April 09, 2007

Everyone is getting an iPod

OK, not everyone. But I saw this story out of Michigan and wonder if iPods aren't going to become as integral to students' lives as laptops.

Michigan's "no iPod left behind" budget proposal

The audio revolution continues.

Posted by jbischke | Permalink

August 01, 2006

"Soul-deadening gridlock"???

The lead story of this week's Los Angeles CityBeat is titled Fear and Entropy in Los Angeles and starts with the following tagline:

Scenes from a gas struggle: Will soul-deadening gridlock and exorbitant fuel prices kill the remnants of SoCal car culture?

Soul-deadening gridlock? Well let's see. In the last few weeks I've spent my "soul-deadening gridlock" listening to Krishnamurti, Alan Watts and Ken Wilber (Kosmic Consciousness may be the most anti-soul-deadening thing I've ever listened to).

So what is the author of this article talking about? Do people not know they can consume the wisdom of the world's greatest teachers during their commutes? Or do they not care? If it's the latter there's not much we can do. But I suspect that it's at least partially the former. And if that's the case then we have a helluva lot of work to do.

Here's to anti-soul-deadening...

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July 14, 2006

What if a mobile phone could make your life better?

Came across this amazing article in the Washington Post yesterday (thanks Kareem!). I've been fired up about mobile for a long time now but reading this article just adds more fuel to the fire. It's soooo nice to see an application of technology that truly changes lives for the better. Not that there's anything wrong with the plethora of RSS aggregators and video sharing service out there...but at the end of the day the question is whether we're using technology or whether technology is using us right?

I definitely have no desire to wax philosophical here but at the same time I think it's refreshing to see a clear case where technology is improving peoples' lives and presents the opportunity to possibly lift an entire generation out of poverty through enhanced communication, better business possibilities, etc.

So what does this have to do with audio learning? Well...my gut tells me that when the audio learning thing hits the developing world it's not going to come via the PC but largely via the mobile phone. Imagine this...kids growing up in rural Africa learning English and other basic skills via a cell phone. Based on what I'm reading in this article I don't think that's too far off. It might be a while before the sub-$100 laptop is a reality. During that time the whole effort might be leap-frogged by a cheap cellular phone that can provide voice and data access.

I'll admit I know nothing about this.

This might be an idealistic Pollyannish notion from a guy who lacks basic know-how about what goes on over there.

Or not.

A buddy of mine reminded me yesterday that the only limitation is our imagination. So for today I'm going to imagine a world in which kids from Africa and other third world countries grow up listening to educational and inspirational audio material and use the knowledge they've gained to create sustainable businesses and teach others and lift their countries out of crushing poverty. Will that dream become a reality? I don't know but we're going to do our darnedest to make it come true.

Have a great weekend everyone and thanks for all of your support of LearnOutLoud. We're experiencing record levels of traffic this week and I want to express how excited I am about what's going on. After all, we're just getting started.

:)

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July 12, 2006

How to Have a Better Brain

I've been doing a lot of looking lately at what people can do to improve their brains. Does that sound strange? Perhaps...but think about it. We spend tons of time and money as a culture on improving all sorts of other parts of ourselves. Think how much money is spent on skin care or on making our bodies more asthetically appealing (the plastic surgery industry is HUGE). Yet, what affects our mood and happiness more than our brain?

I think most people feel that there isn't much you can to improve your brain. From what I've been learning lately I beg to differ. I tihnk there is actually a ton of stuff that people can do to improve brain chemistry and mood. Unfortunately the vast majority of our culture turns to chemicals to do this. Either prescription drugs ("improving" brain chemistry is basically what anti-depressant drugs do), legal drugs (like alcohol or nicotine) or illegal drugs (I heard recently that cocaine is a $100 billion industry in the U.S. alone!!!).

What are some non-chemical ways to improve brain chemistry? I've listened a couple of Dr. Daniel Amen's audiobooks recently and there are some good suggestions in there. Currently I'm listening to Making a Good Brain Great and while I haven't gotten to the part that talks about improving the brain yet there are some pretty strong warnings about what not to do. For instance, while football and soccer are great sports, the number of head injuries that are incurred can lead to major psychological problems later in life due to the brain damage that can occur. That's something I've never thought of. Anyway, for a free preview of Amen's stuff check out this speech he gave on IT Conversations.

One practice that has been shown to improve brain function is meditation (see a couple of stories related to this here and here). I've been experimenting with different types of meditation and contemplative practice lately. One of the best ways to introduce yourself to meditation is through guided meditation audio. A couple of titles that I've tried recently include some of Bodhipaksa's stuff and Andrew Cohen's Meditation audiobook. Meditation requires a lot of patience but based on everything I've been reading lately the benefits are tough to deny.

