by jbischke | Permalink

November 27, 2005

IT Conversations

I've been a big fan of IT Conversations ever since I started listening. I simply don't think that there is anyone else out there producing audio content as consistently solid as what Doug Kaye and his legion of volunteers are doing. And what started out as a lot of conversations about technology has evolved into so much more. Here's a recent sampling of episodes I enjoyed listening to:

Tim Zak's interview with Ethan Zuckerman on the subject of Africa and social entrepreneurship from the Globeshakers Podcast
Moira Gunn's interview with Dr. Andrew Weil on the subject of aging and longevity from the Tech Nation Podcast
John Battelle's conversation with Vinod Khosla from the Web 2.0 Conference

This is just a sampling of some of the amazing stuff that's out there. We've re-done our listing of the IT Conversations podcasts and added a simple re-direct for you to be able to find them:

http://www.learnoutloud.com/itconversations

You can find all of these programs at ITConversations.com as well. This is just our way of trying to give this wealth of amazing audio content some more exposure. Also, we've added in links for one-click subscriptions through iTunes and to product pages on Odeo and Yahoo! Podcasts to make it even easier for you.

Please don't forget to support IT Conversations as it is a listener-supported non-profit. Here's a link to go to if you would like to donate. Finally, check out Doug's Conversations Network. I know I'm beginning to sound like a broken record about this but I really feel that what he will be doing with this will change the world.

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Posted by jbischke | Permalink

November 26, 2005

The "Tepping" Point Here at Home

On Wednesday I wrote an entry about The Tepping Point, a grossly simplified equation (Technology + Education = Productivity > Progress) that I fell underlies which economies become successful and which fall behind. I framed it in the context of Africa and Jeffrey Sach's groundbreaking book The End of Poverty. However, the Tepping Point isn't just a concept that it's important for economic develpment abroad. It's just as important right here in the U.S.

I'm reading the most recent issue of Fortune and I came back-to-back articles where the Tepping Point has direct relevance. The first ("Get a Life!") describes the increasing desire of men to have better work/family/life balance. One of the main issues: Can people be as productive (or even more productive) while working 40-50 hour weeks as they are if they are working 60, 70 or even 80 hours a week? The second article ("It's His Economy Now--And Yours" includes a couple of interesting charts that plot the growth of real GDP and real wages and salaries over the last five years. The take-away? While real GDP has been relatively strong (3-4% over the last couple of years), real wages and salaries have been falling for the last couple of years.

With a few blips on the radar the U.S. economy has been on relative easy streets for the last couple of decades. It's easy to think that will continue indefinitely, especially when we've been in the midst of such a prolonged uptick. However, history is full of examples of countries that were on top and presumably invincible one year can find themselves in troubled waters only a few years after. One only needs to look to what's happened in Japan over the last decade as evidence of that.

One again, let me offer a full disclaimer that I'm far from anything remotely resembling an economist but I get the general sense that there could be economic trouble ahead for the United States. Not in the sense of "Oh my gosh we're going to have another Depression and everyone is going to be poor." Rather a sense that although we will continue to do well and specific sectors might do very well that we're going to face an intense challenge from China, India and other countries that are growing at a much faster rate than we are.

China's economy is growing at a rate of 8% per year. Let me repeat that. China's economy is growing at a rate of 8% per year. With that type of torrid growth rate we don't need to look forward more than a couple of decades to a time when China, not the United States, will rule the world economically. After all, as I read in the early pages of The End of Poverty, it was a mere 1% difference in GDP growth rates between the U.S. and Africa between 1820 and 1998 that lead us becoming an economic power and Africa becoming an economic backwater.

OK, full disclaimer #2: I don't care who wins. I love my country as much as anyone but I also don't define myself by it. So I don't write any of this in the interest of trying to imply that it's bad if China or India or somebody else takes over the #1 spot in the world's economy. Rather I want to see all nations and all individuals succeed to their best possible ability.

And that's what I love about the Tepping Point. It's the furthest thing from a zero-sum game that you can find. Technological development and educational advancement form a tide that lifts all boats. No one loses in a more educated society. That's the beauty.

And to be honest, just as Africa has a long way to go in terms of education so do we here in the United States. Many K-12 schools are in a lot of trouble as over-worked teachers struggle to deal with larger class sizes and fewer resources. Colleges and universities are still world leaders but many American students are falling behind their often harder-working foreign classmates.

And adult education? Well the most telling sign for me of the state of adult education is when I tell people that I have a company that sells audio and video educational products. The immediate assumption by the vast majority of people is that we offer products for children. It takes many people a surprisingly long time to get the fact that we're trying to educate people who've already finished "their education" (as defined by that high school/college/graduate diploma).

Sure, a lot of people are good at learning what they need to know for work. Which is fine until you switch positions or careers and realize that this often means developing a whole new skill set. Or until you're forced to deal with the fact that innovation is moving at break-neck speeds and that the knowledge you have today is increasingly likely to become obsolete a couple of years from now. Or until you wake up and realize that 1.3 billion Chinese people are now a prime player in the global economy and that many of those people want your jobs and are very qualified to take them.

But by then it might be too late. That's what we want to help prevent here at LearnOutLoud. We want you to start Learning Out Loud before you find yourself in a position of learning too late.

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Posted by jbischke | Permalink

November 23, 2005

The "Tepping" Point and The End of Poverty

Extreme poverty can be ended, not in the time of our grandchildren, but our time.

