Any interest in being able to jump to parts of mp3 lessons?

[typerlc]

Ok, hope I don't offend anyone by pointing out a discussion in another thread that others may be interested in.

http://www.japanesepod101.com/forum/vie ... 1036#11036

This thread discusses the ability to play only the conversation parts of each lesson.

Japanesepod101.com themselves have suggested they may provide conversation only feeds to subscribers, but I would actually prefer them done as CUE sheets. This lets me treat sections of the mp3 file as separate tracks.

CUE sheets are just text files that describe where in the audio file the "virtual tracks" live. The nice thing about this, you don't have to redownload the mp3s as separate tracks, or cut them up yourself or do anything like that. You just download the text CUE file and tell your media player to play it. The downside ... not all mp3 players support this. Foobar2000 and Winamp (with a plugin) do.

I have created 8 CUE sheets to demonstrate the possibilities. If you are interested in being able to jump straight to the "Fast" conversation, or the "Slow" one etc., then you might be interested in this.

Please checkout the other thread and give me feedback there.

Thanks!

Richard

[typerlc]

Either I haven't explained myself very well, or no-one is interested. There are plenty of views, so surely someone has some feedback for me.

[maxiewawa]

I'm interested! I cut up mp3 files for my own use, CUE sheets sound like a better idea...

Do they work for iTunes/iPod?

Does this involve me fast forwarding through to the a certain point in the recording, a la the old days of analog tapes?

[typerlc]

Thanks Maxiewawa. CUE sheets aren't supported by iTunes/Pod.

But there are tools on mac osx, linux & windows that will take a CUE sheet, and split an MP3 into separate files. It's still costing you extra diskspace, but at least you don't have to do the splitting manually.

e.g. MP3splt - works on all platforms http://mp3splt.sourceforge.net/mp3splt_page/home.php

OR Mac OS/X - http://www.gritsch-soft.com/_appcuesplitter/index.html

OR Windows - http://www.medieval.it/content/view/28/53/

I'd be interested to hear your experiences if you try one of my cue files. I know I've done something a little "naughty" in the CUE files I produced, so I half expect them not to work. If that is the case for you, then I can quickly fix them. (In case you're worried, "naughty" doesn't mean bad, I just tuned the file to work the way I wanted under foobar2000, but it's probably not standard behaviour).


Oh, and no fast-forwarding is required. If you use a player that supports CUE sheets, then each section of the file appears like another track.

[NickT]

It is an interesting idea, but personally I would prefer just to have the normal full speed conversation as a separate mp3. If jpod could supply these for all future lessons on the premium feed, that would be fantastic.

I like to listen to the whole podcast once, in its entirety, but after that I have no interest or use for the slow version, English version or vocab sections. The full speed conversation, on the other hand, I could listen to again and again, and I like to have on my ipod on shuffle mode.

I have recently started making these conversation only mp3s myself, it’s really not that hard once you know how. I use a program called PolderbitS.

Incidentally, I used the same program to copy a load of old Japanese tapes that I own to MP3, including Vocabulearn and the Unicom JLPT listening tapes. I was quite surprised at how well they came out, the sound quality is almost perfect.

[typerlc]

I guess bandwidth isn't a problem for most. For me, having to re-download parts of conversations I already have is a waste.

If jpod supplied the cue sheets, then both of us would be happy. You could just use the cue file to automatically chop out the bits you wanted. While editing mp3s by hand is not difficult, its even easier if someone has already done it for you.

[maxiewawa]

I've cut up mp3s 'by hand' myself and I find that you get an added bonus: listening and re-listening to parts to get the cuts right the vocab gets drilled into you a lot better.
It's a good skill to have too!