A Conversation Only Feed

[Yamanchu]

As well as using the premium feed for learning, I also use it a lot for revision. Would it be possible to have a download version of the free lessions which only has the Japanese conversation in it and not the English notes, explanations etc. etc. I find it is really good revision listening to something I've learnt without the English.

[padrik]

I second this idea.... the english is a crutch moving forward in the learning process..

Thanks...

[nilfisq]

as a premium member you can go to the learning center and select "Line-By-Line Audio Transcript". There you have an option "Click here to listen to the entire conversation!"
This option is also included in the iPod sound files which you can download from the iLearning center: very useful when you're waiting for buses, doctors, planes, or whatever one can wait for in human life!

[Yamanchu]

What I had in mind with the downloaded lessons, was:

1. The normal lesson with the English.
2. The lesson 'plain speech' no English
3. The lesson 'formal speech' no English

I feel this would help my revision considerably.

[typerlc]

I too have wanted this for some time. So I tried doing it myself.

First, I started editing the mp3 files into sections. But that was tedious and required lots of disk space.

Then I realised I could use a CUE file ... which is just a text file that describes sections of an audio file.

e.g. this is a full cue sheet for Beginner Lesson 54

Code: Select All

FILE "102_B54_033006_jpod101.mp3" MP3
PERFORMER "JapanesePod101.com"
TITLE "Beginner Lesson #54"
  TRACK 01 AUDIO
    TITLE "Fast"
    PERFORMER ""
    INDEX 01 01:35:38
  TRACK 02 AUDIO
    TITLE "Slow"
    PERFORMER ""
    INDEX 01 03:05:75
  TRACK 03 AUDIO
    TITLE "Mixed"
    PERFORMER ""
    INDEX 01 04:56:40
  TRACK 04 AUDIO
    TITLE "Vocab"
    PERFORMER ""
    INDEX 01 07:09:06


If you save this as a text file 102_B54_033006_jpod101.cue and load it into a music player that supports CUE sheets, then each of the sections of the mp3 appear like different files. (make sure the 102_B54_033006_jpod101.mp3 file is in the same directory!)

The cons:

* someone has to generate the CUE sheets. This may not be too bad ... especially with a large community base. People could make cue sheets, then submit them online somewhere so that the work can be shared around.

* not all music players understand CUE sheets. Not supported by WMP or iTunes. But is supported by Foobar2000, Winamp, and many others. And there are free tools to take an mp3, a CUE file, and automatically split the file into multiple parts.

Anyone else interested in helping prepare CUE files?

[Eran]

Mna-san,

As always, thanks for the great feedback and fabulous suggestions. We are currently working on adding the Japanese-only conversation to the Premium feed as a separate mp3 file. It will also be available to listen to and download on our site.

Stay tuned for announcement in the upcoming weeks.

Thanks,

Eran

[typerlc]

We are currently working on adding the Japanese-only conversation to the Premium feed as a separate mp3 file.

It's great to see you listening to our feedback.

While I applaud your effort, I still think the cue sheet idea is better, at least for me First, it means I don't have to re-download all the old files. And you don't have to edit all the old files. Second, I would like to have easy access to more than just the conversations e.g. the vocab explanations.

I am going to start doing this soon, and I'll upload them somewhere and post on the forum. Perhaps if they are popular, you might consider doing it for future posts?

Regards,
Richard

[Yamanchu]

Eran, thanks heaps for listening and replying. This is great news for me as I use the short premium feed for revision and look forward to the announcement.

thanks again,
Yamanchu

[typerlc]

Ok, as a trial, I've created CUE files for the first 8 Lower Intermediate lessons.

I'm interested in feedback from anyone that cares. In particular, any comment on what values you'd prefer to see in the TITLE, ALBUM, ARTIST fields.

Also, I have used a hack that seems to work ok with Foobar2000 to skip small bits of text such as "mouichido onegaishimasu, yukkuri onegaishimasu". I'd be interested to hear if others have success/problems with this.

Here are the files for feedback:
http://www.rcolley.com/jpod101/cue/296_ ... pod101.cue
http://www.rcolley.com/jpod101/cue/303_ ... pod101.cue
http://www.rcolley.com/jpod101/cue/305_ ... pod101.cue
http://www.rcolley.com/jpod101/cue/324_ ... pod101.cue
http://www.rcolley.com/jpod101/cue/331_ ... pod101.cue
http://www.rcolley.com/jpod101/cue/340_ ... pod101.cue
http://www.rcolley.com/jpod101/cue/347_ ... pod101.cue
http://www.rcolley.com/jpod101/cue/359_ ... pod101.cue

You should place these in the same directory as the corresponding .mp3 file.

Then just open the .cue file in your cue-sheet-supporting music player, and it will show each mp3 as 5 separate tracks:

intro
fast
slow
mixed
vocab

Anyway, any feedback at all is welcome.

You can see how it looks for me in Foobar here: http://www.rcolley.com/jpod101/cue/foobar-cue-shot.JPG

Cheers,
Richard

[bonitoclub]

Eran-san

I would alos be interested in downloads just for the conversations. Makes it easier to review.

Thanks! Tony

[maxiewawa]

Hmmm... this sounds like a good idea. Listening to the lesson multiple times isn't as useful as listening to a specific part again and again. I'd like to bring up cutting up wav files 'by hand' as an option though.

[maxiewawa]

Power to the people!

The masses have spoken!

Yeah!

http://blogs.japanesepod101.com/blog/2007/08/13/806/

[Yamanchu]

Ok, I know I'm a bit slow picking up on this. I'm still doing some older lessons and hadn't realised that the JPod crew have given me what I requested. But just had to write in and say a big thanks to the crew for the extra tracks they've put in for us (a few months ago!). This is exactly what I needed and it is much appreciated.