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Posts Tagged ‘spoken word’

For most of us who are business people, we love to improve our business acumen via reading and taking courses, but we lack the time to do so.

And this is right where audio books have now started to play an incredible important role in our lives.

I'm assuming that if you're reading this, you're a businessman or woman, interesting in improving your business acumen - and now you can! Just use the amazing value inherent in listening to audio books. You won't have to worry about not having the time or will to flip through the pages of a book.

With an audio book you can enjoy the same value of any business book when preparing to go to work in the morning, when commuting to and fro work, etc.

If you are at loose for the specific business audio books to go for, below are 5 of some of the best that any business person shouldn’t do without listening to:

1. How to win friends and influence people – by Dale Carnegie

You might think a little differently to me, but in my world, the absolute most important aspect of my business is PEOPLE. For almost every endeavor of life, especially business, we need people to keep the business going.

Not just the people that bring us sales, but also the people that make the sales possible. To ensure that we all succeed at this, we need to know "how to win friends and influence people".

That's why this incredible book by Dale Carnegie is a "must have" for any person in business.

This audio book contains such an enormous wealth of information that you will not only learn how to influence people in your workplace, in effect turning around more sales, you will also learn how to win over your friends and staff.

With audiobooks, you can kill two birds with 1 stone - listen to and audio book both enjoying and learning at the same time - whilst you are travelling from home to the office and back.

2. It’s not the big that eat the small… it’s the fast that eat the slow – by Jason Jennings and Laurence Haughton

CHANGE is the word of the moment - every business needs to embrace this word and it's very important meaning for your company. In a constantly "updated" world, we need to be ready to embrace and implement changes to our businesses.

This audio book is a fabulous resource for dealing with many day-to-day challenges in keeping your business afloat.

Asserting that the fastest organizations in the world today will be those that will thrive, this audio book shows you how to make your company or business among these fastest, using the power of commerce, deployment of resources and good management of people.

3. Management Challenges for the 21st Century – by Peter F. Drucker

When it comes to business management and leadership, one name stands tall in any gathering of experts. His name is Peter F. Drucker.

Being an expert of the industry and writing about it for a staggering 80 years, Drucker is not just talking from theory. I don't think anyone could possibly have more experience in the field of business and management.

This audio book thoroughly examines how business people can handle the management challenges that the 21st century ushers.

4. Jack: Straight from the Gut – by Jack Welch

Nobody could ever deny that Jack Welch is right at the top of the list of must successful CEOs ever.

In this powerful thought-provoking audio book, he tells his story detailing how you can follow his steps to become one of the most successful persons in your career today.

5. Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap – by Jim Collins

It's a fact that you really cannot dispute "without the techniques and strategies, no company or business can excel beyond a few days, weeks or even months".

Businesses and companies that have stood the test of time for many years know what to do and have done them right.

The author has taken quite some time to collate the results from his extensive studies of companies who have had business success for many, many years - looking into what they are doing so right, that their counterparts are not.

The power of the information contained within this business audio book can help any business person to succeed.

These 5 audio books can do a lot for your business and career if you take the time to listen to them and apply what you will learn therein to your business and career.

A great source I have found for audio book downloads is Spoken Network. You can find them at:

www.spokennetwork.com?cam=ama0027

I know for a fact when I was growing up, most of my friends hated reading as there as so many 'easier' and more fun things to do.

A child can easily go through and learn things they might have not liked previously with audiobooks.

Obviously, children still need to read, this is very important but reading along side audiobooks make is so much more exciting.

Many schools have now taken audio books not just to the homes of their students but also in the classrooms.

It has been mentioned by the educational sector that audio books, when used in teaching, can even have more impact than convensional books for children that are just begining to learn to read or those with reading difficulties.

Here I have listed eight advantages of pupils using audio books

1. When a child listens to an audio book it's like having a new teacher teaching them, as this is a change it makes it more exciting and new.

2. There are specific audio books prepared with children in mind that are not only educative but very entertaining, these types of audio books make learning much more fun than normal teaching.

3. An audio book being played in the classroom will free up the teacher time, they can spend more time preparing exciting lessons and other tasks.

4. For Children that have difficulty when readin, they have the option of following the reading in an audio book until they feel comfortable to read.

Simply following an audio book to read along while looking at the printed material in front of them can increase their learning skills by a very high percentage.

5. You could end up saving a lot of money. Instead of buying dozens of books for a classroom, just one audio book can be played for all the students in the classroom.