If that doesn't send chills down your spine I'm not sure what will. It's in the introduction of Jeffrey Sachs' revolutionary new book The End of Poverty (Note: I just put up a free video lecture from Sachs here). I'm about 35 pages into this and it's an incredible combination of history and economics lessons and a call to action that we actually have the ability to put an end to extreme poverty including the continent that suffers the worst from its economic situation: Africa.

Helping Africa has long been a personal passion of mine and I fully expect to devote significant chunks of my life to doing what I can to improve the situation over there. It's no doubt a complex and daunting challenge to even make a dent in what often seems to be an overwhelming set of challenges. But I don't think we have a choice. If we believe in equality and justice then I think we must help.

As I was reading The End of Poverty I developed a (very) minor thesis which I'll call The TEPPing Point (apologies to Malcolm Gladwell). What is the TEPPing Point? It's a simple equation:

Technology + Education = Productivity > Progress

The combination of an improved technological infrastructure and increased access to education will lead to higher productivity. At the end of the day higher productivity means higher wages and ultimately economic progress. Sachs offer some illuminating points early in the book when he talks about how just a couple of centuries ago Africa wasn't all that far behind the rest of the world economically. However for the last couple of decades the rest of the world has advanced at a quicker rate leaving Africa in the dust. That's the main reason (I am likely oversimplifying here) behind why we see extreme levels of wealth in North America, Europe and Asia while most people in Africa live on a few dollars a day or less.

Why am I talking about this here on LearnOutLoud? Well, for starters we're doing our best to work on the "E" of the TEPPing Point. We feel that by enabling and encouraging audio and video education both here and abroad that we're doing our part (albeit perhaps a small part at this stage) to raise productivity and economic progress.

Consider this. I formed a bit of this theory while listening to a great interview on the IT Conversations Globeshakers podcast. In it, Tim Zak interviews technologist Ethan Zuckerman and asks the question "Why Should We Care About Africa?" A couple of years ago I would have had no way to access that conversation. Today it's as easy as plugging into an RSS feed and listening to it on my iPod. That's the kind of thing we want to enable on a wide-scale. Globeshaking indeed...

As far as technology is concerned some amazing strides are being made. In the interview Zuckerman talks about the incredible impact that the sub-$100 laptop that Nicholas Negroponte and others at MIT are developing will have (for a collection of links on this click here). He also relayed a story about how parents in Ghana (where Zuckerman has spent a good deal of time) will save money for months so that their children can spend time at cyber cafes in the hopes that the technical skills they'll pick up will help them to have a brighter economic future. (Note: When thinking about things to be thankful for tomorrow perhaps adding easy Internet access is something we should all be adding to our list?)

Indeed, I can feel a TEPPing Point coming. Things are accelerating at such a tremendous rate. If we (I speak collectively here) can bring technology and education to developing and impoverished countries without exploiting those countries in the process then we will change the world. When a kid growing up in Ghana can watch lectures from Stanford on his sub-$100 laptop or listen to foreign language training courses on her sub-$20 iPod then we will change the world. When the quality of a child's education no longer depends on an accident of latitude and longitude then we will change the world.

And I can't think of anything I would rather be thankful for in another decade or two than a world in which no one has to go to bed hungry or die from diseases that are ridiculously easy to prevent.

Happy Thanksgiving from all of us here at LearnOutLoud.com to all of you around the world.

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Posted by jbischke | Permalink

Wiki Out Loud: Wikipedia Entries on Audio

A few nights ago I was at the office and the ol' brain was fried. I decide to take a couple of hours "off" and record some Wikipedia entries on audio. It was kind of fun. Here were my reasons for doing this:

1. I learned about some cool new stuff while reading. For instance, did you know that JFK, Aldous Huxley and C. S. Lewis died on the same day (November 22nd, 1963)?

2. I thought that having some Wikipedia entries on audio would be a cool resource for visually impaired people, non-native English speakers, etc.

3. We probably won't do a lot of these but I thought that by kicking some off maybe some other people (whose narrating voices are a lot better than mine!) would be encouraged to do this and after a while a good chunk of Wikipedia would be available on audio.

I recorded six entries and we put them up on the site yesterday. Here they are:

Big Science
C. S. Lewis
Creative Commons
Digg
The Long Tail
Web 2.0

After putting these up I noticed that there is a similar project already in the works called Spoken Wikipedia. It looks like they have a couple hundred entries including some rather eclectic ones like "Gumball machine" and the "Don and Drew Show" (um, isn't that supposed to "Dawn"???). The rationale for doing the Spoken Wikipedia project was similar to ours. Here's what they say:

* Spoken articles make wikipedia content available to those who can understand English but cannot read.
* With spoken articles, users can listen to Wikipedia articles while they perform tasks that preclude reading, but not concentration (such as biking, running, doing housework, etc). It is presently difficult to find high-quality audio content that entertains and educates like spoken featured articles do.
* Blind users can of course use screen readers, but no matter how good the computer voices are, they will never be as pleasant as a human vocal performance.
* Non native English speakers, and those that don't speak it at all, can have a valuable learning tool. Having a large number of examples of how words are pronounced can be important. In addition, being able to hear how words are pronounced and read them at the same time offers two simultaneous learning styles, auditory and visual, for potentially faster learning.
* Some may find it easier to concentrate on reading an article while listening to it, especially in an environment with distracting sounds (with the use of headphones).

Anyway, the more the merrier as far as educational audio content goes. I don't really know whether to link to our audio titles from Wikipedia or not. I don't want to step on any toes. And I probably should contribute my entries to the Spoken Wikipedia project as well although they use the OGG file format which I find to be a bit of a pain in the ass (although I understand why they use it).

