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« November 2005 | Main | January 2006 »

December 29, 2005

Ten New "Ear's" Resolutions for 2006

No, I didn't leave out the "Y". While everyone else is talking about "New Year's Resolutions" I figured I'd write an article about New Ear's Resolutions. It probably sounds like I'm off my rocker but bear with me. A New Ear's Resolution is a resolution to change the things you listen to in the coming year. To be honest, it might be one of the biggest changes you'll make.

You see, I'm a big believer in the fact that our lives are often the product of the things that we consume. It might be the stuff we read, what we watch on television or the people we hang out with. Here at LearnOutLoud we're all about the stuff that you listen to. Our mission is to help introduce you to amazing variety of really interesting and entertaining educational content that's out there. We hope that by doing so we can encourage you to Learn Out Loud too.

So as part of that I've written a series of New Ear's Resolutions. You might choose to follow them all or just to follow some of them. Either way, I think you'll find that they'll benefit you tremendously in the upcoming year. In fact, I guarantee it. Hear me out on this. OK, that was a bad pun but I really believe that if you were to incorporate just a few of these resolutions into your daily life that you won't believe what an impact it will. Make them all a part of your life and you'll end 2006 living on a totally different level than you started it on.

Ten New Ear's Resolutions for 2006

10. Pull the cord on talk radio - OK, every once in a while I too like to listen to talk radio. But what it is about people going on and on about relatively meaningless stuff that attracts so many people? My answer? Lack of choices. People put on talk radio because there isn't much else on the dial. Here's my advice to you: Plan a bit ahead. Have something really good queued up on the CD player, iPod, whatever so that you listen to something that you enjoy rather than just settling for whatever is on.

9. Learn a language this year - Learning a foreign language used to be a lot more difficult than it is now. You used to have to go to expensive classes or try to learn from boring books which aren't all that great at teaching language anyway. All that's changed. There are a number of great companies like Pimsleur and Rosetta Stone who are producing excellent foreign language courses. You can throw these in on your way to work and absorb a ton during your commute. It might not be enough to achieve fluency but you'll get pretty darn close. Not a bad way to spend your drive time...

8. Listen to a new podcast each week - Set a goal in 2006 to try to listen to one new podcast each week. Maybe you'll find that only one out of every four light your fire. That's cool. By the end of the year that means you have 13 new podcasts that you're subscribed. Given all that's out there it's not always easy to find good stuff. Try our Podcast Directory or read our recent article "The Top 10 Podcast Episodes of 2005" for some helpful suggestions.

7. Find a few "broken records" - I talked about this before in a previous blog post. A broken record is an audio book that you just throw on in the background when you're doing something around the house, exercising, etc. Great examples of broken records are titles like Think and Grow Rich or The Science of Getting Rich (great if you've got some financial goals in 2006), titles like Living Health or The Food Revolution (if you are trying to lose weight and/or improve your diet) or general ones like 101 Ways to Transform Your Life or 50 Things I'm Going To Do Today. A couple of broken records you can pick up on the cheap include Acres of Diamonds ($2.98) and The Magic Story ($1.98). My latest broken record is Tuesday With Morrie. Everyone should listen to that at least once a year. Buy a few of these and throw them on often throughout the year.

6. Take a university course - Remember all those great courses you just never had the time to take? It's not too late! Through offerings from The Teaching Company and the Portable Professor Series you can go back to school without high tuition or pre-exam anxiety. There are some really amazing courses here to dive into from some of the best professors around. It's a great opportunity to expand your horizons and deepen your understand of the world that we live in. Take some time in 2006 to turn your vehicle into a "University on Wheels."

5. Super-charge your workouts - When your exercising your body why not exercise your intellect as well? Sure it's fun to listen to music when you work out but mix in some audio books or podcasts from time to time. It's a pretty cool feeling to finish a workout and realize that in addition to getting in better shape you learned something as well. You can pick an audio book that has some relevance to the workout that you are doing. For instance, try listening to Lance Armstrong's It's Not About the Bike when you're cycling.

4. Deepen your religion/spirituality in 2006 - Want to get closer to God this year? You're not alone. This is becoming a growing trend in today's society. Think of your iPod (or mp3/CD/cassette player/etc.) as an oasis and an opportunity to re-connect to your source of inspiration. Pick up audio versions of The Bible, The Bhagavad Gita or any of a number of titles on Religion and Spirituality and give yourself a break from the hustle and bustle of everyday life to focus on what's truly important to you.

3. Subscribe to the Zaadz Daily Wisdom - One of my favorite podcasts is one that we've produced here at LearnOutLoud, The Zaadz Daily Wisdom. Brian Johnson is your host for the Daily Wisdom and he covers a wide range of philosophers, psychologists, spiritual teachers and others such as Socrates, Thoreau and Einstein. Think of it as a daily motiviational quote on steroids. Perfect to subscribe to and listen to first thing in the morning or on your way into work.

2. Create your own audio learning content - It's easier than ever to record your own content. Surely you have something that you would like teach the world! Check out Seth's article "How To Begin Home Recording" to see just how easy it can be. And what do you do with your recording once it's done? Start with getting it listed right here at LearnOutLoud.com. We have a service in the works called LearnDirect which will allow you to share your audio content with millions of people and get paid to do so! For more information, send an e-mail to learndirect@learnoutloud.com.

1. Share audio learning with a friend - Perhaps by now you've become a believer of the impact that audio learning can have. Now it's time to spread that love! Hook some of your friends and family on audio books and podcasts. We've created a number of audio learning junkies of our friends and family this year and we hope that you'll do the same in 2006. Point them to LearnOutLoud.com. Show them this short, free video tutorial on listening to podcasts. Help them learn to stop worrying and love their commute. It's one of the best gifts you can give somebody.

At the end of the day it's not so much about what you're learning but rather that you've chosen to take the time to Learn Out Loud. Many people get frustrated because they don't have the time to read all the books they want to or learn the things that they know would help them in their lives. Audio learning can help with all of that. It can turn the 2/3/4 hours each day that you spend sitting behind the wheel, exercising, washing the dishes, etc. into a time of personal and professional development. To quote Brian Tracy, one of the biggest proponents of audio learning that I know:

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.