Of course another common sense way to improve brain function is to make sure the brain is getting plenty of oxygen. In fact, the brain loses consciousness after being deprived of oxygen for just 8-10 seconds. There are a couple of things that you can do to ensure that you are getting plenty of oxygen to your brain. The first is deep, diaphragmatic breathing. This is pretty simple to do (just take deep breaths and make sure that it's your abdomen and not your chest that is moving). However, one tool that I've found that helps with this is a bio-feedback device called Wild Divine. It'll help you monitor and regulate your breathing patterns. I'll often hook this up when I'm reading or watching a movie (yup, I'm a dork) and it's interesting to see times when I'm breathing free and easy and other times when I'm breathing more shallow or even holding my breath.

Of course another way to ensure good blood flow to the brain is through exercise. There are dozens of ways to exercise but one of the best I've found for this purpose is yoga. The combination of cardio work and deep breathing can produce an "oxygen high" of sorts that feels pretty damn cool. I'm fortunate enough to have one of the world's best yoga studios in my backyard but for those who don't the audio versions of yoga courses can be a great substitute.

So those are a few ways to "have a better brain." No doubt there are many more. If you have any suggestions feel free to post in the forums. I'm a junkie for anything I can do to improve the most valuable part of my body. :)

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July 06, 2006

Recently Listening: Lichtenstein Media

Recently I've been completely obsessed with Lictenstein Media's The Infinite Mind program. Each one-hour episode focuses on a particular issue related to the brain, be it mental illness, how the brain is affected by outside stimuli, what certain emotions mean, or the outward consequences of neurological process. A quick look at the episodes we carry on LearnOutLoud will give you a good idea of the wide range of topics that fit within this spectrum. All of them feature guests that are experts on a specific subject, with discussion that is approachable yet heady. They also sometimes feature slice of life examples to help one better understand a certain issue, such as one woman’s vivid description of a panic attack ("If you could visualize someone holding you by the hair over the George Washington bridge..."), or another person’s tragic acknowledgement that her mother’s creative genius was probably fueled by the same mania that led her to suicide. This formal structure works to complete a fairly thorough picture of what is discussed; from introduction, to expert analysis, to “street-level” experience.

Thus far I can list a few episodes that warrant serious attention. First of all is the incredible Art and Madness, which explores the undeniable link between insanity and creative brilliance. Here you will hear about musicians, poets and actors that have made incredible works of art, only to be hampered and sometimes killed by debilitating illness.

Next up, I would say Marriage is an episode that stuck with me, not because of any sort of personal affinity at this point in my life, but more for the questions raised on whether or not fidelity is hard-wired into us. Additionally the episode offers the most concise common sense advice I've yet heard on what it takes from an emotional standpoint to turn formative passions into lifelong bonds.

I'll also mention Alcoholism, which is treated in this instance as nothing short of a neurological illness. With alcohol however, the pain is consensual: it's always a choice one makes when they decide to drink. The episode addresses this argument, and goes further to show how certain people may have less of a choice in the matter than you may think.

Religion endeavors to trace the human attraction to the religious experience and why interest in the divine endures to this day despite encroaching secularism. Experts identify parts of the brain that are now associated with religious impulse, and we see how religion's tenants may appeal to a primal aspect of human neurology that has yet to be identified.

Finally I'll there's Narcissism. All of us have probably met someone we feel is self-absorbed, but does that necessarily mean they are a narcissist? Here we learn that narcissists lack a certain sense of empathy that makes them believe they somehow exist beyond established laws of social conduct. Think of it as the most extreme selfishness you’ve ever known and somehow that doesn’t describe all of what these people go through. I thought many of those interviewed in this episode were terrifying to be honest with you.

In all, every episode of the Infinite Mind has it's pearls of wisdom to impart. If you can download any one of these episodes, be sure to get one on a topic you are especially interested in. I can guarantee you will hear an hour of information packed with insight you can't find anywhere else. I was basically up for hearing every one of these shows, and I have yet to leave unsatisfied with the wealth of detailed information available. Definitely an amazing way to fill up your iPod.

Posted by LOLSeth | Permalink

July 05, 2006

10 Cures for the Summertime Blues

Summertime is in full swing. It's a great time for traveling and relaxing of course but it's also the perfect time to start audio learning. Listening to books and podcasts is an excellent way to pass time while you're at the beach or in your car on the way to Grandmother's house. To help you fight off those summertime blues I've put together a list of 10 free downloads for you to throw on your iPod or other MP3 player this summer. Enjoy!

10. Ted Talks - The good people from the TED Conference have just posted a bunch of free downloads from their most recent conference including talks by Al Gore and
Tony Robbins. Considering that the conference normally cost $4,400 to attend this is quite the deal.

