November 8, 2005

LearnOutLoud’s Guide to Home Recording

If you’ve ever considered recording but felt prohibited by technology or lack of formal education, fear not! I have written a tutorial that gives novices a good overview of what it takes to start recording their own audio today. And by today, I mean literally within the next 24 hours. Don’t worry about spending thousands on expensive gear, these days all you need is a mic and a computer. This article covers the rudimentaries of finding a good mic, using recording software, making your audio content available for the net and more.

This first tutorial is designed for people with a budget in mind, so the cost of what I describe does not exceed $100. In the next few days I will provide another tutorial that covers the next level up in price. In the future I also plan on tackling mobile audio recording, the different kinds of microphones, what gear does what, post production techniques and more. Hopefully these how-to’s will be as educational for you as it is for me when I write them.

I took great pains to make everything as easy to follow as possible and I included pictures for visual reference. In the end I hope these tutorials inspire anyone that harbors an interest in recording their own audio. It’s fun, it’s easy and yes, it can even be cheap.

November 3, 2005

C.S. Lewis Bio & Audio Books

We were finally able to put up a C.S. Lewis author page yesterday. It looks as though Lewis’ work will be seeing a resurgence thanks in no small part to the new film adaptation of “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” that’s coming to us this Christmas from the director of Shrek. I’ve looked at the trailer and it has the potential to be a real children’s fantasy classic (I don’t know if it will top “Labyrinth” though). It certainly deserves to be made considering how well the Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings films have been doing. Besides that, Lewis and Tolkien were writing buddies so it’s high time that Lewis gets some of the limelight Tolkien has enjoyed recently.

In addition to writing the popular Narnia series, Lewis is also a primary modern voice in Christian philosophy. Books like “Mere Christianity“, “The Problem of Pain” and “The Screwtape Letters” are classics for anyone interested in exploring the fundamental beliefs that underpin Christianity. Lewis is also an exceptionally approachable author; his work is laced with a wit and humor that makes even the most serious subject matter seem less daunting. My first exposure to him was via the Screwtape Letters, and since then I’ve been privileged to read several of his non-fiction books. I whole-heartedly recommend them as essential texts for anyone interested in Christianity and faith in general.

So before you go watch the movie in December, take a look at what’s available by Lewis on Audio. Our good friend Nancy over here at LearnOutLoud has assembled everything currently available in audio format. You’ll find the whole Chronicles of Narnia series, every one of his Christian non-fiction books, and even special titles that are devoted to Lewis’ life and work. Feel free to share your thoughts in the LOL forums as well.

October 30, 2005

Speak With Me

I just came across a company tonight called Speak With Me that offers some pretty cool speech recognition software for vehicles. Here’s a sampling of what it allows you to do:

For the demo, Ajay controlled his stereo system verbally, changing songs, picking tracks, controlling volume, etc. The commands he used to do this were in absolutely plain English and varied considerably in structure. For instance, Ajay at one time said “go to track 3″. Another time he said “play for me another one bites the dust”. Later, “I would like to hear wonderful tonight by eric clapton. “louder”. “quieter”.

Pretty cool huh? Here’s a link to the entire article.

There are some neat ramifications here for audio learning. As more cars become “iPod-enabled” there becomes an increasing need for safety while driving. Fiddling with an iPod while you’re behind the wheel is a recipe for disaster. A product like the one that Speak With Me provides could be the magic bullet.

You gotta love technology!

October 18, 2005

Zaadz Notes

We are extremely proud to announce that we’ve posted a new series of audio content to the site called the Zaadz Notes. The Zaadz Notes are a series of essays written and read by Brian Johnson, Philosopher and CEO of Zaadz, Inc. Each Note features wisdom about a concept or teacher that will educate and inspire you.

Brian covers a ton of ground in the Notes including teachers like Abraham Maslow, Marcus Aurelius, Rumi, Seneca, Socrates and more. If you’ve never taken the time to dive into this sort of wisdom, the Notes are a perfect introduction. They average about 20 minutes in length and are the perfect thing to throw on in the car when you’re on the way to work. Think of it as your daily dose of education and encouragement.

Definitely check out Brian’s page on our site as we keeping adding new stuff. If you love the Notes, you’ll definitely want to check out the Zaadz Daily Wisdom Podcast as well.

Really good stuff. We plan to keep it coming.

October 17, 2005

An iPod with Wi-Fi?

Apple can’t seem to go more than a week or two without some hot new announcement or rumor. The latest, courtesy of Mac OS Rumors, is that Apple is developing a Wi-Fi equipped iPod that can directly interface with with Airport Express networking stations and allow for streaming and downloading of audio content. Here’s the complete story:

A Wi-Fi iPod

It would an interesting and amazing little device. Imagine sitting at the airport or in line at the bank and being able to browse and download content to your phone. Having said that, that’s something that is also on the horizon for mobile phones. The iPod vs. mobile phone battle will be one to keep a close eye on. My money is on the mobile phone to win out in the long run. Who the heck wants to carry two devices when you can just carry one?