So I hope you enjoy the audio entries and can put up with my occasional stumbles through names and tough-to-pronounce words. We'll probably do some more from time to time. I do think that an "audio encyclopedia" would be a great resource and there doesn't seem to be a better place to start than Wikipedia given its open licensing. If you've got other thoughts on the matter feel free to ping me at suggestions@learnoutloud.com.

Have a great weekend everyone!

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Posted by jbischke | Permalink

November 21, 2005

Podcast Round-up

We've added a lot of cool new podcasts to the site and I wanted to direct your attention to a few of them:

The BayCHI Podcast - Interesting sessions with technology leaders recorded by BayCHI, the San Francisco Bay Area Chapter of ACM SIGCHI. I listened to the recent episodes with Doug Kaye (09/13/2005) and "Are You Ready for Web 2.0?" (08/09/2005) and highly enjoyed both.

Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders - A weekly seminar series on entrepreneurship out of Stanford. The session/interview with the founder of Trilogy Software was one of the most engaging podcast episodes I've ever listened to.

Stanford on iTunes - More good stuff from Stanford. These aren't technically podcasts (there no RSS feeds) but there is definitely some good content here.

If you have any suggestions for other good educational, entertaining and inspirational podcasts or other audio content please send us an e-mail at suggestions@learnoutloud.com and let us know. We have 540 podcasts in our Podcast Directory and 548 titles in our Free Audio and Video Directory and we're shooting for 1,000+ in each within a few months. We'd love your help in getting there!

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Posted by jbischke | Permalink

November 20, 2005

New iPods: Micro, Pequeno and Invisa

The iPod Nano and Video iPod are now obsolete! Funny sketch from last night's Saturday Night Live:

http://section3.net/stevejobs_SNL/

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Posted by jbischke | Permalink

November 19, 2005

Educational, Entertaining and Inspirational

I just listened to a great session with Doug Kaye over on the BayCHI podcast where he talks about the new Conversations Network that he's putting together. During the session he talks about the type of content they are looking for and says that it must be "educational, entertaining and inspirational." He then goes on to say that he'll take "two out of three" and that the most important of those three is inspiration.

Well they say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery so I'm going to borrow Doug's terminology because it precisely fits the criteria we've established for listing content on LearnOutLoud.com. We want content that both uplifts and informs and at the same time is very enjoyable to listen to.

To educate.

To entertain.

To inspire.

That's our mission.

(By the way, mark my words. What Doug is doing with the Conversations Network will change the world. It's going to be so much fun to watch and to be involved.)

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Posted by jbischke | Permalink

November 18, 2005

Bono Out Loud

I've been a huge fan of U2 since I was back in middle school and it's been fun to see them grow and evolve over the years. What makes the band special for me is the message behind the music, a message of hope mixed with an urgent call for social activism. I've gotten a chance to see them in concert a few times this year and it's an amazing experience. Really tough to put into words for those who haven't been to a show.

Anyway, Rolling Stone just published an interview with Bono as a podcast. As far as I know this is one of the first times they've done something like this. Very, very cool. We've put this up on our site and here's the link:

Bono: The Rolling Stone Interview Podcast

I cruised around a bit tonight to see what other Bono audio material I could find and found another great interview that was posted as part of the Back Story Podcast from the San Francisco Chronicle. It's in three parts and you can access it from the following link:

Chronicle Podcasts: Back Story Podcast

I also came across an interview with Bono that we already had up on the site. Haven't listened to it yet but I'll definitely check it out soon:

TimesTalks: Bono

Last but not least I'll have to throw in a couple of links to U2 podcasts. Haven't listened to these yet but if you're a big nut like I am you may want to check them out:

The @U2 Podcast
U2Source.com - U2Chatcast

Quick reminder: If you haven't join the One Campaign yet please do so. If we all do our part our generation can be the one that makes history by making poverty history.

Have a great weekend everyone!!!

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Posted by jbischke | Permalink

How to "Rent" Audio CD's from Amazon.com for under $10

I just caught this post from "Robert", a prolific poster over on iLounge.com. Do note Robert's disclaimer that in order for this to be legal you need to completely erase the digital file before you sell the used CDs. As long as you do this then you are completely legitimate.

How to "Rent" Audio CD's from Amazon.com for under $10

A little bit of a pain but not a bad way to inexpensively listen to audio books. Of course, we would appreciate your business so feel free to buy your new CDs from us and then go to Amazon to sell them. :)

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Posted by jbischke | Permalink

November 16, 2005

How to Become an Audio Learning Junkie, Part One

A bunch of people have asked for it so I think it's time I finally produced. It's time to write the definitive guide to audio learning. The thought of sitting down in front of Microsoft Word and cranking it out bored me so instead I'm going to blog about it in a bunch of installments and then once it's done we'll wrap it, put a bow on it and post it in the articles section of our site.

Why Audio Learning?

Let's start with the most basic and most important question: Why should you learn on audio? For me the answer is pretty easy. I truly feel that how you spend your "dead time" is one of the most important factors in becoming successful and achieving your goals. Sure, you can listen to boring talk radio on your drive to work or pop in that CD you've heard 100 times before. But the minute you start to view drive time as learning time everything changes.

