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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:
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!
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…
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:
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.
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.
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!
December 12, 2005
Shownotes for Audio Learning Revolution Episode #013
Audio Learning Revolution Podcast for Dec 11th, 2005
– 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
– 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
– Link to “How You can Create Advertising that Really Works” by Bill Grady
December 12, 2005
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
December 7, 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.
December 7, 2005
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).
December 6, 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? 🙂
December 6, 2005
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.
December 5, 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 https://www.learnoutloud.com/wisdom or search the iTunes directory for “zaadz”.
OK, that’s the news and I am outta here!