August 4, 2005

The Whole Foods of Spoken Word Audio

I had dinner a couple of nights ago with Asher, a great guy who is going to be doing some marketing stuff for us. We were talking about LearnOutLoud and the word that he kept using to describe our business was “organic.” He was referring to the fact that we’ve made the conscious decision not to sell all audio and video products under the sun but rather to concentrate on educational and self-development material.

The analogy that we drew at dinner was to Whole Foods, the natural and organic foods supermarket chain that is very popular here in California and catching on around the country. Whole Foods is very different from most other grocers. You won’t find Cap’n Crunch or Twizzlers there. And there are many people who won’t shop there precisely for that reason.

But what you will find at Whole Foods is a hand-picked selection of merchandise that’s not only good but (in most cases) good for you too. And that’s why Whole Foods is doing as well as they are. Because they’ve found grocery shoppers who are interested in improving their diets and in turn, improving their quality of life.

That’s what we’re striving for at LearnOutLoud.com. We’re not carrying the Hollywood blockbusters or the latest best-selling audio fiction (even though we probably could have made a lot of money selling Harry Potter…). Instead, we’re stocking stuff that is fun and entertaining but also is educational, inspirational and ultimately fulfilling.

In the past couple of weeks we’ve put up over a hundred educational and self-development podcasts in our catalog. We’ve spent a lot of time listening to these and reviewing them to ensure that we’re giving you the best of the best. There’s so much “noise” out there in the podcasting world that we think you’ll find this helpful. By the end of the month, we’ll be launching podcast.learnoutloud.com which will be a complete directory of high-quality podcasts. We’re very excited about that. (In the meantime, search our site using the word “podcast” to see all the titles we have listed.)

So we’ll continue our work here picking out the best produce…er, audio and video content for you. If that’s what you’re looking for we hope to become the one-stop shop for you. Please send me an e-mail if there’s anything more we can do in this regard. In the meantime, we hope you enjoy the site!

August 3, 2005

” I can’t see myself without it…”

Here’s a great article on audio learning (and audio books in general):

Downloadable files have ear of the audio book industry

I love this passage:

(An audio book fan talking her experience with listening while commuting)

“Right now I can’t see myself without it because it has made my commute from something I hate to something that is quite enjoyable,” she said. “Sometimes when I get home, I’m sitting in the driveway for another 10 minutes because I’m listening to a book that I’m really interested in, and my family is wondering what I’m doing.”

And this one as well:

“I think what has happened in the last five years is that people are finding there are more and more responsibilities in their day, and their traditional reading time is being squeezed out,” Thomas said. “Everybody has made their life about multitasking, and audio books is the ultimate multitasking medium.”

And one more:

“If you hear Frank McCourt read ‘Angela’s Ashes’ or Jane Fonda read her memoir, there really is nothing else like that,” she said. “Once people try audio books, they can’t believe they never tried it before.”

Mmm…those quotes pretty much sum up the reason why we started LearnOutLoud.com. It’s fun to see the world get hooked on audio learning…one listener at a time.

August 2, 2005

Memory Palaces

A lady named Nancy who is working with us passed along this article to me about “memory palaces.” Here’s a brief blurb:

The memory palace was the foundation. Once that is in your head, you can begin practicing the science of memory. (See “The Science Of Memory,” at right). While the palace never changes, the objects inside of a room certainly can change. The strategy, when presented with a large text to memorize, is to walk into the first room of your memory palace and place the first stanza of your address next to a distinctive object, the second stanza next to another object, and so on.

What’s the application to LearnOutLoud? Well, let’s imagine that you’re listening to an audio course from someone like The Teaching Company. Let’s say you are listening to their excellent Great Minds series on your commute to work each day. The concept of memory palaces suggests that when you learn about certain philosophers your memory will associate what you’ve learned with where you are geographically. So if you’re learning about Aristotle while passing a bridge, in the future your mind might recall what you’ve learned each time you pass that bridge.