A while back I blogged about something from Brian Tracy's newsletter. It's so good that it bears repeating here:

Your mind is your most precious asset. You must be continually working to increase the quality of your thinking. One of the best ways is to turn driving time into learning time. Listen to educational audio cassettes in your car. The average driver according to the American Automobile Association, drives 12,000 to 25,000 miles each year, spending 500 to 1000 hours that you spend each year in your car. That is the equivalent of 12 1/2 to 25 forty-hour weeks. This is the same as two full university semesters spent behind the wheel of your car each year.
If you did nothing but use that traveling time as learning time, this decision alone could make you one of the best educated people of your generation. Many people have gone from rags to riches simply by listening to audio programs as they drive to and from work.

So for me that's the main reason why I love audio learning. Books that I never thought I would listen to. Languages that I never thought I'd learn. Ideas that I never thought I'd be exposed to. All of that is now at my fingertips and the best part is that it doesn't need to take up one additional second of my day.

What Can I Learn?

Another common question. The answer? Just about anything. Certain things work better with audio. There's no doubt about that. At the top of my list are foreign language titles. We have a tremendous selection on our site and some of the ones you'll definitely want to check out include titles from Pimsleur, Rosetta Stone and Transparent Language. The goal of becoming bilingual one day used to seem daunting to me. It no longer is. I fully expect to become fluent in at least one, if not two, or maybe even three, additional languages at some point in my life. It's not easy but it certainly is easier with programs like this that you can listen to while commuting, exercising, etc.

Next up? University courses. There's an amazing amount of college and university-level material available on audio. On the best sources of this material are courses from The Teaching Company. If you've never listened to a Teaching Company lecture you are in for a real treat. Remember that one great professor you had back in college? Well The Teaching Company scours the country looking for professors like that and makes a high-quality recording of one of their courses. Very, very cool.

I could go on and on but let me offer just one more area of content for your enjoyment and educational advancement. That's the area of self-development. Chances are that regardless of who you are there is an aspect of your life that you are looking to get better in. Maybe it's your diet or your spirituality or your relationships. Audio learning offers you a tremendous way to "work on" this aspect of your life without having to take additional time out of your day.

Someone looking to improve their diet could check out Andrew Weil's The Beginner's Guide to Healthy Eating or Tony Robbins' Living Health. Folks looking for spiritual guidance may find it in an audio book from Wayne Dyer or C. S. Lewis. People seeking better relationships could listen a book like The Relationship Cure or Marianne Williamson's classic A Return To Love.

There is SO much to learn on audio it's unbelievable. This article isn't going to be a sales pitch but do check out our Catalog where you can find almost 10,000 different audio learning resources.

OK, I'm Sold. Where Do I Start?

Good, you've joined the Audio Learning Revolution. Welcome aboard! The first thing to figure out is where and how you are going to listen to your stuff. For starters let's pick the obvious time that people have to audio learn: your morning commute. Remember when that used to be a time of drudgery? When your options were limited to bad talk radio, commercials or more bad talk radio (check out this link for a humorous take on those options)?

Those days are over. Audio learning allows you to not only not hate your commute. After a while you actually start to enjoy it. Many of the friends and family that I've turned on to audio learning now can't imagine their lives without it.

So what do you do if you want to turn your vehicle into a "university on wheels?" Well for starters let's look at your options for mobile learning:

1. Cassette Players - Cassettes are going the way of the dinosaur but many vehicles still have cassette players. There are a couple of cool things about cassettes. For starters, they have a self-bookmarking feature built-in in that you'll always be able to pick up right where you left off. That's nice for the times when you want to move your learning from the car to some other place. In addition, cassettes are fairly easy to find at libraries because most libraries have stockpiles of them and they aren't in as high of demand any more.

The downsides of cassettes? For starters they are bulky. Carrying around a mountain of cassette tapes where you go with is not exactly a good time. In addition, a lot of newer material isn't even being produced on cassette.

2. CD Players - OK, now you've joined the 21st century. Virtually every vehicle being sold these days has a CD player. That's one of the main reasons that the majority of audio learning content is still sold on CD despite the tremendous growth in the popularity of portable mp3 players. Just about every audio learning title produced these days is available on CD.

I only have two issues with CDs. First, they are also bulky. Not as bad as cassettes but still not ideal (as we'll see in a minute). Second, they don't have a bookmarking capability. If I want to listen to part of a CD when I workout in the morning and the remainder when I drive to work I have to write down the track I left off on. Not very elegant. While CDs are currently ubiquitous, they are slowly losing ground to...

3. Portable Audio Players - The iPod Revolution is definitely upon us. You can't swing a dead cat on a university campus these days without hitting someone wearing those sleek white headphones. Over 30 million iPods have been sold to date and with the holidays approaching and red hot iPod Nanos and Video iPods available, that number is likely jump significantly.

Portable audio players represent the future of audio learning because they allow you to pack an amazing amount of content on a very small device (have you seen the new Nano, they're crazy small!). In addition, you can bookmark files, speed up or slow down the content and much more. Plus, you can listen to podcasts. (What are podcasts you ask? Check out our article Introduction To Podcasting for the low-down.)

Yes, portable audio players are an audio learning junkie's dream. I got my iPod Mini abou a year and a half ago and I literally could not imagine life without it. There is just one bit of difficulty though. For many people, getting the iPod (or any other portable media device) to play friendly with a vehicle isn't always a piece of cake.

I'm going to do the unthinkable and leave you hanging in suspense on that one. When I return we'll run down the ways to hook your portable media player to your vehicle, talk about the various services, software and companies that are out there to enable audio learning, discuss file formats and what they mean to you and cover some ways to save money. Stay tuned! (Or just get subscribed.)