That's powerful stuff. 2006 is going to be a big year for you. We hope that you'll incorporate Learning Out Loud into your daily life in order to make it the best year yet. Happy New Year and Best Wishes from all the staff here at LearnOutLoud.com!

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December 27, 2005

Education and The End of Poverty

During my plane flights back and forth to Minneapolis for the holidays I had a chance to dig a little deeper into Jeffrey Sachs' new book The End of Poverty. It's a remarkable study of the history of poverty and what we can do to end it in this generation. Here's a quote that I found particularly relevant to what we're doing here at LearnOutLoud:

I believe that the single most important reason why prosperity spread, and why it continues to spread, is the transmission of technologies and the ideas underlying them. Even more important than having specific resources in the ground, such as coal, was the ability to use modern, science-based ideas to organize production. The beauty of ideas is that they can be used over and over again, without ever being depleted.

I got goosebumps when I read that. The transmission of ideas is exactly what LearnOutLoud is all about. It's why I'm so excited for all of the cool stuff we're planning to roll out in 2006. And it's why I'm so incredibly passionate about bring the best audio and video educational content possible to as many people as I can.

I've been having some great discussion lately via e-mail with Wynn Williamson over at The Stingy Scholar blog (highly recommend by the way). Here's a snippet of a recent e-mail that he sent me to give you some flavor of what we've been chatting about:

Some of the best emails coming into Textbook Revolution and Stingy Scholar have been from people in countries like Papau New Guinea where there aren't textbooks to go around, let alone new and updated ones. Making these audio, video, and text materials available is a huge deal - not just because people can't afford to pay, but also because the openness makes translations possibility.

We've been discussing a lot of possibilities and I suggested to him that we bring the conversation out in the open and see if we could latch on a few other people to join us. So I'll keep this brief and we'll pick up the conversation in the forums. I'd love to hear from you so click the link below to join us. Through giving people increased access to ideas we will change the world. We would love it if you would want to be a part of that. :)

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The Top 10 Podcast Episodes of 2005

2005 was no doubt the Year of the Podcast. A year ago hardly anyone knew what a podcast was and now it's on just about everyone's lips. A ton of great podcasts came online this year and we wanted to highlight the best of what we've heard. We've probably listened to at least a thousand episodes a piece here at LearnOutLoud in the process of putting together our Podcast Directory and here's our attempt at a Top 10. A few disclaimers first:

-There are no doubt some excellent podcasts that didn't make the list. While we listened to a lot we couldn't get to everything. That's part of the beauty of podcasting, it's hard to run out of podcasts to listen to. Anyway, apologies upfront for anything that should have made the list but didn't.

-We take the "Doug Kaye approach" to listing podcasts in our directory. We're looking for shows that are "educational, inspirational and entertaining" and we'll take two out of three. We feel that the Top 10 listed below all fit the criteria.

-While the list is largely based on quality we also wanted to pick episodes that were representative of the year in podcasting. We hope that you'll download the episodes on this list and burn them to a disc so that you can go back to it in the future when your children or other people ask you what podcasting was like back in 2005 when it was just getting going.

So, without further ado and in no particular order, here's our list of the Top 10 Podcast Episodes of 2005:

#10: TWiT #30 Live from the Portable Media Expo - TWiT probably takes the title as "Podcast of the Year" when you factor in both quality and popularity. There were a lot of good TWiT episodes this year but I'm a bit partial to TWiT 30 which was recorded live at the Portable Media Expo in November. The Expo was the first ever conference specifically for Podcasting so having the TWiT gang there recording live was very apropos. In addition to some of the usual suspects (Leo Laporte, Doug Kaye, Steve Gibson and Alex Lindsay) a number of special guests made an appearance including Audible.com CEO Don Katz, Chuck Tomasi from ChuckChat and blind podcaster Darrel Shandrow.

#9: Catholic Insider at the New Pope's Coronation - Whether you're Catholic or not, it's hard not to like father Roderick Vonhogen. The Catholic Insider podcast gives a unique look at the Catholic Church and Vonhogen's enthusiasm is infectious. This episode was recorded live at the Vatican during the coronation of Joseph Ratzinger a.k.a. Pope Benedict XVI. Hearing Vonhogen's play-by-play and the crowd's reaction truly makes you feel like you are listening to history in the making.

(Note: The second episode recorded on April 19th entitled "Habemus Papam!!" is the one you want.)

#8: Jason Calacanis on The Web 2.0 Podcast - Jason Calacanis is a riot. Those of you who heard his keynote at the Portable Media Expo know what I'm talking about. Calacanis is both funny and blunt and never lacking for an opinion. His interview on the Web 2.0 Podcast is a prime example of this. He covers a lot of ground including LAN parties, Technorati bombing and of course the recent acquisition his company, Weblogs Inc., by AOL. I'd love to hear a lot more from Calacanis. Since he has a little more time on his hands these days maybe he'll start podcasting?

#7: Small World Podcast interview of "Jessica" after Hurricane Katrina - The biggest thing to hit the U.S. this year (literally) was Hurricane Katrina. It caused unimaginable destruction and loss of life. I was fortunate enough to be able to go to Louisiana in September and one of the most powerful experiences was hearing the first-hand accounts of those who survived the storm. A number of podcasts captured similar accounts bearing more testimony to the power of podcasting. The best I heard was Bazooka Joe's interview of Jessica, a resident of New Orleans who escaped the storm. It's an amazing interview that feels both haunting and hopeful at the same time.

#6: The Physics of Superheroes on Science Friday - It's almost impossible to pick just one NPR podcast episode because there are so many good ones but since we're limiting ourselves to one we decided to select "The Physics of Superheroes", an interview with James Kakalios, a Professor of Physics and Astronomy at The University of Minnesota. If you've ever wondered how fast Superman needs to run to leap tall building in a single bound or the physics behind the controversy over whether Spiderman accidentally killed his girlfriend, you'll love this episode. Who knows, all the physics you learn may just help you win a bar bet someday.

#5: DSC #200 Live from Gnomedex - I can't create a Top 10 list without including at least one episode of the Daily Source Code, the first podcast I ever listened to. There were a lot of entertaining moments during DSC episodes including the Wiki controversy, the feud with Dave Winer (among other people) and of course Adam pissing into a bottle at 5,000 feet during DSC #279. But my favorite was DSC #200, Adam's keynote address at Gnomedex. Gnomedex felt like the start of the podcasting revolution and who better to address that crowd than the Podfather himself? A killer Guns and Roses/Beatles mash-up and the amazing music of Rob Costlow were the icing on the cake for this Source Code.