9. Podrunner and fitPod - Exercising this summer? (I hope so. :) If so, download these mixes to your MP3 player. They have different bpm timings to match the pace of your workout. A great way to keep motivated and in rhythm.

8. Guided Meditation from Meditainment - Summer is all about relaxing right? Why not put a meditation track on your iPod for those moments when life gets a little to stressful.

7. 50 Things I'm Going To Do Today - It's a great time of the year to build habits, especially if you're a little less busy. 50 Things is a great free audio download that will give you some suggestions for positive habits you can build into your life. I probably listen to this once every couple of weeks and never fail to be reminded of something I should be doing.

6. Free Culture - Summer seems to be synonymous with freedom for many people. After all you're free from school and usually free from work at least for a little while. Spend some of your free time listening to Free Culture, Lawrence Lessig's seminal work on copyright and intellectual property. The chapters are read by people like Doug Kaye and Dave Winer.

5. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - What could be a more classic summer read than Huckleberry Finn? Now, thanks to the fine folks at Literal Systems you can listen to it for free...the full 9 1/2 hour unabridged version.

4. Learn a Foreign Language - Summer is the perfect time to spend learning or brushing up on a foreign language. There are a ton of free language learning podcasts including InstaSpanish, The French Pod Class and Let's Speak Italian!.

3. The Founding Documents of the United States of America - We just passed July 4th, the date we celebrate our Independence here in the U.S. Last month we recorded many of the Founding Documents of our country onto audio including the "Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death" speech, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Whether you're a history buff or buff-to-be, these are worth the download.

2. Cal-Berkeley Course Podcasts - Wait a minute. Wasn't summer the time to take a break from all that schoolwork? Sure...but think about it this way. It's also a great time to listen to a course you didn't get to take during the school year or always had an interest in. Berkeley has put a ton of their courses available online for free. Introduction to Computers, Wildlife Ecology, Existentialism in Literature and Film and more!

1. Jon Udell's Summer Listening List - Jon Udell writes for Infoworld and has posted a list of five "Summer Listening" podcasts. It's a really good list covering everything from ending the oil addicition and blended value to the wealth of networks and biomimicry.

So that should keep your ears busy for a while. If you're still looking for more check out our Free Audio and Video Directory which now contains over 1,000 free resources for you to learn from. Enjoy your summer and keep Learning Out Loud!

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May 14, 2006

LearnOutLoud in the New York Times

We got a cool mention in the New York Times Travel section today in an article entitled "New Audio Books Pack a Lot More Prose." Here's the link but you'll have to register to read it. It's actually a cool article in that it talks about digital rights management and mentions LearnOutLoud as one of the only companies selling DRM-free content. Here's a bit from the article:

For travelers who are interested in self improvement or concerned about proprietary formats, the portal LearnOutLoud offers MP3-based audio content at www.learnoutloud.com. MP3 is a common file format for digital music and audio files. "LearnOutLoud focuses on the educational market — not K-12, but adult, life-long learners," said Jon Bischke, its founder and chief executive. While you won't find blockbusters like the Harry Potter books there, LearnOutLoud offers something that few other sites offer — downloads in MP3 format, making it easy to copy the files to just about any device (May's free download is "The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin").

We're getting the vibe from a lot of people that they're getting more and more interested in getting their content on MP3. One of the reasons for this is that people don't know what kind of device they may want to listen to audiobooks on in the future and worry that if they purchase a book in a proprietary format it might not be compatible. For instance, let's say you get a new phone a year from now that plays MP3s. If you buy audiobooks from other companies you might not be able to play them.

Anyway, it was a great article and hopefully will bring a few more people to our site.

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May 08, 2006

Lessons Learned with Ben Franklin

While working on the Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin over the past few weeks, I was given a great chance to access Franklin's life, his time, and most of all his wisdom. In the memoir his code of ethics can be expressed in many ways. In one section he stresses how learning forms the crux of personal excellence, in another he systematically endevours to rid himself of the daily habits that impede virtue. Any one section of the book can be listened to on its own and it would be enough to chew on for several months if not a year. Here are a few aspects of Franklin's life that I found the most compelling.

Morality: Franklin was not conventionally religious: He spurned the clergy's attempts to save his soul, and he rarely attended church. Nevertheless, he did come to form his own set of beliefs based on divine principles. He codified these beliefs at one point into a series of maxims he then tried to adhere to for the rest of his life. For instance, during a period of several weeks he spoke nary an unkind word about anyone in his circle in order that he not become known as a badmouther. By taking a strategic approach to personal character, Franklin experimented with the whole concept of "good" human conduct. While he himself admitted the results over a lifetime were mixed, he still found a way to identify his personal deficiencies and objectively improve upon them.