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Posted by jbischke | Permalink

Headphones Redux

A little while back I blogged about my quest to find the perfect headphones to run with. I ended up getting the Shure E2c headphones and the Sony MDR-A34L headphones. I have to admit, I'm happy with both decisions.

The Sony pair is good for running. They are pretty basic but they don't pop out of my ears at all which is the main thing you're looking for when you're out for a jog. They are also entirely plastic so sweat isn't much of a problem. The only downside is that the cord is bit on the shortish and lightish side so it bounces around a lot when you run. It's more of an annoyance than anything else though. I would recommend these to runners looking for a basic pair of headphones that gets the job done.

As for the Shure headphones, at first I thought I would hate them but now it turns out that I love them. The first few days they were a pain in the ass. They didn't stay in my ears and just felt weird. But after a few days they "adjusted" and now I love them. I haven't tried to run with them yet, in part because they cancel a bunch of noise (minor safety hazard) and in part because I think sweat would junk up the earpieces. But I do love them for walking around outside because they block out traffic noise and allow you to listen to stuff at a much lower volume.

Long story short, both of these sets of headphones are great for other fellow audio learning junkies. While it's still tough to beat the white iPod headphones for style these definitely offer more in the way of functionality.

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Posted by jbischke | Permalink

November 14, 2005

Audio books can be a great learning tool

Nothing we haven't said before but a good article nonetheless. :)

Audio books can be a great learning tool

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Posted by jbischke | Permalink

E-Magazine #6 - November 11th, 2005

Free Stuff Galore: Free $5 GC +
Over 500 Free Titles + Free iPod Nano

New Online Store - Get a Free $5 Gift Certificate

Well, we've been working long and hard on it but we're proud to announce that our online store is officially up and running. Currently, we're selling about 1,800 audio books on CD and cassette. Very shortly we'll add DVDs and downloadable digital audio and video to the mix. We would like to be your one-stop destination for all of your audio and video learning needs.

So what's in it for you? Well here are some reasons why we think you'll love shopping at LearnOutLoud.com:

Discounted prices - Most of our titles are at least 20% off the suggested retail price.
Easy and secure shopping experience - We've made it very easy to find what you are looking for and we've given you all the information (e.g., abridged vs. unabridged and # of CDs/cassettes) you need to make an informed buying decision. Plus, we utilize 128-bit encryption and other technology to keep your data private and secure.
Real customer service - Unlike many online retailers we offer both e-mail customer service and a 1-800 number (1-800-550-6070) for you to call.
5-5-5 - LearnOutLoud.com is committed to 5-5-5 which means we give 5% of our pre-tax profits to charity, 5% of employee paid time off for volunteering and 5% of company equity to a charitable foundation.

We would like to invite you to check out our store with a very special offer. We'll give you a $5 gift certificate for your first order! This gift certificate spends like cash and there is no minimum you have to spend to use the GC. All you have to do to claim your $5 gift certificate is send an e-mail to newstore@learnoutloud.com. So get your gift certificate today and start shopping. With the holidays coming audiobooks make perfect gifts for friends and relatives. Stock up today!

LearnOutLoud.com Online Store

Free iPod Nano

Do you want one of those sleek new iPod Nanos? In just a couple of weeks we'll be giving one away. Although we've had a fair amount of people register to win it hasn't been a ton. Bottom line? Enter today and you have a really good chance at winning a free Nano! It's incredibly easy to enter the contest. Just do one of these two things:

Register for our site and post a message in our forums.
-OR-
Post a link to LearnOutLoud from your website or blog and send an e-mail to linked@learnoutloud.com to let us know you linked to us.

And if you do both of these you'll have double the chance to win!

So don't miss out. Make sure to register now for your chance to win the hot new Nano! (Full contest details available here.)

Over 500 Titles in Our Free Audio and Video Directory

We've mentioned our Free Audio and Video Directory in our newsletter before but we wanted to bring it up again as we hit the 500+ mark last week. We've added a lot of really cool new stuff so if you haven't checked it out in a while (or haven't checked it out at all!) you may want to stop by. Here's a sampling of some of the stuff we've recently added:

MIT Lectures - Links to over 100 free video lectures from MIT including ones from Jack Welch, Michael Dell and Noam Chomsky
Vega Science Trust - Links to 40 free video lectures on subjects like nanotechnology and physics
American Memory from the Library of Congress - Some amazing projects including Voices from the Days of Slavery and the September 11th, 2001 Documentary Project
Free Sermons from Sermon Index and SermonAudio.com - We've posted links to sermons from people like Billy Graham and Billy Sunday

This is only scratching the surface of what we have in the directory. Check it out today at http://www.learnoutloud.com/Free-Audio-Video

Two New Titles from LearnOutLoud.com

We're happy to announce two brand new titles for sale on our site. These are the first that we've produced here at LearnOutLoud.com.

If you're an advertising professional or if you have a business that advertises, you'll want to check out Bill Grady's seminar How You Can Create Advertising That Really Works. This seminar is guaranteed to help you build a stronger and more profitable advertising program. It's available on 2 CDs for $15.95 (a downloadable version will be available soon).

If you're looking to build wealth and find financial independence, The Science of Getting Rich is a must listen. This book was written by Wallace Wattles, is narrated by Brian Johnson and is a classic in the field of self development. A downloadable version of this one is coming soon as well.