#4: ZenCast with Thich Nhat Hanh in Vietnam - One of the best parts of podcasts is the feeling that you are being transported to different places (e.g., "sound seeing tours") or experiencing different cultures. The episode of ZenCast featuring Thich Nhat Hanh is a great example of both those things. Far from the shouting matches that you'll find on talk radio and even some podcasts, Hanh's mellow message of mindfulness will help you to relax and slow down. Listening to this podcast was a refreshing change of pace that I really enjoyed.

#3: Malcolm Gladwell on IT Conversations - Like NPR and TWiT, it's hard to pick just one episode of IT Conversations to include on the list. Some of my favorites were Vinod Khosla's talk at the Web 2.0 Conference and an interview of Jonathan Schwartz (another guy who I'd love to hear podcast) from Supernova 2005. But if I had to pick just one it would probably be Malcolm Gladwell's keynote address at South by Southwest. Gladwell is both an innovative thinker and an interesting speaker. To be able to throw on a pair of headphones and listen for free to sessions like this from conferences that people pay hundreds or thousands of dollars to attend is really cool. And given Doug Kaye's amazing work and ambition for The Conversations Network it's about to get even cooler.

#2: The Diggnation "Clip Show" - Finding Digg.com was one of the highlights of my 2005. It's an incredibly addictive site as its astronomical growth is evidence of. The Diggnation podcast is almost equally addictive. Kevin Rose and Alex Albrecht are usually a hoot to listen to and sometimes are downright hysterical. My favorite episode of the year was their "clip show" which consisted of some of the funniest moments from the previous 21 episodes of Diggnation. I laughed my way through this entire episode. Nice work guys!

#1: The Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders Podcast with Joe Liemandt, Founder and CEO of Trilogy - A number of colleges and universities started Podcasting this year, none more famously than Stanford. Stanford has a number of podcasts available via it's iTunes channel but I found the Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders podcast to be the most engaging. My favorite episode was the session with Joe Liemandt, Founder and CEO of Trilogy Software. It's an extremely intimate portrait of a start-up company that almost didn't make it…and then made it big. You'll love this one.

Wow. What a year it's been huh? I can't wait to see what 2006 has in store! Thanks to all of the podcasters that are making incredible content. It sure makes Learning Out Loud a whole lot of fun. :)

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December 25, 2005

Christmas Musings

Merry Christmas everyone! I'm having a wonderful time today with friends and family but wanted to take just a few minutes to wish all of you a Merry Christmas and Happy Hannukah.

We've got quite a collection of Christmas-related audio to listen to on LearnOutLoud. So if you feel the need later today to take a break and are looking for something to listen to here are a few suggestions:

Two Podcasts of A Christmas Carol

StoryNory
The Penguin Podcast

Two Free Teaching Company Lectures

Christmas in 19th Century America
Christmas in Victorian Britain

Other Christmas Audio Books

A Child's Christmas in Wales
A Prairie Home Christmas

Also, welcome to those of you who received an iPod (or other mp3 player) under the tree this year and are looking to fill it up! A few places to start:

Our Podcast Directory - 568 free educational and inspirational podcasts for you to listen to and download. And click here for a free video tutorial that will walk you through how to listen to and subscribe to podcasts using iTunes.

Our Free Audio Directory - We have tons of free audio books, speeches and lectures to listen to and download here. This is a great way to sample some spoken word audio and see what you enjoy listening to.

We're very grateful to all of you for helping make 2005 such an incredible success. We have a whole lot more planned for 2006 so please stay tuned. Please enjoy this wonderful day with your friends and family and cherish the time together.

Cheers,

The LearnOutLoud.com Team

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December 20, 2005

Audio Books On the Rise in Malaysia

A quickie blog post tonight. Here's an article on how audio book use in Malaysia is starting to take off:

Alternative to reading

We were chatting a little bit tonight about how we'll have to launch Taipei.LearnOutLoud.com as we're getting a lot of traffic from there. Maybe KualaLumpur.LearnOutLoud.com won't be far behind!

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December 18, 2005

Free Video: How To Subscribe to Blogs and Podcasts

We've been playing around with Camtasia this week and have been very impressed with how easy it is to put together professional-quality video tutorials. We've posted a couple of these up on Castpost. They cover how to subscribe to podcasts with iTunes and how to subscribe to blogs using Bloglines, My Yahoo! and other news readers. Here are the links:

How To Listen To a Podcast with iTunes
How To Subscribe To a Blog

(Prepared to be a bit patient when you click on the links. We're working on trying to figure out a way to get these to load faster.)

We're likely going to be rolling out some other tutorials of this nature soon. Sometimes we all take for granted how tech-savvy everyone is but the fact of the matter is that the percentage of people who take advantage of RSS-based content like blogs and podcasts is in the single digits. So we're going to do our best to help with the education process. If you have any ideas for other tutorials that we should do of web services, applications, etc. drop me a line at jon@learnoutloud.com and let me know.

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December 17, 2005

Software opens up new world for blind

It's reading articles like these that makes it very easy to get out of bed in the morning.

Software opens up new world for blind

"They say that books are the window to the world, but there is hardly a publisher here that produces popular books in both print and audio forms," Mitra Netra Foundation deputy executive director Irwan Dwi Kustanto, said.
Himself suffering from reduced vision -- only 2 percent of his eyesight remains -- Irwan remembers the frustrations of having to always ask another person to read to him.

Wow. I'm very excited to help bring more audio content to Irwan, Riqo and other visually impaired people and I'm very excited to make our site more accessible to people who can't actually view the site. If you know anything about the latter please drop me an e-mail at jon@learnoutloud.com as this is an area where we could use some help.

While I'm on the subject I wanted to give a quick mention to a couple of podcasts being put out by visually impaired people: Blindspot Podcast and Blind Access Journal. I had the privilege of seeing Darrell Shandrow of the Blind Access Journal podcast live as part of TWiT 30 at this year's Portable Media Expo. It was pretty remarkable.

Which reminds of another remarkable story about a physically impaired person. But I'm going to save that for another time...