Reading and Writing: When you think you've hit a wall in your options, there's always the option of reading more about your options in order to broaden your understanding of your options. Does that make sense? Let me put it another way, Benjamin Franklin read not just for pleasure, he read to gain a better grasp on the way the world functions and how he might best be used within it. Reading for him was a way to map the world more efficiently. He made time for reading within his daily work schedule, and at many points in the book one can see he derived extreme pleasure from his books. He was also a beloved writer, and this aspect of his many talents had a profound influence on early colonial life. His poor Richard's Almanac, newspaper editorials and self-published essays held major sway on public opinion and undoubtedly helped plot the direction of the colonial mind. It would be foolish to think he didn't sow the seeds of revolution; his writing extolled independent thought and action at all costs. What's more American than that?

Be Curious: Every waking moment can move you forward, even when it seems like leisure. Franklin was the very definition of a rennaissance man. If he wasn't creating the first library, he was thinking of a way to put fires out or harnessing the electrical properties of lightning. All of these great discoveries were made by a man that followed through on every interest he had to the nth degree. Franklin was always searching to illuminate the dark corners of his personal experience. His world was marked by a constant need to know more and to push the boundaries of convention. Throughout the book, Franklin speaks of his activities as if they didn't present an obstacle and everything he didn't know was simply something he would know if he simply took the time to study it.

That's just a bit of what I've gleaned after thinking about it here for a few minutes. There's much more to discuss here and nothing written here can encapsulate what Franklin was able to accomplish in his lifetime. He was gifted with an amazing intellect to be sure, but he was also equally blessed by his access to learning materials (even he would admit he would have gone nowhere if he hadn't educated himself throughout his life).

In the end, it constantly amazes me how era-defining historical periods produce the perfect people to lead the way. If we didn't have men like Franklin, Washington and Jefferson during the revolution, I don't know how history would have gone. The same can be said for how Lincoln appeared during the Civil War or how leaders like FDR and Churchill emerged to save the world during World War II. I hope you enjoy Franklins account of his story and are inspired by his example as well. If anything, the model he provides for living is very, very doable.

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May 05, 2006

WIE Unbound and the Webby Awards

It's been a while since I've blogged about WIE Unbound, the audio and video service from the good people over at What is Enlightenment? magazine. It's a great service that features interviews with leading thinkers like Deepak Chopra, Andrew Cohen (whose new Meditation title is available for download from LearnOutLoud here), Jon Kabat-Zinn and many others. $10 a month gets you the whole kit and kaboodle. Definitely a great investment.

I also wanted to encourage fans of What is Enlightment? to vote for them in the upcoming Webby Awards. They're up for a Webby for best Religion and Spirituality web site. Here's the link where you can give them your vote:

http://www.wie.org/home04i/offsite.asp?oid=webby

Kudos to Laura and the rest of the gang over at WIE for producing a ton of compelling audio and video content for your learning out loud pleasure.

Have a great weekend everyone!

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May 02, 2006

Complete Noam Chomsky Audio & Video Resource

With the recent release of Chomsky's latest audio book Failed States, we decided it was time to put together the ultimate audio and video resource on this linguist and political activist:

www.learnoutloud.com/chomsky

Chomsky has written dozens of books but only his most recent, Failed States and Hegemony and Survival, have been made into audio books. Another recent release called Imperial Ambitions contains over 5 hours of interviews of Chomsky conducted by radio journalist David Barsamian since 9/11.

In the last few decades Chomsky has also delivered 100s of lectures, speeches, and interviews that have been captured on audio and video, many of which are available for free. We've featured the majority of Chomsky's free audio & video programs here along with some that are on sale on CD and digital download. The most complete listing of Chomsky audio and video can be found at Chomsky.info Audio N' Video which includes all of his appearances on Democracy Now as well as other radio programs. So check out all the audio & video resources from one of the most prolific and renowned intellectuals of our time.

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April 29, 2006

Dave Sifry Gets It

As I've mentioned before, the Venture Voice podcast just keeps getting better and better. The most recent episode is with Dave Sifry, the CEO of Technorati. His mission in life?

To be of service.

When you listen to him talk you're listening to what I feel will be the future of business and entrepreneurship. Strive to serve first. Everything else (including profits) will come out of that.

Sifry's passion is infectious. We need more entrepreneurs like him. I hope (and think) that podcasts like Venture Voice will help to encourage that.

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April 28, 2006

What's the World's Most Popular Language?

Did you guess English? If so you're wrong. 500 million more people claim Mandarin Chinese as their first language. That blew me away. Actually, the entire article entitled "The Mandarin Offensive" that I read tonight blew me away. I really don't we fully realize the impact that China is going to have on the rest of the world. It's going to be truly mind-boggling.