This begs the question of what you might want your mind recalling each day on your commute to work. By listening to really cool educational and self-development material (we know a great site for that…) you can theoretically tie your mind to teaching from some of the greatest individuals in history. Not a bad way to start your workday huh? To read more about memory palaces, click the link below:

Memory Palaces

July 31, 2005

A couple of recent interesting articles…

Cool article over the weekend in the L.A. Times:

Does radio have a future?

This quote in particular caught my attention:

“There’s a whole generation that has grown up without loving radio,” Del Colliano said. “The next class of high school graduates doesn’t know what radio is, doesn’t care and doesn’t want it. One student told me recently we play what we want — it’s called an iPod.”

Seems to bode well for the future of customized audio content (including spoken word content) eh?

This article was also interesting:

Online audio book leader faces a tough future

A couple of noteworthy items:

For example, XM and Audible next year plan to market a new handheld device that can play programs from the satellite radio service and Audible’s audio versions of books and newspapers.

Amazon remains a partner, but it is preparing its own audio section with a wider selection and “one-click shopping,” spokeswoman Patty Smith said.

I love that Amazon will be expanding its audio section. In my mind this a pie rapidly getting bigger and as more people start to consume information via audio I expect that growth to accelerate. Amazon’s interest in the space helps to validate this. I’m very excited to see what they’ll unveil.

July 27, 2005

Self-playing audio books

I came across this interesting press release today. It seems that a company named Findaway is going to start offering a self-playing digital audio books. It’s an interesting concept. I couldn’t find a lot of information on their website but my guess is that the way this works is that you buy a cassette-type package, plug your headphones in and push play.

The advantage of this is that you’re able to put a lot more information in a smaller space. A book that might normally be 10 CDs or cassettes could easily be consolidated into a player that fits into your pocket. Another advantage is that they could cater to people who would love to listen to digital audio books but who aren’t versed enough in technology to figure out an iPod, Audible.com, etc.

The disadvantage in my mind has to do with cost and the disposable nature of the products. Will these products be priced comparably with CD/cassettes/digital downloads? If not, I’m not sure whether customers would pay much of a premium. And what happens when you finish a title?

Anyway, it’s a creative idea worth keeping an eye on. Who knows, maybe these will be the rage someday…

For more information on the Playaway, click here.

July 21, 2005

Getting Things Done with David Allen

I had the incredible privilege today of attending a David Allen seminar entitled Getting Things Done: The RoadMap. For those of you who aren’t familiar with David Allen, the best description for him is probably a “personal productivity guru.” He has written a couple of best-selling books entitled Getting Things Done and Ready for Anything.

What exactly is a personal productivity guru you might ask? Well, David’s mission is to help people get “meaningful things done with truly the least amount of invested attention and energy.” In other words, rather than pumping people up to work harder, David is all about getting people to work smarter. Here is a sampling of some key things he said today:

“Your ability to generate power is directly proportional to your ability to concentrate and your ability to concentrate is directly proportional to your ability to eliminate distraction.”

“If you don’t give things that have your attention the appropriate attention, they will demand more of your attention than they deserve.”

“You can only feel good about what you’re not doing when you know what you’re not doing.”

The best description I could wrap around it would be “corporate Zen.” Indeed, Allen talks about the power of freeing up your psychic RAM. In tangible terms, let’s say that you know you have to stop by the cleaners on your way home from work. If you don’t write that down/put it in your Blackberry/etc. a portion of your mental bandwidth is consumed throughout the entire day by remembering that you need to go to cleaners. That doesn’s sound that bad until you realize that you probably have 200-300 similar things that you’re holding onto at any given time. And what that ends up meaning is that a significant portion of your mental energy that should be devoted to problem solving and creativity is focused on relatively pointless stuff like remembering that you need to go to the cleaners.

David has a methodology for getting all of this stuff out of your head and into a system that will help ensure that you’re using the minimum amount of pyschic RAM on mundane details. It’s a really effective system that has been used by thousands of business executives around the world.

