September 10, 2006

Free Resource Highlights: Week 4

We've been sending out our "Free Resource of the Day Email" for a number of months now, and we want to share some of the free audio & video titles from past weeks that we have offered. Here are the free resources from Week 4:

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's Harvard University Commencement Address

This is a free speech that is not to be missed. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (Russian author of the The Gulag Archipelago) delivered the Harvard University Commencement Address in 1978. While in exile from the Soviet Union, he spent a number of years in the United States and this address is his analysis of the Western predicament.

In this comprehensive one hour speech he discusses Western politics, the media, our role in Vietnam, the lack of courage in leadership, Soviet communism, commercialism and materialism, and the spiritual state of Western man. Most of Solzhenitsyn's criticisms still hold true today. He delivers the speech in Russian and it is simultaneously translated into English. This speech is offered by American Rhetoric and you can download the speech on MP3 or listen to it streaming.

SWSX 2006 Interactive Panel Podcasts

Every spring thousands of people descend on Austin, Texas for the South by Southwest (SXSW) festival and conference. It's a really cool mix of movies, music and technology and brings a lot of movers and shakers to the area to talk about what's on the horizon. This year's keynotes featured luminaries such as Bruce Sterling, Craig Newmark (of Craig's List fame), Heather Armstrong and Jason Kottke. If you didn't have a chance to attend this year's SXSW festival and want to see what all the buzz is about click on the link below for free audio from the keynotes.

Was America Responsible for the Attacks of September 11th?

A bit of a provocative title perhaps but this debate offered from the Intercollegiate Studies Institute really doesn't cover the September 11th attacks. Instead it is more of an overall debate about whether American power and wealth in the world is generally good or bad.

Dinesh D'Souza, author of What's So Great About America, argues that the American way of life is superior than other cultures and that we all too often ignore the freedoms and priviledges that make us the envy of the world. Rabbi Michael Lerner argues that the American empire is excessively selfish and greedy, and that our financial and military power has been used to oppress cultures throughout the world. It makes for a very heated and interesting debate. It is available on streaming audio and video as well as on MP3 download.

For more free resources like this, you can receive our "Free Resource of the Day Email" by entering your Email address into the box below, clicking Subscribe, and then checking the "Free Resource of the Day E-mail" check box in the pop up. If you're already a subscriber to our newsletter you'll be sent an email to change your preferences to include the "Free Resource of the Day E-mail".

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Posted by LOLDavid | Permalink

August 26, 2006

Free Resource Highlights: Week 2

We've been sending out our "Free Resource of the Day Email" for a number of months now, and we want to share some of the free audio & video titles from past weeks that we have offered. Here are the free resources from Week 2:

Remarks on the Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Robert F. Kennedy lived his life in the shadow of his brother John. Yet his story is a remarkable one and one of the moments that most stands out is the speech that RFK delivered on the evening of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s assassination. Delivered on April 4th, 1968 in Indianapolis, Kennedy's speech is a message of reconciliation that came at a time when America needed it most.

The World is Flat: MIT Lecture

MIT has tons of great educational content online for free. One of our favorites is a lecture given by New York Times writer Thomas Friedman on the subject of his book The World is Flat. Like Friedman's book, this lecture is an extremely interesting look at globalization and both the challenges and opportunities of doing business in the 21st century. This title is available on streaming audio and video.

St. Patrick's Day - A Complimentary Lecture

Have you listened to a Teaching Company course? If not, you're in for a real treat. We have a link to free full-length Teaching Company lecture on the subject of St. Patrick. It's presented by Professor William R. Cook, the Distinguished Teaching Professor of History at the State University of New York at Geneseo. You'll enjoy this lecture which provides the background on this 4th-Century saint.

Anthem

Ayn Rand's books are made for audio. In these busy times very few people have the time to sit down and read The Fountainhead or Atlas Shrugged. But get these audio books and pop them on in your car while you're commuting and you can finish them up in a month or two. It's a great testament to the opportunity represented by audio learning.

If you would like to check start off with a more bite-sized portion of Rand's wisdom check out ThoughtAudio's production of Anthem, one of Rand's earlier novels. Anthem sets the stage for what's to come in Rand's later works.

For more free resources like this, you can receive our "Free Resource of the Day Email" by entering your Email address into the box below, clicking Subscribe, and then checking the "Free Resource of the Day E-mail" check box in the pop up. If you're already a subscriber to our newsletter you'll be sent an email to change your preferences to include the "Free Resource of the Day E-mail".