And it's a wake-up call I guess to go out there and learn at least a bit of Mandarin. I tried to do this a couple of years ago and I'll admit that it wasn't the easiest thing in the world. It's definitely a lot more difficult (coming from an English background) than trying to learn French or Spanish.

Now I might be a bit biased but I think one of the best ways to learn a foreign language (or to supplement your learning) is through audio. I know that both my Spanish and French (Disclaimer: I'm not anywhere near fluid in either language.) have been helped a lot over the years by listening to tapes and CDs. And when I made my attempt at learning Chinese a couple of years ago, listening the Pimsleur Mandarin Chinese course did help a lot.

If you're in the process of learning a language I would definitely recommend adding audio material to your plan of attack. We've got a ton of language learning material listed on our site so you should be able to find something that suits your needs. The best part about audio is that it's easy to repetitively drill the stuff into your head. Plus, it usually costs a fraction of what you would pay for classes or a private tutor.

I've definitely got "Become Bilingual" on my list of goals. Might be a good one to add to your list as well...

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April 26, 2006

Feynman Rocks

Richard Feynman rocks.

I love Signal vs. Noise, the blog from the peeps over at 37Signals. One of today's posts included this quote from Feynman on the subject of awards:

"I don’t like honours…The prize is the pleasure of finding the thing out, the kick in the discovery, the observation of the people who use it. Those are the real things!"

http://37signals.com/svn/archives2/sunspots_kick...

How cool is that?

I noticed that David has been putting up some new Feynman titles. Check them out here. Good stuff...

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April 23, 2006

The Wisdom of Crowds and Content 2.0

So I was doing some unpacking today and managed to crank through about two thirds of James Surowiecki's excellent book The Wisdom of Crowds. The fact that I was able to get over halfway done with this book on a day when I was doing mundane stuff around the house is Reason #163 that I love audio learning. Seriously, this is a book that given my current schedule I would not have had the time to read anytime soon.

But something else struck me when I was listening to it. A couple of weeks ago I listened to a presentation that Surowiecki had given at South by Southwest (listen here). In it he hits most of the highpoints of The Wisdom of Crowds book. And he does it in less than an hour (contrast this with the unabridged audiobook which runs about ten hours).

Which of these has more value to the listener?

That's a really good question. Although I'm a big fan of unabridged audiobooks that fact of that matter is that the SXSW presentation hit the key points and anecdotes in the books, was delivered by the author himself and cost...nothing.

If this was the first time that I had encountered something like this it might not have registered for me. But it isn't. I've come across this before from people like Thomas Friedman (The World Is Flat), David McCullough (1776) and Malcolm Gladwell (Blink). Indeed, all of these (free) presentations by the authors do a pretty good job of summing up their books.

My gut is telling me that there's a new form of content emerging here. It's shorter than Content 1.0 (think one hour presentation from the author rather than ten hour unabridged audiobook). It's more personal than Content 1.0 (think the author talking about her book in her words rather than her book read by a narrator). And it's quite possibly more entertaining than Content 1.0 and certainly more efficient (I could listen to 10 author presentations in the same time that I could listen to one unabridged audiobook).

It's not Cliff Notes. It's not Soundview Executive Book Summaries. It's something entirely new (at least I think so). I'm going to call it Content 2.0 and leave it at that for now. But I'll be back with more later... :)

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April 10, 2006

Why I love LearnOutLoud

OK, I'm a bit biased here perhaps. :) But one of the things that I love about this site is that every time we ship an order or serve a download it's a product that we're all proud to sell. When we started LearnOutLoud we made a conscious decision that we weren't going to carry every spoken word audio title out there. Rather we were going to focus on the highest quality educational and inspirational material. If you're looking for romance or crime or mystery that's totally cool. You just won't find it here.

A glance at our top ten best-selling titles reaffirms for me that the decision to only sell high-quality stuff with substance was the right one:

1. Meditations for Manifesting - By far our best-selling title. And for good reason. If you're interested in learning Japa meditation there's no better way than this audiobook.

2. Energizing the Body - We've been selling a lot of Dan Millman's titles and this one has proved the most popular. Definitely worth checking out if you would like to have more energy. Uh, that would be all of us...

3. English for Portuguese (Brazilian) Speakers - This is our #3 best seller? Who would have thunk it? I will say though, there's no better way to polish your language skills than with audio learning.

4. The Purpose-Driven Life - Rick Warren's mega best-selling book is also a hit on audio.

5. The Science of Getting Rich - This title is actually on our top 10 twice. The Brian Johnson narrated version edges out the Gildan Media version to date.

6. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People - An all-time favorite from Steven Covey.