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December 16, 2005

How to Become an Audio Learning Junkie, Part Two

Well, it's been almost a month since the first installment of How to Become an Audio Learning Junkie so I had figured I'd better get back on the ball. Last time we talked about some of the cool resources that you could learn from on audio including stuff from publishers like Pimsleur and The Teaching Company. We also discussed the pros and cons of cassettes vs. CDs vs. portable audio. In this installment of How To Become an Audio Learning Junkie we're going to dive a little deeper into the realm of portable audio. Many people are going to get an iPod or other portable MP3 player during this holiday season and one of the first questions will be how to load it up with content. We're here to help with that.

There are two main types of content that you'll want to download to your audio player:

1. Audio Books - The ability to listen to spoken word audio on a portable player will forever change the way you look at books. I love books and I love to read. But I've found that being able to listen to books as well as read them really liberates me. I'm able to get through a lot more books now because I have two options to consume them rather than one. For instance, I never thought that I would find the time to read Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged. Heck, it had taken me almost a year to get through The Fountainhead and that was back in college when I actually had time!

But when I trained for my first marathon a while back I was able to get through Atlas Shrugged in its entirety in just a little over a month without taking any additional time out of my day. That's the power of audio learning! Needless to say I've been hooked on audio books ever since. I've also managed to pass on that addiction to many of my friends and family and hopefully thousands of people who've visited LearnOutLoud.com since we launched in January.

So where do you go for audio books to load up on your portable player? Well, there are a lot of options depending on whether you've got an iPod or not. If you've got an iPod you'll probably find the easiest option is to go the iTunes/Audible.com route. So let me first cover Audible.

Audible.com - Audible is the original player in the portable spoken word market. They actually had a portable media player well before iPod existed. Audible works pretty well if you've got an iPod and they also work with a lot of non-iPod devices. You can buy books from them a la carte or you can sign up for one of their membership plans which allow you a certain number of books and/or periodicals each month.

Now if you have an iPod but don't want to use Audible your options are a bit more limited. Most of the other big audio book services protect their titles with Microsoft's DRM which unfortunately isn't compatible with the iPod. So to get your titles onto your iPod you have to burn them to a CD, rip them to an MP3 and then add them to your iPod. Not a lot of fun...

A better solution might be to get a non-iPod MP3 player which gives you a lot more flexibility. I wrote extensively about this and the Creative Zen Micro player in my blog post "The Impending Death of the Apple iPod". A player like the Zen Micro will allow you to use Audible.com but it also allows you to use a number of other audio book services. What audio book services are those? Here's a listing:

SoundsGood.com - SoundsGood.com is very similar to Audible only they use the Microsoft DRM protection instead of the Apple DRM. Like Audible you can purchase titles a la carte or you sign up for their subscription service.

Jiggerbug - I really like the Jiggerbug service. It allows for unlimited audio book rentals including both downloads and CDs. They aren't as well known as Audible and the hassle of getting stuff to an iPod is a consideration but I do think they offer the best overall service. I'm strongly considering ditching my iPod soon for a non-iPod device and Jiggerbug is a big reason why I'd do that.

Simply Audiobooks - A entrant in the digital download space, Simply Audiobooks began selling content for download just last week. Similar to Audible and Sounds Good, titles can be purchased a la carte or through a subscription service.

There also are a couple of services that allow free audio book rental through library systems. Overdrive and Net Library offer their services in a large and growing number of libraries. Because they utilize the Microsoft DRM they are not compatible with the Apple iPod (another good reason for buying a non-iPod device). In addition, there are also some smaller retailers that offer audio books for download as well including PayPerListen.com.

Of course no discussion of portable audio would be complete without a little plug for what we've got here at LearnOutLoud.com!

LearnOutLoud.com - Our selection of titles for download is currently small but will be growing rapidly. For now check out titles from Gildan Media and Bryan Kest's Power Yoga or individual titles like The Science of Getting Rich or How You Can Create Advertising That Really Works. Many more are on the way soon!

We've also got a very popular free section on the site. Our Free Audio and Video Directory has over 500 titles, many of which can be downloaded to portable players. Some of the highlights include historical speeches from American Rhetoric, sermons from SermonIndex.com and free audio books such as Free Culture and As a Man Thinketh.

OK, enough about audio books (in case you couldn't tell I could go on forever...). Let's talk podcasting!

2. Podcasting - Podcasting arrived on the scene with a bang. A year ago almost no one (outside of Adam Curry and Dave Winer) knew what podcasting was. Today it's on everyone's lips and even the New Oxford American Dictionary selected "podcast" as its word of the year. Yup, podcasting is hot and it's a great way to get cool content for your portable player.

Let's start with the basics of podcasting. For a basic explanation of podcasting you can consult Wikipedia. Better yet, listen to a free recorded version of the Wikipedia entry here. It's a pretty simple concept but at the same time it can be a little intimidating to subscribe to your first podcast. So we've created a short little video tutorial on how to listen to and subscribe to a podcast in iTunes. Here's the link:

http://learnoutloud.castpost.com/PodcastItunes2.swf

There are other ways to listen to podcasts than with iTunes but we do feel that iTunes is probably the easiest way to get started.

Although it might be the easiest way to listen to podcasts it's not necessarily the easiest way to find new podcasts. The iTunes directory is a little bare and I tend to prefer the Yahoo! directory, the Odeo directory and our very own directory here at LearnOutLoud.com.

Yahoo! Podcast Directory - Yahoo! knocked the ball out of the park with their directory. It's well-organized, supports tagging and contains a lot of information. While it isn't perfect it's a great place to explore for new content.

Odeo - Odeo is another podcast directory worth checking out. It's similar in nature to Yahoo's directory but does contain a slightly different inventory of podcasts. What I don't like about Odeo's directory is that you have to have an account to access it. That's a recent change and a poor one I feel.

LearnOutLoud.com Podcast Directory - I'm partial to our podcast directory for a couple of reasons. First, it tends to contain higher-quality of podcasts because we've focused on educational podcasts. There's a lot of crap out there in the podcasting world and we've largely side-stepped it. The reason we've been able to do this is that we've hand-selected all of the podcasts in our directory and listened to most (if not all) of them before choosing to include them. Also, our directory offers one-click subscriptions to iTunes for most podcasts and the ability to stream podcasts directly.