Two Cool New Articles: Seth's Tutorial & Gandhi Out Loud

We've been feverishly writing new content for you here at LearnOutLoud.com.

Seth just wrapped up a great tutorial on audio recording that helps make it easy to understand. If you're contemplating getting into podcasting or trying to record your own audio book this is a perfect primer.

How to Begin Home Recording: Level I

Jon wrote the first in an upcoming series of "Out Loud" articles. This series will cover audio and video material available for great leaders and historical figures. The first articles in the Out Loud series covers India's Mahatma Gandhi. Look for more of these in the near future.

Gandhi Out Loud

Latest Resources and Blog Posts

Resources:

BlogOutLoud.com:

Visit our blog at: www.BlogOutLoud.com.

Coming Soon!

Our new program LearnDirect is in the works and we should have some more details in our next newsletter. Stay tuned!

Posted by jbischke | Permalink

November 13, 2005

Portable Media Expo, Day 2

Another great day yesterday at the Portable Media Expo. It's amazing to see everyone so excited about the future for digital audio. Back almost two years ago when I started germinating the idea for what would become LearnOutLoud.com very few people were talking about spoken word audio. It was pretty much relegated to the backwaters of audio books and a budding, but still largely unknown, company called Audible.com.

Two years later spoken word audio is red hot and for good reason. I listened to an amazing keynote presentation today from Don Katz (the CEO and Founder of Audible.com) yesterday where he talked about the history of the spoken word. He mentioned that Plato and Aristotle were originally against text as they felt that it polluted the purest form of communication which was speech. He talked about how back a few centuries ago it was frowned upon to read silently.

Now we're so accustomed to reading that people actually ask if it counts to listen to a book instead of reading it. Pretty bizarre when you consider that speech is the most ancient form of communication and the primary mode of communication throughout the majority of history. Don's keynote was enlightening and if it becomes publicly available I will definitely post a link to it.

Later in the day I had a "full-body goosebump" experience while talking to Doug Kaye of IT Conversations. Doug has started a non-profit venture called The Conversations Network whose mission it is to record every live event around the world. Like IT Conversations which records many technology conferences and events, this group would record events in any of a number of areas including BioTech, Buiness, Politics and my personal favorite "ChangeTheWorld." Mark my words. The Conversations Network will change the world. We will do all we can hear at LearnOutLoud to help.

Random shout-outs from yesterday go to Clay Cover and Dr. Greg Bolcer at Encryptanet, Sylvester Robertson at Cal State-San Bernadino and James Smith up in Olympia, Rodney Rumford over at podblaze, Emilie Cole from Audioluxe, Randy Dryburgh at Audioblog.com (very cool site, thanks for the T-shirt!) and Katie O'Shea at Chumbo Publishing (thanks for the software and how did I not realize you were from Minneapolis?).

Final thoughts on the Expo:

1. I'd go to something like this every week if I could. The energy was tremendous. The people were so much fun to talk to. The ideas that are being thrown about will literally change the world.

2. Hats off to the Bourquin brothers and everybody else who had a hand in pulling this off. It was unbelievable how well organized this event was. I expected some glitches or roughness around the edges. I'm sure there were some hiccups throughout the weekend but I didn't see any during the two days I was there.

3. Digital media is an amazing space to be in right now. We are on the precipice of an era in which audio and video education of all shapes and forms will be available to anyone anywhere. That might mean a student in a developing country being able to watch lectures from UC-Berkeley or MIT. It might mean a travel-weary professional being able to stay at home with her husband and kids and listen to sessions from a conference rather than flying across the country to attend in person. It might mean someone growing up in China, Iraq or Afghanistan, learning English through podcasting and then using those skills to help form business relationships and better communication among nations. Or it simply might mean that that half hour you spend in traffic tomorrow morning will be a time of fulfillment and growth when in the past it's been one of boredom and frustration.

Whatever it means it will mean that the world is a better place and we're incredibly excited to be a part of it.

My all-time favorite rock group U2 is out on tour right now and there's a part during the show where Bono offers a little fictional dialogue about how the rest of the band met The Edge, the group's lead guitarist. He usually says something like the following (LINK):

"This," he points stage left, "is the same sound as The Edge's spaceship made when it arrived in the north of Dublin. Larry and myself and Adam just stood there and stared. A door opened and out came this astounding-looking man. Larry said: 'Who are you?' and he said: 'I am The Edge.' And Adam said: 'Where are you from?' and he said: 'The future.' And I said: 'What's it like?' and he said: 'It's better!'

After attending the Portable Media Expo this weekend I feel like we got a chance to see the future. So if you want to ask me what the future is like my answer would be the same as the Edge's answer.

It's better.

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Posted by jbischke | Permalink

November 11, 2005

Peter Drucker: 1909-2005

Peter Drucker, perhaps the most famous "management guru" in history, passed away today at the age of 95 (link to FT article). Drucker had an enormous impact on the business world and leaves a tremendous legacy. Here's a brief bio of Drucker from Wikipedia:

Drucker, born in Vienna, Austria, moved to the United States in 1937. In 1943, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States. He taught at New York University as Professor of Management from 1950 to 1971. From 1971 to his death he was the Clarke Professor of Social Science and Management at Claremont Graduate University.
He wrote about 30 books, the first in 1939, and from 1975 to 1995 was an editorial columnist for The Wall Street Journal, and was a frequent contributor to Harvard Business Review. He continued to act as a consultant to businesses and non-profit organizations when he was in his nineties.