7. The Science of Getting Rich - The other Science of Getting Rich in our Top Ten.

8. The Chronicles of Narnia CD Box Set - The best value audiobook ever. 31 discs for $52. That's a great deal! :)

9. The Twelve Gateways to Freedom - Another Dan Millman title. This one is excellent. Highly recommended.

10. English for Spanish Speakers - Suprise, surprise, more language training.

So that's our Top Ten. Every one of those titles has the power to improve your life in some way. That's what I love about this site and learning out loud in general. It's self-improvement without taking time out of your day. Now what could be better than that?

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March 30, 2006

Stanford on iTunes: Plath and Hughes

Recently I listened to an incredible literary discussion made available through Stanford's Books & Authors program on iTunes. The latest update to this section is entitled "Her Husband: Plath and Hughes" and is comprised of an interview and discussion with Diane Middlebrook, author of a recently published Plath-Hughes biography by the same name. If you are a fan of modern literature and poetry in particular, than you owe it to yourself to hear this.

Everyone that has read Sylvia Plath will find it hard to divide her life, marriage, and death from her work. That said, much of the discussion in this program deals with how aspects of her life informed what she wrote. The factors talked about include turbulent mental health, a volatile yet mutually beneficial marriage and how motherhood may have amplified Plath's talent beyond that of previous female authors. This is all interesting to be sure, but what really struck me was the attention given to Ted Hughes. I had never really thought about him before aside from the fact that he was married to Plath and probably contributed in part to the downward spiral that ultimately led to her suicide. Middlebrook provides him more dimension by making Plath's death the primary moment in his creative evolution. For the rest of his life, the centerpiece of Hughes' work lied in how he processed the pain of losing his creative soulmate. Middlebrook ends the session with a poem written by Hughes to Plath just before his 1998 death. What is read here sums up the loss of a loved one so poignantly that even Middlebrook herself sounds as though she's been brought to tears while reading it. This is an incredibly valuable discussion about what tore apart, fueled and ultimately re-connected two highly creative people.

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March 22, 2006

Audio Learning is Cheating!

I had a good friend from Minneapolis in town last night. We had a great time catching up and got on the subject of audio books when he was telling me how the parents of a kid who he coaches (he's a tennis pro) but audiobooks for their kid to listen to instead of reading the printed version. He considered it cheating and thinks the parents should have the kid read instead.

I guess I kind of agree with him.

I don't think audio learning should ever be a complete substitute for reading. In today's age it's more important than ever to read and honestly everyone would do themselves a favor by learning to read faster so they could process information quicker. A great program to help with that is EyeQ which is a piece of software that can up your reading spead dramatically. But I digress...

The point is not to look at audio learning, audiobooks and podcasts as a means of replacing reading. Instead it's a great compliment and a tremendous opportunity to crank through books and other stuff you're interested in during times when you can't read.

I love to read. But with my reading time I find myself gravitating increasingly to material that I can't listen to. For example, blogs (I love my Bloglines!), magazines and books that haven't been made into audio. Every time a new book comes out the first thing I do is check to see if an audio version is available. If it is I'll usually go that route. I've done this recently with titles such as The World is Flat and My Life. Books that previously I would have spent many hours over several months reading are now completed in a few weeks during my drive and exercise time, while I'm washing the dishes, etc.

The best part is that I didn't take any additional time out of my day to "read" these books.

What does that equate to? A major time savings. In my case, it's time to work on the business, time to relax a bit and of course time to read.

We live in a society in which, for most people, time is more scarce than money. That's why I love audio learning is that it literally adds time to my life. If I'm committed to lifelong learning and know that there will be books each month that I want to (and perhaps need to) read then I know now that I can listen to them, still get the full impact of and benefit from the material and yet not take up any additional time in my day by doing so.

I've been doing this for so long now that it's ingrained in me that I forget that this idea probably hasn't occured to many people. It hadn't really occured to my buddy but I think by the end of the night I sold him. And if I didn't I'm going to dropping an audiobook or two in the mail for him to seal the deal. :)

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March 20, 2006

Audio Learning at the LA Marathon

I completed marathon #4 yesterday here in LA and for the first time I tried listening to an audio book while I've ran. I've listened to music in the past and listened to audio books and podcasts while training but I've never tried listening to audio books during a race before. It actually went pretty well.

I listened to the first half of John Battelle's book The Search. It's an interesting look at the history of search engines with a more specific focus on Google. It's one of the multitudes that I always tell myself I should read or want to read but never seem to get around to. Knocking out the first half of it while doing something I knew I was going to do anyway was kind of cool.

I'm such a big fan of listening to audio books and podcasts during exercise. Not only is it a great way to crank through a lot of stuff that you normally wouldn't have time for but it's also a great way to come up with new ideas. I think there's something about the extra blood flow to the brain coupled with exposing your mind to some new knowledge that can trigger a hell of a lot of creativity. I've had some of my best ideas over the last year when I've been out for runs while listening to podcasts like The Gillmor Gang or Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders.