Well, the fingers are getting a little tired so I think I'll sign off for now as I've give you a lot to chew on, er, listen to. I'll be back with another installment in a couple of weeks when I talk about how you can best fit audio learning into your everyday life. In the meantime have an absolutely tremendous weekend and don't forget to spending some quality time this weekend Learning Out Loud!

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December 14, 2005

Two Podcasts of a Christmas Carol

A couple of podcasts of Charles Dickens' classic A Christmas Carol are being made available. Storynory.com has a dramatized version in progress on their site. It's a neat little site which also has downloadable versions of Hansel and Gretel and The Three Little Pigs.

Now the word out of Penguin (via Corante) is that they also will be doing a podcast of the unabridged version of A Christmas Carol as well.

If you're interested in audio book versions of A Christmas Carol or other audio books by Charles Dickens (we have 67 in all listed on our site), here a link:

Charles Dickens Audio Books

Update: Here are the links to these two podcasts in our directory:

The Penguin Podcast
StoryNory

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December 13, 2005

Some Very Cool Free Stuff

Been doing some "treasure hunting" online this morning for new free stuff to add to our increasingly popular Free Audio and Video Directory. I came across a few links I just had to pass along:

Learner.org - I can't believe that I hadn't stumbled across this one before. This is one is definitely worth checking out for a ton of free video tutorials. Registration is required but it's well worth taking a minute or two to sign up. For example, here are a few of the tutorial series that are available:

Algebra in Simplest Terms - 26 half-hour video programs to help you learn algebra (or help you teach it to your children).

French in Action - Interested in learning French? Here are 52 half-hour video programs. Bonus: There's a very attractive blond girl involved. :)

Art of the Western World - 9 one-hour videos ranging from The Classical Ideal to Post-Impressionism.

MediaSite.com - Another "I can't believe I haven't come across this before" site... Over 7,500 free expert presentations and lectures that have been created with Sonic Foundry's Mediasite system. Incredibly cool. (Thank to The Stingy Scholar blog for pointing this one out.)

Voices in the Dark - Free MP3 audio books including Walden and Plato's Apology.

OK, that should keep you busy for a while. I'm off to find more!

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Posted by jbischke | Permalink

Best of 2005 Audio Books (iTunes)

I just got an e-mail forwarded to me from Apple which lists the "Best of 2005" for audio books. Not sure how scientific this is :) but wanted to pass the chosen titles along.

Editors Pick: Freakonomics

Customer Favorite: How To Talk To Anyone

Health, Mind & Body: YOU: The Owner's Manual

Current Events: The World is Flat

I'd give you a link to the complete listing but since it's in iTunes I'll just have to tell you to go to the Audiobooks section of the Music Store and look for the Best of 2005.

Happy listening!

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Posted by jbischke | Permalink

Tookie Williams

For those of you who have been following this, Tookie Williams was executed earlier today in California. I don't know enough about the details of the case to offer any sort of qualified opinion on it but I did want to point people to a two-hour audio interview that Tony Robbins did of Tookie Williams from San Quentin Prison. It's a very interesting interview although it's a bit haunting to listen to now that he's gone.

Anyway, here's the link:

Tony's Interview with Stanley Tookie Williams

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Posted by jbischke | Permalink

December 12, 2005

Shownotes for Audio Learning Revolution Episode #013

Audio Learning Revolution Podcast for Dec 11th, 2005

Introduction
- Direct Link to the show
- Link to Feeds for Audio Learning Revolution podcasts
- Link to Castblaster Information
- Link to Zaadz Daily Wisdom Page
- Comments or Questions about the Podcast directory E-mail

Holiday Gift Ideas
- Link to "Out of Your Mind" by Alan Watts
- Link to "The Beatles" by Bob Spitz
- Link to "A Knock at Midnight" by Martin Luther King Jr.
- Link to A Call Conscience by Martin Luther King Jr.
- Link to "The Autobiography of Martin Luther King Jr."
- Link to J.R.R. Tolkien Author Page
- Link to "the Lord of the Rings" Boxed Set
- Link to "The Chronicles of Narnia CD Boxed Set" by C.S. Lewis
- Link to "A Child's Christmas in Wales" by Dylan Thomas
- Link to LearnOutLoud.com's Caedmon Collection page
- Link to LearnOutLoud.com's Shakespeare Arkangel Collection page
- Link to "Jung: A Very Short Introduction" by Anthony Stevens
- Link to "Freud: A Very Short Introduction" by Anthony Storr
- Link to "A Prairie Home Companion 25th Anniversary Collection" by Garrison Keillor
- Link to "A Prairie Home Christmas" by Garrison Keillor

