July 5, 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!