If you've never tried listening to an audio book or podcast during your workout I'd highly recommend it. It's a great way to "kill two birds with one stone" and the ideas you'll come up with will make it time very well spent.

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March 15, 2006

Reading aloud for a living

Good article from the LA Times about audiobook narrators:

Reading aloud for a living

A couple of good passages:

A survey done by the trade association found the average listener earns 25 percent more than nonlisteners, has a higher level of education and is more likely to hold a professional or managerial position.

I've always known that audiobook listeners were smarter than the average folk.

With iTunes, Audible.com, Mediabay.com, Jiggerbug.com and other Web sites sending downloadable audiobooks through cyberspace, prices will inevitably go down.

What?! Where's LearnOutLoud? :) I guess I need to drop Mimi an e-mail...

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March 10, 2006

The Greatest Speeches of All Time

There's something mighty powerful about listening to historic speeches. Whether you're listening to FDR, JFK or MLK (or even someone whose name isn't an acronym!), there's a feeling of energy and perspective that simply can't be duplicated. It's one thing to read Winston Churchill or read about him. It's another thing entirely to listen to him.

And there are many other benefits of listening to this type of stuff. You gain a better understanding of rhetoric. It's a great way to brush up on our English if English is not your native lanugage. And it's an incredible way to both be inspired and learn more about American and world history.

And you can do it all in your car on the way to work. :)

We're proud to feature titles by companies such as Speechworks on LearnOutLoud and look forward to bringing more and more of this type of content in the future. A personal dream of mine is a service like Real Rhapsody or Yahoo! Music but for speeches like this where you could call up your favorite historical figure or inspirational leader and within seconds be listening to any of the speeches they've given. How cool would that be? Maybe we'll just have to build that...

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March 01, 2006

Free Audio Bliss

I finally got the sound fixed on my laptop last week (kudos by the way to the fine gentleman at Experts Exchange who provided the fix...love that site!). It's ridiculous that I went such a long time without it working. After all, I run an audio learning company... But now it's back and I'm absolutely loving it.

One of the things that I'm growing more amazed at by the day is the amount of ridiculously cool free audio that's out there. For instance, here's my playlist for the afternoon:

The latest episode of the Venture Voice Podcast. It's an awesome interview with John Bogle, the man who started The Vanguard Group. You've got to listen to this one as it's an incredibly story of idealism and entrepreneurship.

The Carson Workshops Summit - Gee, I can't think of something a lot more fun than listening to guys from Google, Yahoo!, Delicious and 37 Signals discuss the future of Web. Good warm-up for this weekend's BarCamp here in LA. :)

Guided Meditation - I came across this very cool guided meditation from Beliefnet. Almost instantly made me calm. Not bad...

So with this explosion in audio content how do you find the latest and the greatest? While we've got a lot of it in our Free Audio and Video Directory and in our Podcast Directory. But my goal is to try to make sure as much of this stuff as possible finds its way into our new Free Resource of the Day newsletter. We've got some really cool stuff lined up for that including a lot of exclusive titles. You'll definitely want to sign up.

And oh yeah, I am listening to a lot more music now too. I'm having a lot of fun trying out new services and sites like WebJay, last.fm and my new favorite MusicRadish.

With all this cool stuff to listen to I'm not sure I ever want to stop working...

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February 16, 2006

Let Your Ears Be Your Guide

I haven't tried it yet but from what I've heard, audio walking tours are becoming all the rage. Audio tours of cities and museums have been available for years but it hasn't been until recently with the growing popularity of the iPod and other portable MP3 players that these have really taken off. I'm incredibly excited to go on a walking tour soon and now that Rough Guides has a walking tour for Santa Monica I don't really have an excuse. Here's a sampling of some of the great walking tours we have available here on LearnOutLoud:

Sounds for Sights - Four walking tours of New York City including Lower Manhattan and the Financial District and Times Square: The Crossroads of the World.

Soundwalk - More walking tours of New York City but also one of Paris as well.

Sound Travel - Walking tours of European cities such as London and Venice.

If you're looking to "try before you buy" you may want to take a look at an excellent post put together by Wynn Williamson over at the Stingy Scholar blog. He has a great listing of free walking tours including ones for cities in the U.S. such as San Francisco and cities abroad such as Glasgow.

Check 'em out and happy travels! :)

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February 15, 2006

Another Free Audiobook of the Month Club

We thought we were the only ones. We were wrong.

We launched our Free Audiobook of the Month Club last month (go get Siddhartha if you haven't already!) because we thought the world could use more high-quality free literature. Turns out that another site, ChristianAudio.com, is doing the same thing. Cool.