Sign up for our "Free Resource of the Day Email" to be notified of free audio & video learning titles. Your E-Mail: We value your privacy

Posted by LOLDavid | Permalink

August 16, 2006

Free Resource Highlights: Week 1

We've been sending out our "Free Resource of the Day Email" for a number of months now, and we want to share some of the free audio & video titles from past weeks that we have offered. Here are the free resources from Week 1:

I Have a Dream Audio and Video

One of our favorite free titles in the directory is Martin Luther King, Jr.'s classic "I Have a Dream" speech. Delivered on August 28th, 1963 at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C., King's passionate call for justice and equality was the battle cry for the civil rights movement in America. Choose from an audio version of the speech from American Rhetoric or a video version from iFilm.

50 Things I'm Going To Do Today

Are you doing the 50 Things? 50 Things I'm Going to Do Today is an exclusive audio title that we love. Brian Johnson (CEO over at Zaadz, Inc. recorded this a while back and it's well worth listening to a couple of times a month. There's a ton of great advice about optimal living contained within and the format makes it easy to listen to a little bit at a time.

Thus Spoke Zarathustra

How about diving into some Nietzsche? We came across an edition of Nietzsche's classic Thus Spoke Zarathustra a couple of weeks ago. Not only was it the only Nietzsche audio we've encountered...it was also free! Really good quality too. Download it to your iPod and your weekend listening is all taken care of.

For more free resources like this, you can receive our "Free Resource of the Day Email" by entering your Email address into the box below, clicking Subscribe, and then checking the "Free Resource of the Day E-mail" check box in the pop up.

Continue reading "Free Resource Highlights: Week 1"

Posted by LOLDavid | Permalink

July 19, 2006

Guide to LibriVox Audio Books

In case you're not aware, LibriVox is a site which brings together volunteers to narrated books in the public domain, and then offers these audio books as free downloads on MP3 and Ogg Vorbis formats. They have over 100 completed free titles, most of which are classic literature, short stories, and poetry.

There is quite a bit of variance in the quality of the recordings and the narrators so at LearnOutLoud.com we've put together a guide of quick reviews on the quality of narrators and recordings for each LibriVox solo project. They have a number of projects which are collaborations of multiple narrators and we haven't had time to listen to all of those yet. This has helped us feature the best LibriVox audio books which you can browse here:

http://www.learnoutloud.com/librivox

So without further ado here is our guide to LibriVox audio books:

Completed Books

Ragged Dick by Horatio Alger, Jr.
-Alice gives a fun reading here. She does a lot of different voices sort of like she's reading a kids story. The audio quality is good. She may be a little too dramatic for some tastes but she puts a lot of energy into it.

Poetics by Aristotle
-Robert Foster does a decent job here with handling Aristotle. He doesn't seem to have a great command over the text and he maybe should've read it before narrating it. He stumbles over words and his audio overmodulates a little.

Pride and Prejudice (Solo Project) by Jane Austen
-If you're going to listen to this 13 hour audio book I'd suggest paying for it. Annie Coleman is not a great narrator. Sort of reminded me of when classmates used to read the text in high school. And the audio quality is ok but not great.

The Marvelous Land of Oz by L. Frank Baum
-Tolerable amateur recording by Paul Harvey. Fair amount of background noise. This is the sequel to "The Wizard of Oz" so you may want to start there.

Tristan and Iseult by Joseph Bédier
-Joy Chan has an awesome British accent that is perfect for reading this audio book. The audio quality is average, but her narration is top notch.

The Parenticide Club by Ambrose Bierce
-Good reading by British accented Peter Yearsley. Not terribly exciting, but fitting for the text. Decent audio.

Ten Days in a Madhouse by Nellie Bly
-Stellar narration by Alice and this sounds like a really interesting audio book. I was captivated.

The Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan
-Bravo Joy Chan! She narrates this 12 Hrs. 30 Min. audio book wonderfully. Her accent continues to be the coolest on the LibriVox scene. Recording quality is good, not great.

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
-Good amateur narration by Kara Shallenberg. Maybe not dynamic enough to keep the constant attention of children, but still high quality narration.

The Wisdom of Father Brown by G. K. Chesterton
-The audio quality on this one is not the greatest. There's a constant fuzz in the background and the edits in the audio are audible. The narration by Brit Martin Clifton is fine but it doesn't overcome the weak audio.

Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
-It's good technically but it lacks passion. Denny Sayers narration is a little dry for this adventure novel. The audio recording is well done.

North of Boston by Robert Frost
-High quality audio and good narration by Brad Bush for these Robert Frost poems. Bush has a southern accent which I'm not sure fits Frost, but it's not too overbearing.

China and the Chinese by Herbert Allen Giles
-David Barnes delivers these lectures on China in fine fashion. They were originally delivered in 1902, and depending on your interest level in China, may or may not hold you full attention.

King Solomon’s Mines by H. Rider Haggard
-Nonchalant narration by John Nicholson of this classic adventure tale. It's good technically but it lacks passion.

The Four Million by O. Henry
-Marian Brown's narration is fine for these O. Henry short stories. The audio quality is very good, but the narration could use a little more dramatic flare.

Crome Yellow by Aldous Huxley
-The audio quality on this one is okay. There's a constant fuzz in the background and the edits in the audio are audible. The narration by Brit Martin Clifton is fine but it doesn't overcome the weak audio.

A Calendar of Sonnets by Helen Hunt Jackson
-These are really short sonnets. Laura Fox does well to read them, but they might be too short to bother with.

The Tao Teh King by Lao-Tze
-Eric S. Piotrowski delivers this audio book in a tolerable way but it lacks the depth and insight of Phil Chirco's LearnOutLoud.com narration of the Tao Te Ching.

American Indian Fairy Tales
-Chip sounds like a professional narrator. I was very impressed with this recording. There's nothing amateur about this audio book.

Spirits in Bondage by C.S. Lewis
-C.S. Lewis's first book is read well by Robert Garrison. His voice is gravelly, yet clear and suitable for Lewis in his early days.

The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels
-Brit Jon Ingram reads The Communist Manifesto and his narration is solid. The digitizing has some artifact that is a bit piercing at times, but it's still listenable.

Typee by Herman Melville
-Very professional recording by Michael Scherer of this 11 1/2 hour audio book. He doesn't overdramatize yet he still does a good sailor's voice.

Absolute Surrender and Other Addresses by Andrew Murray
-Joy Chan gives an inspired reading of Andrew Murray's sermons. The audio quality still has a little hiss but her cool accent and enthusiastic reading overcome it.

Euthyphro by Plato
-Rough recording. It's two people in a dialogue and they used one mike that doesn't sound very close to them. And they overdo the drama. Not very good.

From October to Brest-Litovsk by Leon D. Trotsky
-Good recording and good narration by Rebecca. Don't be fooled by the name. This is a British man reading.

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
-John Greenman gives an entertaining narration which seems directed at kids. He has fun with it even though the voices might be a little annoying for adults. The recording quality is good.

Chapters from my Autobiography by Mark Twain
-John Greenman reads Twain's autobiography with wit and understanding and the recording quality is high quality.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court by Mark Twain
-Steve Andersen does his best here but his voice doesn't really have a narrator quality and the recording is overmodulating.

The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain
-Well done narration from John Greenman who has become the voice of Mark Twain on the LibriVox scene.

War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells
-Rebecca (a British man) has an excellent voice for this H.G. Wells novel. The sound is good and his voice keeps the listener intrigued.

The Happy Prince and Other Tales by Oscar Wilde
-LibriVox's most prolific narrator Joy Chan gives a good reading of these stories with her British accent. There is a little fuzz to the recording.

The Romance of Rubber by United States Rubber Company, edited by John Martin
-Good, if you're interested in rubber.

Completed Short Works

Sarrasine by Honoré de Balzac (transl. Clara Bell and others)
-Chip is basically a professional narrator. He's the best. He even pronounces his French phrases correctly.

Present at a Hanging and Other Ghost Stories by Ambrose Bierce
-Peter Yearsley gives a soft-spoken, haunted reading of these stories. You can understand him, but he could pick up the pace a bit and project a little more.

The Book of Job (ASV)
-Robert Garrison has a strong voice which works well for the Old Testament and his recording quality sounds great.

Ecclesiastes (ASV)
-Robert Garrison has a strong voice which works well for the Old Testament and his recording quality sounds great.

Three Short Works by Gustav Flaubert
-Dark British reading by David Barnes. He does a good job with it.

The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry
-Betsie Bush is an average narrator and the sound quality is a little below average. It's only 13 minutes though so it's probably tolerable.

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving
-Chip is a professional. He narrates with gusto.

Lincoln at Cooper Union by Abraham Lincoln
-henkelsc's narration here is amateur and he sounds like a college student. The sound quality is average.