We have four Peter Drucker audio titles on LearnOutLoud. If you're interesting in learning more about this man and his management theories, visit the following link:

Peter Drucker Audio Books

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Posted by jbischke | Permalink

Portable Media Expo, Day 1

The gang and I just returned from Day One of the Portable Media Expo & Podcasting Conference. In some ways, it indeed did feel like the Woodstock of podcasting as Robert Walch of Podcast411 was quoted as saying in a recent Wired Magazine article. No doubt we witnessed some stuff today that will forever change the way that people consume media.

This morning we recorded a live podcast from the LA Podcasters booth. Kudos to Lance and the rest of the gang there for setting that up. It was fun to record with David and Seth for the first time and it turned out pretty well. We spent the rest of the day attending sessions, cruising exhibits and meeting some very cool people at some amazing companies.

First up, I want to give props to the people at Taldia. A while back I thought that it would be pretty neat for someone to be able to set up a customized list of stuff that you could list to during your commute. For example, let's say that you had a commute of 25 minutes in the morning and wanted to listen to ten minutes of sports stories, five minutes of politics and ten minutes of your favorite podcast. You would be able to set up the service, go to sleep and wake up in the morning with that content pre-loaded to your iPod.

Well, after two years of development Taldia has pulled off something remarkably like what I had envisioned. It's a cool little service and although there are still some things that I think could be improved it could catch on pretty quickly. They have a large content pool and a clean interface. The only thing they are missing is a good domain name. Perhaps I'll be able to interest them in CustomCommute.com (a name I registered back when I had the idea)... :)

Next up, let's talk about Audible.com. They launched their WordCast service at the Expo and it's also quite impressive. Essentially it's a platform for people looking to monetize podcasts, either through advertising or through an upfront fee. By being the first to market with this tool they've beaten others like Odeo and Podshow to the punch. Their reach and experience in the space makes this look like a category-killer. Kudos to those guys for doing another thing well.

A few more random shout-outs to some people I bumped into along the way today (in no particular order): Steve Sergeant with The Wildebeat, Limelight Networks, Mel Sparks at Clever Girl Pictures, the folks at Bitpass, Dave Sampson at MixMeister, Paul Colligan at PremiumPodcasting.com, Obadiah Greenberg with UC-Berkeley the gang at ioda and everyone else who I met today and can't scrape up a URL for.

A few final thoughts:

-Adam Curry's reception at the Podcasting Awards was a little subdued. I thought that was unfortunate. He has done so much for podcasting and should have received a standing ovation.

-Tim Bourquin who put the event on is an absolute class act. The first day of the conference went amazingly well especially since it was the first event of its type. A tip of the hat to Tim and everyone else involved for all of their hard work.

-The podcasting community is fun. It's pretty rare to see such a diverse group of people at a conference ranging from hard core techies to brash entrepreneurs to inquisitive academics types and much more.

I can't imagine having much more fun tomorrow but I'll try. And I'll be back with another report tomorrow night.

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Posted by jbischke | Permalink

November 09, 2005

Stanford Lectures on iTunes

So I figured that since at least two people e-mailed me (thanks Dave and Brian!) separately today about the Stanford Lectures on iTunes I probably had better blog about it. :) The market for academic podcast is exploding right now. At the start of the fall quarter/semester I was aware of probably two or three colleges and universities that were podcasting lectures. Now, according to a glance at Thomson's academic podcast directory it appears that there are dozens. And this growth will only accelerate as professors have a few weeks off over the winter break and have some time to try to figure out what this whole podcasting thing is all about.

We've definitely only scratched the surface of this trend. It's not too difficult to imagine a future in which virtually every college and university course is podcasted. But that begs a few questions. Are the lectures free or is there a charge for them? Are they open to the public or restricted to students of the school or people enrolled in the class? How will colleges and universities deal with the intellectual property issues surrounding audio (and most likely video in the not-too-distant future)? It's going to be interesting to watch and I'm sure that there will be a wide spectrum of how universities will handle this ranging from those that take MIT's apporach of putting as much out there for free as possible to colleges and universities that will be very protective of their content.

It also raises an interesting debate for us. Academic podcasts are a perfect inclusion for LearnOutLoud but at the rate they are coming online it's almost impossible to put together a directory in-house. So we're discussing creative ways that we can tie these podcasts in with our directoy which already offers some similar content include lectures from The Teaching Company and Barnes and Noble's Portable Professor series. We would love to hear your suggestions. If you have some ideas for the best way for us to integrate this rapidly expanding world with our existing site please shoot an e-mail to suggestions@learnoutloud.com. Thanks!

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Posted by jbischke | Permalink

November 08, 2005

LearnOutLoud's Guide to Home Recording

If you've ever considered recording but felt prohibited by technology or lack of formal education, fear not! I have written a tutorial that gives novices a good overview of what it takes to start recording their own audio today. And by today, I mean literally within the next 24 hours. Don't worry about spending thousands on expensive gear, these days all you need is a mic and a computer. This article covers the rudimentaries of finding a good mic, using recording software, making your audio content available for the net and more.

This first tutorial is designed for people with a budget in mind, so the cost of what I describe does not exceed $100. In the next few days I will provide another tutorial that covers the next level up in price. In the future I also plan on tackling mobile audio recording, the different kinds of microphones, what gear does what, post production techniques and more. Hopefully these how-to's will be as educational for you as it is for me when I write them.

I took great pains to make everything as easy to follow as possible and I included pictures for visual reference. In the end I hope these tutorials inspire anyone that harbors an interest in recording their own audio. It's fun, it's easy and yes, it can even be cheap.