This month's free audiobook over there is G.K. Chesterton's The Man Who Was Thursday. I wasn't familiar with this title but I have listened to another of Chesterton's titles St. Francis of Assisi. I didn't like that one much but that was mostly due to poor sound quality. This one sounds much better. It's the full-length version (over 5 hours) and costs $20 or more to purchase elsewhere.

Kudos to ChristianAudio.com for doing this. The more free audio we can get out there the better!

Anyone aware of any other Free Audiobook of the Month clubs we should know about? :)

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February 14, 2006

Audio Learning for Tots

From PaidContent.org:

Products on the ways for kids include:

-- an iPod-enabled rocking chair, Baby Einstein -- SpongeBob speakers for an iPod, Emerson Radio's Nickelodeon line. -- Petz (rabbit, pig, frog, cat) hooked to an iPod move and light up to the music, MGA.

What an amazing way to expose children to foreign languages or classical literature. Making learning fun...that's what we're all about. Oh yeah, and we can't wait to launch kids.learnoutloud.com someday!

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Love is in the air...

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! No doubt today finds all of us in different spots. Some of us madly in love. Others dealing with loss or heartache. Regardless of where you are and how Valentine's Day makes you feel it's a good opportunity to reflect on love and what it means to you. A great way to further your understanding of love is to listen to some audio books on the subject. So here are a few suggestions that would make great Valentine's Day listening:

Anything by Leo Buscaglia - Leo is one of my all-time favorites and just about the closest thing there is to an authority on the subject of love. After all, he used to teach a class called "Love" at USC! Leo's material is heart-warming and I'd advise anyone to have a good stash of Leo's stuff handy for those days when you feel a little down. Unfortunately a lot of his stuff is out of print but you can browse our selection here.

The Path to Love by Deepak Chopra - This is a book I've returned to a few times in my life. While I don't think I've ever read it cover to cover there are some passages in here that are quite profound. Sometimes I find Deepak's material a bit inaccessible but that's not the case with this one. Another similar audio to this one is Don Miguel Ruiz's The Mastery of Love. Both are highly recommended.

Poetry - What better way is there to woo your mate or deepen your ability to love then with poetry? Listen to poems is an entirely different experience from reading them. A few recommended selections include Classical Love Poetry, A Lover's Gift from Him to Her and The Sonnets by William Shakespeare.

Have a very happy and love-filled Valentine's Day!

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February 10, 2006

Fantastic Friend: Dan Millman

Over on Tom Peters' blog he has a neat feature he calls "Cool Friends." Basically these are people who Tom has come across who he feels are extraordinary and worth a mention. I like this idea so much that I've decided to do it here at LearnOutLoud.com. Even though I'm borrowing the concept I decided that I'd come up with a different name. Besides I don't think "cool" is enough of a superlative to describe these people!

Our first Fantastic Friend is Dan Millman. Many people know of Dan through his best-selling book Way of the Peaceful Warrior. Originally published in 1980, Way of the Peaceful Warrior has sold of 2.5 million copies and been translated into dozens of languages. It's the story of a young gymnast who learns about life from a mysterious gas station attendant named Socrates. The subtitle for the book is "A Book That Changes Lives" and I've yet to talk to anyone who has read it (or listened to it!) whose life hasn't changed in some fashion because of it.

In addition to Way of the Peaceful Warrior Dan has a wealth of material worth checking out. We're hosting a number of his other audio titles here at LearnOutLoud. I've listened to most of them and really enjoy Dan's style of teaching. While many of his principles evolve from Eastern teachings his material is also very pragmatic.

A few titles that I'd encourage each of you to check out are listed below. We have them available for MP3 download and have also made them available as MPEG-4 files. The benefit of MPEG-4 files is that they are bookmarkable which allows you to listen to something else and then come back to same point in the audio book. It's definitely the way to go when you are listening to longer pieces of content.

Here are a few that I would highly recommend:

The Twelve Gateways to Freedom
Energizing the Body
The Laws of Spirit

Way of the Peaceful Warrior is being released as a major motion picture this summer (starring Nick Nolte and Amy Smart) so you'll likely be hearing a lot more about him in upcoming months. In the meantime, take an opportunity to make your commute a lot more enjoyable this week by listening to some of his work. In addition, please check out his website at www.danmillman.com for more information, his upcoming event schedule, etc.

Kudos to Dan for being our first Fantastic Friend.

More to come!

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January 26, 2006

A Microsoft "iPod" in the works?

Business Week reports that Microsoft just might have its own version of the iPod in the works.

The Bug in Microsoft's Ear

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January 19, 2006

Teaching English via Podcasting

Hmmm...three billion new capitalists...many of them hungry to learn English or improve their English skills.

Can anybody say "huge potential?" :)

Can podcasters teach English?

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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 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 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