October 14, 2005

Audio Books Are Cool

I don’t really know the precise demographic for audio books. They’re not like comic books where the people they draw in all look, dress, and smell the same. But I do believe that audio books aren’t necessarily for nerds and they might even fit into the status of cool. I witnessed something tonight that proves their increasing status as a cool medium. I was in Beverly Hills and a car pulled up to a stop light. It was a Ford Mustang Convertible and the guy was blasting an audio book! It was not radio. It was a definite mystery/thriller-audiobook-narrator-voice bumping from his sports car so that everyone on the block could hear. I caught a good portion of it and at that volume the guy really wanted the world to know that audio books are now cool. So the next time you’re listening to a killer audio book, roll down your windows and blast the treble so that all the world will know: AUDIO BOOKS ARE COOL! Or you can just keep them hidden from your friends and secretly pull them out when you’re alone in rush traffic.

October 11, 2005

Help us Change This!

There’s a cool website called ChangeThis.com that I’ve been a fan of for quite a while. They invite authors to write “manifestos” that propose new ideas and ways of looking at the world. In the past they’ve had some pretty cool manifestos from the likes of Tom Peters, Guy Kawasaki and Seth Godin.

I have a proposal listed on their site right now. It would be a manifesto about audio learning and its ability to revolutionize peoples’ lives. If you have a minute (it won’t even take a minute), please cast a vote for the proposal at the following URL:

http://www.changethis.com/proposals/545

The more votes the proposal gets, the more likely that it will be turned into a full-blown manifesto.

Thanks in advance for helping to support the Audio Learning Revolution!

October 7, 2005

Cure for the Common Commute

It’s starting to catch on. People are awakening to the fact that their morning commute doesn’t have to be this dreaded, boring, tedious activity. Driving to work can be the one time during your day when you get to be selfish. You get to listen to what you want to listen to and learn about the things you might not normally have the time for. It’s a great way to learn and develop personally and professionally.

Kudos to the gang over at Simply Audiobooks for helping spread the gospel of audio learning. They’ve launched a campaign called “Cure for the Common Commute” which is both catchy and apropos.

The common cold and the “common commute” have a lot in common. Many people deal with both and both are very annoying. There are some common-sense ways to prevent the common cold and likewise, there are some easy ways to prevent frustrating commutes. We can think of over 8,000 of them in our Catalog. 🙂 (Speaking of which, we added over 1,500 new titles to our catalog this week. Check it out!)

One day we might figure out the cure for the common cold. In the meantime, finding the cure for the common commute seems a little easier.

October 5, 2005

Headphones for the Long Run

Well it’s official. I’m running the OC Marathon in January. It’ll be my third marathon and I’m definitely looking forward to it. My goal is to better the time my brother ran at the San Francisco Marathon in July…3:33. It isn’t going to be easy and I realize that I’ll need to train hard.

Part of the nice thing about running an “audio learning company” is that I can actually work during my workout. I review a number of podcasts and audio books every week and my run is a perfect time to listen to them. There’s something about being in motion and getting the ol’ heart rate up that makes listening to these even more enjoyable. It’s definitely something I look forward to.

Lately I have realized the need for some better headphones to use while I’m doing my runs. The white earbud headphones that come with the iPod have never worked for me while working out as they fall out way too easily. I got some cheap earbud headphones that wrap around the ears but those aren’t much better. I figured it was time to invest in something a little better.

I spent an hour or so reviewing posts over on the iLounge forums. It’s amazing how much discussion there has been about the best headphones for running! I probably combed through at least four dozen threads and while there wasn’t a consensus, a couple of favorites emerged.

It really depends on whether you want noise-cancelling or not. The upside of noise-cancelling headphones is that they drown out sounds around you. While this can often be a positive (such as while flying) it can sometimes be a negative while running as it would suck to get hit by a bus that you never heard coming…

In the end I decided to get both a pair of cheaper, non-noise cancelling headphones (the Sony MDR-A34L) and a slightly more expensive pair of noise-cancelling headphones (the Shure E2c). I’m excited to try them both out and see how they stack up against each other. My guess is that I’ll use the Sonys whenever there is traffic around and the Shures when there isn’t. Regardless of what I do, I’ll report back here.

September 27, 2005

M. Scott Peck Passes Away

Some sad news to report. M. Scott Peck, author of The Road Less Traveled, passed away last weekend. About a year ago I listened to his audio book Golf and the Spirit and was touched by Peck’s insights, humility and gentle style of writing. He is an author who will no doubt be missed by many people around the world.

In honor of his life and body of work we’ve posted an M. Scott Peck author page on our site. Here’s the link. We have 10 of his audio titles up and will be adding more soon. These titles, including The Road Less Traveled, are narrated by the author.