If you’re interested in finding out more information about David Allen and the Getting Things Done system, check out the audiobooks we have available on LearnOutLoud.com. Here are the links:

Getting Things Done (CD, cassette, digital download)
Getting Things Done Fast (CD, cassette)
Ready for Anything (Abridged on CD, cassette, digital download)
Ready for Anything (Unabridged on CD)

For additional information on David Allen check out his website or this recent article in Wired Magazine.

July 20, 2005

The Alkalarian Diet

If you haven’t heard of the alkalarian diet yet, you’re not alone. While not nearly as well-known as Atkins or South Beach, the alkalarian diet seems to make a lot of sense. The basic premise behind the alkalarian diet is that many health conditions in the body are caused by acid. Acid comes from foods that contain a lot of sugar, animal products, etc. or from other substances like alcohol, tobacco, etc. It can also come from stress and excessive exercise (think “lactic acid buildup”).

This does seem to make sense because if you look at people who don’t eat well, stay in shape, etc., they tend to require the use of lots of antacids. Approximately 40 million people in the use suffer from heartburn and Prilosec and Nexium, two heartburn medications, are among the most prescibed drugs, generating billions of dollars per year in revenue(*).

In order to counteract the effects of acid, the alkalarian diet promotes switching to more alkalizing foods (e.g., green vegetables, almonds, etc.) and avoiding those foods which cause a lot of acid. It seems to make a lot of sense but also isn’t the easiest diet to adhere to. I’ve been looking into this diet a lot lately and wanted to share some audio resources on the subject.

Living Health – This is a Tony Robbins course on health which is a great place to start if you’re interested in finding out more about the alkalarian diet. I’ve posted my review of this course as well.

A Vision Made Real Volumes One and Two – This is a 24 CD set from Dr. Robert Young, one of the pioneers of the alkalarian diet. I haven’t listened to these yet but would like to soon.

Health Talk for Diabetes and Health Talk for Weight Loss – A little cheaper way to get introduced to Dr. Young.

There are also a number of videos on the subject that you might want to check out:

Imotion
Back to the House of Health 2
The pH Miracle Video
Shopping with Shelley

Try as I might I couldn’t find any podcasts on the subject. Maybe one will crop up soon…

Anyway, feel free to check out the resources above and remember that there are a lot more titles (90 at last count) on the subject of food in our Diet and Nutrition section. Bon appetit!

Discuss this post in the LOL Forums!

July 15, 2005

Learn about Lance

He’s at it again. As the Tour de France heads into the Pyrennes, Lance Armstrong is in the lead as he gets closer to a record-setting seventh victory. Lance’s story an incredibly remarkable one and if you haven’t heard it yet you’re in for a treat.

Seth just got done wrapping up our new Lance Armstrong author page. In addition to his two well-known audiobooks, It’s Not About the Bike and Every Second Counts, there are also a number of DVDs about him as well as some audio interviews. The most intriguing one is an interview with Robin Williams.

Lest we forget, there are also a couple of podcasts being produced about Lance’s run at #7. Here are links to those:

Chasing Lance at the Tour Podcast
Lance in France Podcast

So be sure to check out www.learnoutloud.com/lancearmstrong for a complete selection of audio and video material about Lance.

July 15, 2005

A Brave New (Audio) World

Catching up on messages/articles/blog posts today and came across a few things that are pretty interesting. This audio thing is getting really fun huh?

Podcasting on your TiVo

Wharton Talks About Podcasting

The “Dangers” of Audio Learning

(I don’t know what I liked better. The story about the rabbi or the line “It’s enough to send your average bookworm on the career fast-track to professional truck driving.”)

Oh yes, and lest I forget. Pauley Shore is now podcasting… 🙂

Have a great weekend everyone!

July 14, 2005

Not just for adults…

Audio learning isn’t just for adults! I came across a cool article today that gives 10 reasons why learning through audiobooks is perfect for children. With summer vacation in full swing, why not take some time to introduce your kids to the world of audio learning?

10 Reasons Kids Learn With Audiobooks