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? 🙂