6. When a child becomes tired they will not have the motivation to read.

Most importantly, popular stories that children love, will be very interesting for them to listen to.

7. Children don't particularly like printed books as they do audio books. A child can feel more 'at home' when they are 'told a story' rather than reading a book.

8. Audio books also have children deal with the pronunciation of certain words that they would have difficulty with merely reading them. It's a really good way of learning pronunciation, hearing the actual word spoken at the same time as seeing how it is spelt.

All in all, most children find it a great deal of fun listening to a lesson on audio, rather than having to read it. This is for the same reason that kids love movies and TV, as it much more fun than reading a book.

No wonder more schools are embracing the technology of audio books for teaching their children.

An excellent source that I have found for audio book downloads is Spoken Network. You can find them at:

www.spokennetwork.com?cam=ama0023

It's amazing to think that hardly anyone pays attention to what they expose their minds to.

You see, it is your mind that is the biggest factor when it comes to your personality, the way you live your life and what you end up doing as an individual.

All of your dreams can come true if you keep a possitive and creative mind.

When you see really successful people on the television, they have spend a massive amount of time improving their minds.

You'll find that the most notorious people on the planet would fill their minds with a constant stream on negative thoughts. It's this kind of attitude that will lead to a person thinking that they do not want to achieve anything in life.

The question that obviously comes to play here is, are we born with positive or negative minds?

I will quickly and firmly say NO!

We develop our minds by what we put into it. If we are always putting in negative information into our minds, this results to negative thoughts and ultimately negative actions.

So, if you want the opposite and creative thoughts, it is pertinent to always get the right kind of information into your mind.

The most practical way of achieving this would be reading the right kind of book.

Sadly, because of the great demand on our time, only few people still read lots of books, especially after college.

People now a days tend to only read news articles and magazines, we all know what that means? Most newspapers only end up giving us bad news that further increase our negative state of mind.

If you want to really get positive and helpful information, you need to read books that contain such information.

Thankfully with the advent and popularity of audio books, anyone can get the right information into his or her mind without having to “read”.

You can enjoy the benefits of audio books while exercising, commuting to and fro your work, etc.

For those who don't know exactly the audio books to go for, below are some of the 10 best audio books to improve your mind.

1. Build Your Self Esteem Author: Glenn Harrold Publisher: Diviniti Publishing

2. Awaken the Giant Within Author: Anthony Robbins Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio

3. Develop a Powerful Memory Author: Glenn Harrold Publisher: Diviniti Publishing

4. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People Author: Stephen R. Covey Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio

5. How to Win Friends & Influence People Author: Dale Carnegie Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio

6. Awaken the Giant Within Author: Anthony Robbins Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio

7. Feel the Fear and Do it Anyway Author: Susan Jeffers Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio

8. The Power is within You Author: Louise L. Hay Publisher: Hodder Headline Audio books

9. Creating Inner Peace and Calm Author: Glenn Harrold Publisher: Diviniti Publishing

10. Get Up and Do It! Publisher: BBC Books

Any or all of these audio books can be bought from some of the leading audio book stores on the Internet.

An amazing place that I have come across for audio books downloads is Spoken Network. You can find them at:

www.spokennetwork.com?cam=ama0022

Are you thinking of going for a holiday in Spain?

If you are then you really should think about taking up the Spanish language. It is very important to be able to communicate with people you find, from the airport to the hotel you will be staying and even getting around.

Do you think you’ll be alright if you don’t know the language? Well, if so you need to know that almost everyone you meet will be speaking the language. If you’re not able to understand of converse with people it can really have an effect on your holiday, it could spoil your experience.

So, yes, you need to really consider learning the Spanish language before you embark on your trip to Spain.

Oh… you are thinking of traveling next week and so won’t have enough time to learn it?

Don’t worry about that. Just getting your hands on the right audio book about learning Spanish language can teach you the language within a very short time.

Impossible?

Not really.

There are many audio books that teach the Spanish language, but my favorite is – “One-Day Spanish: Teach Yourself” by Elisabeth Smith.

This incredible audio book is ideal for anyone that wants to go holidaying in Spain. As the title implies, it is really a one-day Spanish crash course that can teach you the language faster than you can imagine.

It contains no grammar, no studying, just fast and entertaining real-life speaking practice. And guess what? It really is awesome for helping you learn the Spanish language.

Still think it’s impossible?

Now, let me ask you. In English language, do you know that there are basically just about 50 to 100 words that if anyone can learn, he or she will be able to understand and probably speak the language?

For example, this entire article won’t contain more than 50 to 100 words. Most words are always repeated when we speak, whether in the English language or any other language.

