Comments on: We can cast all we like, but we may not catch any fish

By: tony

tony — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 05:35:35 +0000

I listen to podcasts a lot, pretty much every day. I download the audio files from japanesepod101, store and organise them in iTunes, and play them on my iPod. But I don’t subscribe to the podcasts, I just go in a couple of times a week, find the files I want and save them to my PC, then add them manually to my iTunes library.

So, am i using podcasts, or am I really just downloading and listening to a bunch of audio files?

No, these are more than just audio files, because the files comes down with an embedded lyrics file which the clever japanesepod101 folks have used to display the lesson transcripts – including kanji and kana versions! So I can listen and (if I’ve remembered my glasses) I can read along on the tiny iPod Nano screen, which actually has amazing screen resolution displaying perfectly readable kanji on its tiny screen. If I could be bothered, I could also download the notes file for each episode with grammar explanations and vocabulary and read those on my iPod too. I sometimes have trouble reading kanji in books if the typeface is small, but no problems on the iPod.

I find the other great use of podcasts is time-shifting, or catching up on things I’ve missed. You can subscribe to a program, or just go and find it when you’re ready. Keely told me about the 3ZZZ Japanese language broadcast at 12 noon Sundays which I never remember to listen to, but I usually check in at some stage during the week.

By: libodyssey

libodyssey — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 14:50:22 +0000

I have a copy of People of the Book at home but I haven't read it yet. Despite my reservations (as outlined), I really adored Year of Wonders, so I'm looking forward to savouring it soon, despite the fact that the reviewers have not been as kind as they were for March. I'm not sure why, but Year of Wonders actually reminded me of Michelle de Kretser's The Rose Grower -- perhaps because they were both so meticulously researched and poetically written.

By: Sara Jervis

Sara Jervis — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 07:43:59 +0000

Thank you for the link to Geraldine Brooks. I bought “People of the book” for a friend for her birthday and have just sent her the link.

We seem to share book and author favourites.