Week 9: Podcasts, Video & Downloadable Audio #22 eBooks and Audio eBooks

Hi all,
I actually deviated from the directions a bit for this exercise.

I am an audio book person at heart.

For the last many years, between commuting to college, waiting for appointments, walking, or just needing to occasionally cook or clean...listening to an audio book has become a regular part of my daily routines. So when I saw the link for AudioBooksForFree.com, I had to check this out.

First, let's talk about the things I do like. The interface is fairly clean, the organizational structure of the content, and details about the particular titles are nicely formatted on the page. It's easy find a favorite genre. All titles list how long the piece is as well as info about the author and narrator. Tabs across the top section link to content by fiction, non-fiction, children's stories, and music.

What seems to be the case is that depending on the amount of files you'd like to download...it could very well end up not being free. Also, certain titles do not seem to be available unless "bought". It appears some authors actually have money deposited into paypal accounts for access to their work.

Now, I honestly don't have a problem with paying for this service (as I would if I decided to purchase a print book). But the site title is a smidge misleading. I couldn't come up with a better one...but finding out it wasn't really free after all was disappointing.

Also, under "size vs. sound quality...well 8kps is free. OK...I'm not sure what a kbps is yet, but free is associated with a "bearable quality.
For $5 USD, I can get "tolerable quality". But $8 USD will buy me "very good quality".

My intention is not to knock this service. It is convenient. They do seem to have their bases covered with things like:

• List of Download Managers.
  List of Multimedia Players.
  Is your portable mp3 player suited to play audiobooks?
  FAQ, HELP, Potential Problems, Support
  

And, the selection is decent.

But for this girl who watches her pennies...my local library is still the best deal in town...no matter what medium I'm looking for.

As for eBooks. I read all the time online. But, everything I read though is fairly short though.

If I need to read something that requires extra concentration or something of length regardless of the purpose...I usually prefer paper if that's possible. My eyes are grateful too.

I wouldn't discourage anyone from accessing the vast amount of resources available from sites like World EBook Fair' site. To have this resources at your fingertips is truly magnificent. It's just not for everybody all the time.

jane

Week 9: Podcasts, Video & Downloadable Audio #21 Podcasts (You don’t need an iPod!)

Hi all,
I'd like to start with a definition from the PA Online Web 2.0 site.

"The word podcast is used to refer to a non-musical audio or video broadcast that is distributed over the Internet. What differentiates a podcast from regular streaming audio or video is that the delivery method for podcasts is often done automatically through RSS."

You can use an application like iTunes as a directory to locate mostly pop culture items...TV, movies, music to load onto an iPod or MP3 player.

I found a video on YouTube that did a decent job of explaining the mechanics of how podcasts work. The video is entitled "What is a podcast?" Summary details: "Jason Rhode (Northern Illinois University) provides a brief introduction to the technology of podcasting and mentions a few of the instructional benefits and considerations for using this new medium for information
delivery."

For this exercise, we were asked to subscribe to a podcast in our blog reader using the RSS feed. The blog reader I use is Bloglines. I selected NPR: Radio Diaries Podcast to be delivered to my feed. I don't have a mobile device to listen to podcasts yet, but I think this would be a worthwhile investment. I could easily see listening to the NPR podcast (or any other of interest) while exercising or anytime you are "waiting". What a convenient way to stay "in touch".

Even though this discovery exercise doesn't require that we create podcasts, I plan to venture into this territory. I've checked out the How to Podcast tutorial posted on the School Library Learning 2.0 site. This seems like a good place to start...now to just make the time.

It's amazing, the creativity tools at our fingertips...
jane

Week 9: Podcasts, Video & Downloadable Audio #20 Discover YouTube and a few sites that allow users to upload and share videos

I know...I know...
This is getting out of hand.

This one I will have to use one day for a professional development session.

Too, too funny!



Thanks to ZrednaZ who reposted this February 21, 2007 with the summary:
"A.k.a. Medieval Helpdesk. This video makes fun of moderns newbie computer users by illustrating - in a way fully understandable to them - how silly some of their questions are by creating a similar problem in the Middle Ages.

It's from a show called Øystein & Meg (Øystein & I) produced by the Norwegian Broadcasting television channel (NRK) in 2001. The spoken language is Norwegian. It's written by Knut Nærum and performed by Øystein Bache and Rune Gokstad.

NEWS: NRK have uploaded an official version of this video themselves - also with Eng subtitles. It is located at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQHX-S..."

Week 9: Podcasts, Video & Downloadable Audio #20 Discover YouTube and a few sites that allow users to upload and share videos

And finally...The Librarian from the Black Lagoon trailer
Added by BigfottStudios on 8/28/08. The summary says, "A trailer for the Scholastic/Weston Woods film "The Librarian from the Black Lagoon", based on the book by Mike Thaler and Jared Lee. Directed by Galen Fott. Voiced by Alexander Gould and Diana Canova. Animation by Bigfott Studios."

Something we can all aspire to be...

Week 9: Podcasts, Video & Downloadable Audio #20 Discover YouTube and a few sites that allow users to upload and share videos

Should I be having this much fun learning?? Tee-hee...

Star Trek was one of my favorite Friday night shows as a kid. Hmmm...maybe this is what influenced me to choose my present career path...



Added to YouTube by "herrissyvoo" on 12/17/2007. The summary is as follows: "Captain Kirk wishes he had decided to become a librarian in the TAS episode "Bem". Spock, as always, responds by speaking the truth."

Week 9: Podcasts, Video & Downloadable Audio #20. Discover YouTube and a few sites that allow users to upload and share videos

Welcome back!

For this exercise we were encouraged to find and embed a YouTube video into our blog.
I simply searched for "library"...and spent a fair amount of time browsing. There is some real bone-headed stuff out there...argh.

Anyway, I decided on three interesting enough to include (two more to come in additional posts).

The first is called "Interval Library". This video was added to YouTube on 6/27/06 by Kim Huston. Her summary of the video is as follows: "A project made for UWM: shoot something to do with intervals in the library. I chose the moving stacks in the basement. You press a button and they slowly go along a track to open up.
It was sort of a "What happens after hours" type of thing... kinda. If I had to give a reason for the goings on.".



Note: Somehow this first entry for Week 9 ended up after the one I posted earlier in the day for Week 8. I'm not sure why that happened, but does anyone know how to move the posts once they are listed?