Outro
- Link to "How You can Create Advertising that Really Works" by Bill Grady

Posted by LOLSeth | Permalink

Shownotes for Audio Learning Revolution Episode #012

Audio Learning Revolution Podcast for Dec 2nd, 2005

Intro and Interlude Music - "Walk Away (Bitsream Dream Remix)" by Lovespirals from The Podsafe Music Network
Introduction
- Direct Link to the show
- Link to Feeds for Audio Learning Revolution podcasts
- Link to LearnOutLoud.com Podcast Directory
- Comments or Questions about the Podcast directory E-mail
Religion & Spirituality Podcasts
- Link to Religion and Spirituality Podcast Category Page.
- Link to The Catholic Insider Podcast
- Link to The Vatican Radio Podcast
- Link to Zencast Podcast
- Link to Rachel's Choice Podcast
- Link to Consciousness: The Inside Story Podcast
Interlude Music - "Love Survives" by Lovespirals from The Podsafe Music Network
Politics Podcasts
- Link to Politics podcast category page
- Link to Left Right and Center Podcast
- Link to Sen. John Edward's Podcast
- Link to Governor Schwarzenegger's Weekly Radio Address Podcast
- Link to the Presidential Weekly Radio Address Podcast
- Link to the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer Podcast
- Link to the CNN News Update Podcast
- Link to the Newsweek On Air Podcast
- Link to the CBS News Face the Nation Podcast
- Link to ABC News: The Afternote Podcast
- Link to Slate Magazine Podcasts
- Link to Shelley the Republican Podcast
- Link to Democrats are Lost Podcast
- Link to The Radio Factor with Bill O'Reilly Podcast
- Link to The All RNC Podcast
- Link to The Democracy Now Podcast
- Link to The Mother Jones Radio Podcast
- Link to The Progressive Radio Show Podcast
- Link to Radio Nation Podcast
- Link to THIS IS HELL Podcast
- Link to The Air America Podcasts
Interlude Music - "Ecstatic (Radio Edit)" by Lovespirals from The Podsafe Music Network
Philosophy
- Link to Philosophy Podcast Category Page.
- Link to DebateGod Podcast
- Link to Awaretek Podcast
Self Development
- Link to Self Development Podcast Category Page.
- Link to NPR: Health & Science Podcast
- Link to KCRW's Second Opinion Podcast
- Link to The Health Report Podcast
- Link to The NBC5 HealthWatch Podcast
- Link to The MommyCast Podcast
- Link to the Gay Parenting Show Podcast
- Link to Dr. Alan Rubin's HealthCast Podcast
- Link to the Intraspectus Podcast
- Link to the All in the Mind Podcast
- Link to the Sound Medicine Podcast
- Link to Strengthcast
- Link to the Motivation to Move Podcast
- Link to More Hip than Hippy Podcast
History Podcasts
- Link to History Podcast Category Page.
- Link to Speeches and Historical Audio Podcast
- Link to History According to Bob Podcast
Outro - "Our Nights" by Lovespirals from The Podsafe Music Network
- Link to the LearnOutLoud.com Podcast Directory

Posted by LOLSeth | Permalink

December 09, 2005

Narnia Mania

If you haven't spent the last couple of months in a cave you're probably aware that Disney is releasing their latest projected blockbuster The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe today. The Chronicles of Narnia was originally a seven-book series written by C.S. Lewis. I fondly remember reading these as a child. I'd have to check with my parents but I'm pretty sure I probably read them all.

If you're a Narnia fan you'll want to check out a couple of things we've put together here at LearnOutLoud.com. The first is our C. S. Lewis Author Page. We've collected every audio and video title from or about C.S. Lewis that we could find. One of my favorites include the The Chronicles of Narnia CD Box Set which contains unabridged recordings of all seven Narnia books for a very affordable price ($52.50). Another interesting title is a reading of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe read by Michael York.

If you're interested in learning more about C.S. Lewis or delving into some of his non-Narnia material there are a couple of things you may want to check out. You can start with our free reading of the C. S. Lewis Wikipedia entry where you'll learn more about the man behind Narnia. Then you can move on to The C.S. Lewis Signature Classics Audio Collection, a collection containing The Screwtape Letters, The Great Divorce, The Problem of Pain and Mere Christianity.

If you're heading to the movie this weekend drop a quick post in the forums and let us know how it was.

Have a great weekend everyone!

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Posted by jbischke | Permalink

1,000 Registered Members!

We cracked the 1,000 member mark tonight (1,002 at last check). A minor milestone no doubt but kinda cool nonetheless.

If you haven't registered yet you can do so here. Registration is free, takes only a few seconds and allows you to do a bunch of stuff like post to our forums, rate and review titles and more. So go register and join the Audio Learning Revolution today!

Updated: I just found out that we also crossed the 10,000 title mark on the site this week as well. Right now we're at 10,082 and counting. Lots of options for you to get your Learn Out Loud on. :)

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Posted by jbischke | Permalink

December 08, 2005

Lennon Out Loud

Today marks the 25th anniversary of the death of John Lennon, one of the most influential rock musicians in history. Very few people have had a bigger influence on their craft than Lennon. For more background on Lennon's life and untimely death, check out the John Lennon Wikipedia entry. And check out Zaadz for some Lennon quotes.

We don't have a lot of Lennon titles on our site but for those curious in learning more about this incredible man here are a few you might be interested in listening to.

The Beatles and The Beatles - Two biographies of the same name but by different authors. The first is the newly released and highly anticipated book by Bob Spitz. The second is an older title (originally published in 1968 and revised in 1996) by Hunter Davies published by Blackstone Audiobooks.

John - A biography of John Lennon written by his first wife Cynthia and published by Random House Audio. An unabridged version is also available.

Lennon wrote an array of amazing and innovative songs and his "Imagine" has always been on my short list of favorites:

Imagine no possessions I wonder if you can No need for greed or hunger A brotherhood of man Imagine all the people Sharing all the world
You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one

I can't think of many messages that the world needs more right now than that.

Rest in Peace John.

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Posted by jbischke | Permalink

December 07, 2005

The Impending Death of the Apple iPod

Yesterday I wrote about the death of CDs (well, sort of...). Today I'm writing about the death of the Apple iPod.

Wait a minute? The death of the iPod? Do I mean the same "iPod" as in the sleek, hot-looking little iPod Nano and the innovative very popular video iPod? Do I mean the same iPod as in the ones that are flying off the shelves this holiday season and that will no doubt boost Apple's earning and stock price to record levels?

Yup, I most certainly do.

Tonight I got my first introduction to Real Rhapsody, the unlimited pay-as-you-go music service from Real Networks. And while this might be a bit premature given that I've been a subscriber for about three hours, I'm completely and unabashedly a huge fan. For $9.99/month I get unlimited access to over 1.3 million songs. For that same price I get unlimited access to...10 songs on iTunes. Hmmm...

OK, now you're probably saying "Hey, that's cool and all but I want to take my music with me." That's where Rhapsody To Go comes in. With Rhapsody To Go I can now take any of those 1.3 million songs with me whereever I go. One catch...I can't take them with me if I have an iPod. Apple stubbornly refuses to license its Fairplay DRM and thereby have shut Rhapsody users out of putting their (legally purchased) music on the iPod.

Apple has done the same thing with audio books as well. The only option you have if you want to purchase audio books and put them on an iPod is Audible.com. Legally purchased audio books from Sounds Good, Simply Audiobooks and Jiggerbug won't work. And that's a shame because I think those companies (along with NetLibrary and Overdrive) are offering some very cool innovations in the spoken word audio world.

The funny thing is that this is a bit of deja vu for Apple. They built a walled garden around the Mac back in the 80s and we all know how well that turned out for them. I'm certainly not anti-Apple. I love what Steve Jobs has done with the iPod in terms of promoting portable media. I just think we've moved passed the days of only allowing content to work with your player or your software. People don't want that. The era of darknet is over. The era of lightnet is upon us.