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Posted by LOLSeth | Permalink

The State of Podcasting

So with the first birthday of podcasting is in our rear view mirror and the Portable Media Expo and Podcasting Conference just days away it's a great time to assess the state of podcasting. It's so hard to believe that something that seems such a big part of my daily life today (I probably average 1-2 hours of podcast listening each day) was hardly a blip on the radar a year ago.

Nicole Simon just posted a good article over on Corante summarizing her take on where things are at. For the most part I think she's right on the map. I think that we're at a stage with podcasting where many podcasters who jumped on the gravy train back in the spring and summer are starting to ponder whether podcasting is going to be a business for them or whether it will remain a hobby.

For those who want to turn it into a business there will have to be a clear path to revenue delineated soon. Ad insertion services like Fruitcast might offer one hope but it'll be interesting to see how well that works. Podcast networks might prove to be another boon to the community. The recent acquisition of Weblogs, Inc. by AOL is a signal that while most individual podcasts and blogs might not have a ton of clout, by banding together a lot of value and power cna be created. Perhaps more podcasters will start charging for their podcast although it still hasn't been shown that many people to the left of Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity can get away with that. So we'll see...

For those that are content to keep their podcast strictly at hobby level the key question will be whether they will have the wherewithall to keep it going. After all, a lot more goes into producing a good podcast than going into producing a good blog. And as podcasts in general become more professional that tends to raise the bar for all podcasts. My fear is that a lot of people will abandon their podcasts over the next several months leaving many of the directories with a ghost town-like feel due to all of the orphaned shows.

What will it take to keep this thing rolling on? Let me offer a few suggestions:

1. A solid revenue model soon - If there isn't a good AdSense-ish type model in the next few months that allows the indie podcasters to start making a bit of money I think we'll see a lot of people leave the game.

2. A general shift to higher quality podcasts - At first it was somewhat novel to be able to listen to some dude or dudette ramble on for an hour or so about mostly nothing because it was so unlike the pre-packaged crap on commercial radio. But that novelty is rapidly wearing off. It's time to recognize the value of a well-produced, more concise podcast.

3. A "killer app" podcast - To this day there hasn't really been a "Must Listen" podcast that has captured the attention of a large chunk of the podcast universe. Maybe the Source Code or Dawn & Drew but I think you could argue against either of those. I think there's a good chance that something will soon hit the airwaves (I know...wrong word) that will knock peoples' socks off. A podcast that'll be on the front of USA Today or Time Magazine. I don't know what it is yet but I'm waiting for that one podcast that gets a ton of podcast virgins to hop on board and start downloading shows.

There has been a lot of progress in the last few weeks. Yahoo's new podcast directory is very cool and the whole market that's opened up for video podcasting since the release of the video iPod presents some really amazing possibilities. So this week's podcast conference should be a lot of fun.

We'll be there representing LearnOutLoud and hoping to catch a glimpse of what the future holds. We're incredibly excited about the potential for podcasting as an educational tool and think that the surface of that potentiality has hardly been scratched. These are fun times we live in no doubt. I'm sure that one day our kids and grandkids will enjoy reading stories about them. Scratch that. They'll enjoy listening to stories about them.

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Posted by jbischke | Permalink

November 03, 2005

C.S. Lewis Author Page

We were finally able to put up a C.S. Lewis author page yesterday. It looks as though Lewis' work will be seeing a resurgence thanks in no small part to the new film adaptation of "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" that's coming to us this Christmas from the director of Shrek. I've looked at the trailer and it has the potential to be a real children's fantasy classic (I don't know if it will top "Labyrinth" though). It certainly deserves to be made considering how well the Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings films have been doing. Besides that, Lewis and Tolkien were writing buddies so it's high time that Lewis gets some of the limelight Tolkien has enjoyed recently.

In addition to writing the popular Narnia series, Lewis is also a primary modern voice in Christian philosophy. Books like "Mere Christianity", "The Problem of Pain" and "The Screwtape Letters" are classics for anyone interested in exploring the fundamental beliefs that underpin Christianity. Lewis is also an exceptionally approachable author; his work is laced with a wit and humor that makes even the most serious subject matter seem less daunting. My first exposure to him was via the Screwtape Letters, and since then I've been privileged to read several of his non-fiction books. I whole-heartedly recommend them as essential texts for anyone interested in Christianity and faith in general.

So before you go watch the movie in December, take a look at what's available by Lewis on Audio. Our good friend Nancy over here at LearnOutLoud has assembled everything currently available in audio format. You'll find the whole Chronicles of Narnia series, every one of his Christian non-fiction books, and even special titles that are devoted to Lewis' life and work. Feel free to share your thoughts in the LOL forums as well.

Discuss this post in the LearnOutLoud.com Forums!

Posted by LOLSeth | Permalink

November 01, 2005

Christian Audio Book Publishers

There's a lot of Christian book publishers and we've added three of them as publisher pages. Thomas Nelson Word, Zondervan, and Oasis Audio publish hundreds of audio bibles, Christian audio books, and audio books covering other topics like business and self development. Here's the pages we've made for them:

www.learnoutloud.com/thomasnelsonword
www.learnoutloud.com/zondervan
www.learnoutloud.com/oasisaudio

And if you're interested in finding more Christian audio books check out these publishers:

Mars Hill Audio
Creedence Communications
Multnomah Publishers
Tyndale House
Destiny Image
Baker Publishing Group

Posted by LOLDavid | Permalink

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