Magna Carta
-A very proper British reading of the Magna Carta read by Jim Mowatt.

The Song of Songs (ASV)
-Another good recording of a book of the Bible read by Robert Garrison.

A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift
-John Gonzales trying a little too hard to sound British and humorous in the reading of this short pamphlet. The recording is good.

The Awful German Language by Mark Twain
-Rainer speaks English but has a German accent and he gives a rather humorless, amateur reading of this Mark Twain essay.

The Stolen White Elephant by Mark Twain
-Kristen McQuillin gives an adequate narration of this Twain short story with average sound recording.

The Constitution of the United States of America, 1787 by The Founding Fathers of the United States
-Kristen McQuillin gives a good narration of the Constitution

Amendments to the United States Constitution by Founding Fathers
-Shurtagal rushes through this and mumbles as he reads the amendments. It's amateur.

Amendments to the United States Constitution (version 2) by Founding Fathers
-A much better reading of the U.S. Amendments from Jim Cadwell.

The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America
-Jim Cadwell narration is fine but the audio quality is a little tinny and there's some digital artifact.

U.S. Historical Documents
-Very professional recording and narration from Michael Scherer including Articles of Confederation, US Constitution, Declaration of Independence, and Gettysburg Address. He runs the site Americana Phonic.

Completed Poetry

The Hunting of the Snark by Lewis Carroll
-Robert Garrison narrates this Lewis Carroll poem well. It could have a little more enthusiam.

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
-Kristin Luoma gives a splendid, dramatic reading of Coleridge's classic poem.

War Is Kind by Stephen Crane
-ChipDoc might just be the best narrator LibriVox has. An excellent reading.

The Waste Land
-Basil Munroe Godevenos narration is okay, but he doesn't have great command over this text. The audio recording is fine, but overall it's amateur.

So that's our LibriVox guide for now. We'll continue to update it as more projects are completed and we listen to more of their collaborative works. What an amazing resource!

Posted by LOLDavid | Permalink

July 05, 2006

Over 1000 Free Audio & Video Titles!

Not sure if you've been to our free audio & video directory lately, but we've been adding a lot:

www.learnoutloud.com/free

Recent stuff we've added:

Audio Anarchy - Free MP3 downloads from anarchist thinkers like Emma Goldman

Boston University's World of Ideas - Free streaming audio lectures and debates from smart people like Elie Wiesel, Gene Wilder, et al.

Americana Phonic - Downloads and streaming audio of America's founding documents

Lannan Foundation - Poets and political activists speak at Lannan's Readings & Conversations with folks like Salman Rushdie, Joyce Carol Oates, and Howard Zinn on streaming audio

Cato Institute - This libertarian think tank puts out tons of free MP3 downloads of their speakers covering social issues, U.S. politics, economics, foreign policy, and more

Miller Center of Public Affairs - Along with the most comprehensive collection of presidential speeches on MP3 download, their forum features politicians and major historians discussing history and contemporary issues

LibriVox - The web's coolest community of volunteer narrators reading classic public domain books just keeps getting cooler. And we've added a bunch more of their best titles to our site (we've listened to most of them to ensure they're the high quality ones).

History and Politics Out Loud - Check out this "Out Loud" site of free historical speeches streaming on audio

BookTV's In Depth Programs - And this one might be my favorite. 3-hour-long, in-depth interviews on streaming video with some of the greatest authors of our time: Tom Wolfe, John Updike, Simon Winchester, Harold Bloom, Noam Chomsky, Thomas Friedman, Susan Sontag, and many more.

We just keep finding more and more great stuff! If you find any educational free audio & video titles to add don't hesitate to email us!

Posted by LOLDavid | Permalink

April 19, 2006

LiteralSystems Produces Free "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" Audiobook

LoudLit.org and LiteralSystems have created the first free audio book version of Mark Twain's "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn". At 9 Hrs. 30 Min. it's one of the longest free audio books recorded to date. And the sound quality and narration sound superb. Check it out:

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Posted by LOLDavid | Permalink

April 03, 2006

Listen to Authentic Sources of History

Why read a dry American history book of the 20th century when you can listen to history as it happened for free? If nothing else, speeches and news broadcasts from the past make for exciting listening that connects the dots of important events from the past century. Let me point out a few free resources that will sonically immerse you in history:

Authentic History Center - A Massive Collection of Hours of Streaming Audio well organized by decades and historic events; and they sell $10 MP3 CDs containing dozens of hours of historical recordings.