So what does all of this mean? First of all, if Apple doesn't start changing their tune (sorry, bad pun...) soon I think that the relatively more open platforms are going to win out. I don't know a better tip-off of that than this recent blog post from Chris Anderson, editor over at Wired Magazine. Like him, I've come to the conclusion that my next portable device probably won't be an iPod. It'll probably be something like the Zen Micro pictured above.

Second, if the open platforms start to gain more ground than the rules change a lot. The iTunes/iPod/Audible dominance in the spoken word audio market changes significantly. Certainly Audible is somewhat insulated because their service works with many non-iPod devices, but they will face increased competition. Hey, that's what happens when monopolies are dissolved.

I loaded up on all the Bob Dylan songs I could find earlier this evening. I really enjoyed being able to go back through all the old stuff that I would never have bought on iTunes but were now a click away with Rhapsody. The one that seemed most apropos for the occasion? Well, it goes a little something like this.

The line it is drawn The curse it is cast The slow one now Will later be fast As the present now Will later be past The order is Rapidly fadin'. And the first one now Will later be last

Yup, the times they sure are a-changing... I just hope that Jobs and the gang realize that before it's too late...again.

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Posted by jbischke | Permalink

Audio Learning "Lens" on Squidoo

The Squidoo site went public today and our lens on "Audio Learning" is in the Top 100 (#10 as of this writing). Here's the link:

http://www.squidoo.com/Audio_Learning/

Squidoo is a hot site (I love how their colors match ours!) and it's a great idea. Seth Godin and the gang have done it again!

Kudos to Steve Rubel over at Micro Persuasion for the heads up (although I do disagree a bit with his assessment of Squidoo).

Posted by jbischke | Permalink

December 06, 2005

R. I. P. CDs Part 2: The Spoken Word

Aidin Vaziri, music critic for the San Francisco Chronicle, has a great article up (thanks to Corante for the link) entitled R.I.P. CDs
Consider the alternatives to compact discs: iPods, satellite radio and hours of free or cheap digital music to download legally. Begone, bright discs and pesky cases! Begone! (that's a mouthful huh?). He focuses on music so let me offer a quick companion article covering the spoken word. You might want to read his article first to get the full context:

10. Audible.com/Apple iTunes - As much as I sometimes get frustrated that Audible could be so much more than it is, I have to admit that they do a lot right. They've got a great selection, affordable pricing plans and a lot of free stuff. Plus, they basically invented portable spoken word audio and for that I thank them profusely.

9. The Teaching Company - Yup, The Teaching Company finally offers digital downloads. This is a very cool development because lugging around their voluminous courses can be a bit cumbersome. Only a smattering of courses are available for download but we'll hope their entire catalog is made available soon.

8. Nightingale-Conant - Another newcomer to the download world. We'll never know but my guess is that Nightingale-Conant has single-handedly added billions (I don't think I'm exaggerating here) to the world's economy through the people it has helped to inspire and to educate.

7. IT Conversations - I love, love, love what Doug Kaye is doing here. And you're only going to see more of it as his Conversations Network gathers more steam. I've said it before and I'll say it again: Doug Kaye and the Conversations Network will change the world. You heard it hear first.

6. Net Library and Overdrive - Free audio book downloads for everyone? How cool is that! Sure it's the Windows Media format (not compatible with iPods) and sure you have to have a library account and sure they expire just like regular library books but did I mention that these audio book downloads are free?

5. Learning Languages On Audio - I can't tell you how cool it is to be able to learn Spanish when you're walking to the store or pick up a bit o' Italiano when you're running on the treadmill. While a lot of this stuff is still available only on CD publishers like Pimsleur (Simon & Schuster), Berlitz and Living Language have made a good chunk of their foreign language material available for download.

4. Podcasts - A year ago I didn't know what a podcast was. Now I think I'd have a hard time living without them. There is so much good stuff out there and I think we're only scratching the surface of what we'll see eventually. Personally the podcasts that are my must-listens include IT Conversations, Diggnation (from the guys @ Digg.com), a new favorite Venture Voice and our very own Zaadz Daily Wisdom Podcast.

3. Audio Cassettes - For some reason I still love the good ol' cassette. Sure they're bulky and all but I love being able to carry them from place and place and always have them remember where I am. A cool thing about cassettes too is that you can find older material from people like Wayne Dyer on eBay that isn't available anywhere else.

2. Free Audio - I love to pay for my audio but I also like free stuff. Like free speeches from Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. Like free audio books such as Common Sense and As a Man Thinketh. That's good stuff and the more I save on this stuff the more I can spend on other stuff right? (I think I just set a world record for number of times using the word "stuff" in the same sentence...)

1. Audio CDs - Wait...wasn't this supposed to be about the death of the CD? Yeah, I guess it was but I have to admit that there is still a lot of stuff that I listen to on CD. As far as I know the Sony rootkit wasn't installed on any audio books so spoken word listeners are in the clear. And most cars only have CD players which means that CDs are often the best option for many people.

The bottom line is that it doesn't matter whether you're listening to a download, a CD or a cassette. The important thing is that you're listening. There are more choices out there than ever before. So get busy and start Learning Out Loud OK? :)

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Posted by jbischke | Permalink

Another re-design and a DRM primer

Just a day after we announce Audible's new re-design I notice that Simply Audiobooks now has a brand new site and that they are selling downloadable audio books. There's certainly a lot going on in the audio book space. This brings the number of major audio book sites that have undergone significant re-launches/site re-designs in the last couple of months to three: Audible.com, SoundsGood.com and Simply Audiobooks.

Simply Audiobooks is selling downloads using the Microsoft Digital Rights Management (DRM). Unfortuately this means that they won't be compatible with the Apple iPod. Here's a quick primer on audio book DRM (for those that care):

-Digital Rights Managements or DRM refers to the technology that makes it difficult to illegally copy or share an audio book. For instance, you might be able to listen to an audio book you've purchased on two different computers but not on three. That would be an example of DRM in action.

-Apple's DRM is called FairPlay and they do not license it. The only company that can use Apple's DRM for spoken word audio is Audible.com and that arrangement is in place through 2007. What this means is that if you are looking to purchase an audio book with DRM you must go through Audible. Of course if the audio book does not have DRM (e.g., an MP3 file purchased here at LearnOutLoud) then you can play it on the iPod with no problems.

-Microsoft's DRM is called PlaysForSure. Anything you purchase with the Microsoft DRM attached does play for sure...unless you happen to have an Apple iPod. This is definitely a downside of the Microsoft DRM since 75%+ off all portable media devices are iPods. The companies utilizing the PlaysForSure DRM include SoundsGood.com, Simply Audiobooks and Jiggerbug.

-While DRM does offer protection to publishers and content producers it isn't without its downside. There can be compatability issues and other usability problems such as not being able consume your legally downloaded content as you would like to. There's also an additional cost to implementing DRM.

Anyway, I've probably told you more than you ever wanted to know about DRM so I'll stop for now. If you've got any thoughts or questions about DRM let's continue the discussion in the forums.

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Posted by jbischke | Permalink

December 05, 2005

In Today's Audio Learning News...

A few quick newsworthy audio learning-related items to pass along:

AmigoFish Launches - Dave Slusher has launched AmigoFish, a new service to help you find podcasts you'll like based on your ratings of podcasts you've already listened to. It's about time something like this came out. I'm very surprised that Slusher beat Yahoo, Odeo, Podcast Alley and others to the punch on this. I hope he does well with it. It's definitely a much-needed service that becomes increasingly valuable as more people use it.

New Audible Re-Design - Audible.com has unveiled a fairly significant site re-design. I don't what to make of the new look. I think I liked their old site better. It was more inviting. And adding to "Beta" moniker to their logo is just a bit too trendy. If you have a brand new service you're launching telling everyone it's still in Beta is kinda cool but I'm not sure you need to do this just because you've redesigned your site...

Bookchips to Be Available in Airports - Audiofy announced a deal with Airport Wireless Rental to make their Audiobook Chips available in airport stores. This makes a lot of sense as it's a great way to business travels and others to grab portable audio to listen to while in the air. I think they'll do real well with this.

Zaadz Daily Wisdom Podcast Launches - OK, one internal item of news. :) Today we started sending out the Zaadz Daily Wisdom Podcast, a daily podcast of inspirational quotes and teaches. Check it out when you get a chance. We think you'll dig it. To subscribe go to http://www.learnoutloud.com/wisdom or search the iTunes directory for "zaadz".

OK, that's the news and I am outta here!

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Posted by jbischke | Permalink

December 02, 2005

E-Magazine #7 - December 2nd, 2005

Special Holiday Edition: Holiday Gift Ideas +
Daily Wisdom Podcast + We've Been Dugg

Holiday Gift Ideas

Audio books make great holiday gifts! Rather than giving someone a book they may never read or another piece of clothing to stuff an already full closet, why not get them something you know they'll use. Just about everyone has a good amount of time in their vehicle and a well-chosen audio book is an excellent way to help them enjoy that time.

We've combed the Catalog at LearnOutLoud (rapidly approaching 10,000 titles) to pick out a few titles that make great gift ideas. Here are some of our recommendations:

The Chronicles of Narnia CD Box Set - By now you've probably seen the commercial for Narnia, the new Walt Disney movie that will be released in a couple of weeks. This movie is based on the Chronicles of Narnia series of books by C. S. Lewis. This box set contains all seven unabridged recordings (31 discs in all!) at a very reasonable price.

Freakonomics - If you're the type who views economics as a boring and stuffy subject, Steven Levitt's bestseller Freakonomics will shatter those myths. Levitt offers an informative and enlightening look at society through the lens of an inquisitive economist. Highly listenable and a great gift for just about anyone on your list. Other similar titles include two from Malcolm Gladwell: Blink and The Tipping Point.

Titles that are religious or spiritual in nature and that make great gifts include Joel Osteen's popular new audio book Your Best Life Now, Eckhart Tolle's classic The Power of Now and the The King James Bible read by James Earl Jones (we like to refer to this one as the "King James Earl Jones" Bible!).

Finally, a great audio book that just about everyone will enjoy is David McCullough's "Biography of a Year" 1776. It's also available in an abridged version here. If you're interested in getting a little taste of 1776 for free, check out the free WGBH production of David McCullough's presentation Biography of a Year: 1776.

That's just a small sampling of what's available. We have over 2,000 titles discounted 20-40% off. Visit our On Sale Section to find that perfect holiday gift.

We've Been Dugg and Delicious'zed...

It was a pretty exciting week here at LearnOutLoud headquarters. We ended up on the front page of technology news site Digg.com which led to prominent placement on social bookmarking sites like del.icio.us and Furl and brief write-ups on Lifehacker (don't worry, it's a site about personal productivity, not hacking...) and Yahoo! News. We experienced traffic levels that were almost 10 times the norm which explains a bit of the sluggishness that you may have noticed.

Welcome to all of the new people who visited and those of you who subscribed to our newsletter and are reading it for the first time. It's great to have you onboard at the start of the Audio Learning Revolution!

Zaadz Daily Wisdom Podcast To Launch Monday

On Monday we'll be launching the Zaadz Daily Wisdom Podcast, a daily podcast consisting of inspirational quotes from philosophers, psychologists, spiritual teachers and optimal living gurus along with related commentary. The Zaadz Daily Wisdom Podcast is hosted by Brian Johnson, Philosopher & CEO of Zaadz, Inc. It's a great podcast to subscribe to and listen to first thing in the morning or on your way to work. Some of the individuals profiled in the first month of the Zaadz Daily Wisdom Podcast include Albert Einstein, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Martin Seligman, Socrates and Marianne Williamson.

We've had a chance to preview the first month's worth of episodes of the Daily Wisdom Podcast here and you're in for a treat. We've reviewed thousands of podcasts and we haven't come across anything like what Brian has put together. To subscribe to the Zaadz Daily Wisdom Podcast go to http://www.learnoutloud.com/wisdom or search the iTunes Directory for "zaadz". While you're at it head on over to zaadz.com and check out their hot new site.

Announcing the Winner of the Nano Contest

We're proud to announce the winner of our Nano contest which is Brad Rhoads of Winfield, IL. Brad won by linking to us from his blog here. Congrats Brad!

Titles Under $10

A few titles under $10 from our Sale Section:

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (CD for $9.80, Cassette for $9.10)