American Rhetoric - We feature over 100 free speeches from politicians and leaders throughout the last century as streaming audio and a MP3 download. I've yet to hear one speech that isn't a high quality recording. Simply the best audio resource for speeches on the Internet.

Library of Congress: American Memory - From the Library of Congress comes this eclectic collection of recordings you aren't likely to find anywhere else. Recordings of Theodore Roosevelt, Quilts and Quiltmaking in America, Voices From the Days of Slavery, and more. Interesting stuff.

Go to the historical source with LearnOutLoud.com, Your Audio & Video Learning Resource!

Posted by LOLDavid | Permalink

March 30, 2006

Free Audio Documentaries

If you're looking for some high-quality, stimulating audio documentaries, American Public Media has has produced dozens of hour-long documentaries with their documentary unit American RadioWorks.

Over 50 of their audio documentaries are available for free as streaming audio on their website. These documenatries cover a wide range topics including politics, history, social issues, and other current events. And if you'd like to download them they're also available for download at Audible.com.

I've listened to a few already including "Say It Plain: A Century of Great African-American Speeches" and "Unmasking Stalin". Both were done in the highest technical and professional manner. You can browse them all here:

http://www.learnoutloud.com/Results/Publisher/American-Public-Media/375

Posted by LOLDavid | Permalink

January 23, 2006

600+ Free Audio and Video Titles!

We crossed another century mark over the weekend as we now have 600+ titles up in our Free Audio and Video Directory. It's quickly becoming a really cool collection of content. One of the things that I like best about it is that it's hand-picked by the staff here at LearnOutLoud. We don't guarantee that there won't be any sub-standard content (after all it is a free directory) but we think we've done a pretty good job of filtering out the garbage.

Here are a few titles that we've added recently:

-A professionally narrated production of Siddhartha which is the first release in our new Free Audiobook of the Month club. More on that later...

-Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Visits Grace Cathedral and The New Negro, a couple of rare online videos of Martin Luther King, Jr. that we put up as part of our MLK Out Loud page.

-An audio version of The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America, one of many titles from Librivox that we recently added to the site. A note of caution: While some of the Librivox titles are good others are harder to listen to. Since this often varies on a per-chapter basis (different chapters often have different narrators) we've decided to include them for now.

We hope you enjoy and look forward to reaching the 700/800/900/1,000 mark soon!

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Posted by jbischke | Permalink

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!

Discuss this post in the LOL Forums!

Posted by jbischke | Permalink

October 24, 2005

Free MIT Lectures!

We just put up over 100 free lectures from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

www.learnoutloud.com/MIT

These lectures can be streamed through Real Player on Video and Audio. The video and the audio is very high quality and not choppy at all if you're viewing on a broadband connection.

The topics they cover are fascinating and focus primarily on Technology, Science, Politics, Business & Economics, Medicine, and how these fields interact. There's lectures from Noam Chomsky, Jack Welch, Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, and dozens of other great authors, professors, and leaders in their field. A truly great resource from one of the America's best universities.

Posted by LOLDavid | Permalink

April 12, 2005

Free Audio Books!

Everybody wants free audio books. No matter what place I'm finding the audio book lover I'm also finding the guy or gal who wants it all and wants it now and wants it real free. I like the reply of most audiobook lovers to these people. Dude go to the library. And I do go to the library and you should too. But the audio book selection at the library can suffer from time to time. And your iPod is sitting there without any fresh audio book downloads on it. So you want some audio books and you want to download them right now for free. Well then check some of this out:

FreeAudio.org
Project Gutenberg
Free Classic Audio Books
Audiobooks for Free

And I always remember to tell people on that last one to click the AK-47 at the top of the page. If you don't you're missing out big time.

So that's free folks. It's usually public domain which means the titles it offers were published before you were born. And there's some other free sites with 1000s of titles where a computer reads eBooks to you. Bad idea. But that Free Classic Audio Books listed above is a computer narrated audio book site with pretty decent narration. It's still cold and inhuman, but as the computer evolves it will eventually put to rest the need for a Frank Mueller. Capturing all the subtleties of human emotion and speech this neuro-scientific supercomputer will put to rest the days of narrators and then there will be a massive free flow of computer talking books on demand at the click of a button and we'll be so awash in a sea of aural information that our brains will explode. Until that day enjoy the few free downloads available.

Posted by LOLDavid | Comments (0) | Permalink