This is the same thing with most other languages, Spanish inclusive.

The “One-Day Spanish: Teach Yourself” by Elisabeth Smith is really good as it teaches you the fifty words you will need in the Spanish language.

This audio book is only around 68 minutes long and with it you will be able to actually speak spanish in only one day!

An excellent source that I have found for audio book downloads is Spoken Network. You can find them at:

www.spokennetwork.com?cam=ama0020

Of course, I was taught French during my school days but never took it seriously. In my honest opinion, something like that just wasn't of any importance to me, and probably never would be.

After all, English was more popular and I could get along anywhere in the world with my knowledge of English language, right?

How dead wrong I was.

I realized my mistake when I was sent to France for an assignment. I was like a real fish out of water.

Literally everywhere I went, restaurants, bars, shops, galleries, offices, transport - everyone was speaking French. Locating someone who could speak English was like locating someone in England who could speak Chinese.

Whew, I really felt lost.

That experience nonetheless, I still made a silent resolve not to learn the language, since I wasn't going to be coming back to France.

My boss told me when I got back that I'd be returning to France in 3 months. This time I would stay longer.

I argued, begged and pleaded, but she was having none of it.

There and then I made a commitment to myself to learn French before the 3 months was up.

Being a lover of audio books, I went right ahead and bought some “Teach yourself French” foreign language audio books which I played while preparing for work in the morning, while exercising, during my commute to and from work and any other time when my hands were busy but my mind was free.

At first I didn't pay too much attention to what was being said in the "Teach yourself French" audio books because it was a strange language.

As the time wore on, it all started to sink in and make sense to me. What was really beneficial, and what really helped me to grasp the language in the end, was the translations to English for any of the words spoken in French.

This really confirmed what I had read sometime ago about the power of listening. It is no wonder that the good lord gave us two ears and one mouth. This means just listening is powerful enough to learn virtually any language.

I couldn't believe it, but I gradually started to pick up the language and was able to master quite an large amount of French just six weeks after I had started.

You can imagine the surprise on the face of my boss when, 10 weeks later, I spoke French to her without mixing it with a single word in English!

She was amazed by my achievement and wanted to know exactly how I'd done it. So I told her my secret - it was audio books!

Not only was she very impressed, she made me the head of the delegation she was sending to represent our company in France.

She made sure every other member of my team got their foreign language audio books and did exactly what I had done.

Three months later, on my return to France, nobody would mistake me for the "a fish out of water" I had been on my initial visit.

It was incredible, but I was able to achieve this without taking any classes, without hiring any private French tutor, without reading any "French tutorial" books.

All of this was possible within 3 months just listening to French audio book lessons.

And do you know what was the most intriguing thing about all of this? All of this I did in my "free" time. There were no extra committments of time needed from me, I just used the same time that I had wasted in the past.

Now, if I could do this within just three months, I am absolutely certain that anyone else can do it too.

If there is any language you would love to learn, follow my footsteps and you will be pleasantly surprised what can happen in just 3 months, with the power of audio books.

There are several audio book versions of many books on learning foreign languages that you can get on the Internet.

You can start your search from SpokenNetwork.com direct, or through the many search engines. You just need to type in the phrase or title of the book that you are interested in, and you'll be given a whole host of results… within seconds.

www.spokennetwork.com?cam=ama0026

There’s no denying what a perfect combination audio book technology and the introduction of MP3 portable players have become.

You can now not only listen to your audio book on tape, compact disk or PC, but also on your very own MP3 player.

So, if you are like me and would greatly prefer the freedom of listening to your audio book on your MP3 player, rather than sitting at your Personal Computer, you can.

Below you will find the specific help you require to get this working.

NOTE- The following guide has instructions for Windows Media Player Version 10. If you are using an older version, you can download the latest version from Microsoft's website.

Here is the actual link: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/download

First, the audio book needs to be on you PC, the PC you wish to use to make the transfer. If you have the audio book on a Compact Disk you will first need to 'rip' the audio book to your PC.

Second, you need to find the USB cable that came with the MP3 player as all MP3 players use different cables. Once you have this cable you need to connect the MP3 player to your PC.

As soon as you plug in the USB cable to both your computer and MP3 player, your computer will indicate that it has found a new piece of hardware. If it doesn't indicate this, then something is wrong. Just disconnect the cable and then reconnect.

Third, open your Windows Media Player and open the audio book you want to copy. This will open the audio book in the main display area of Windows Media Player.

Fourth, add the audio book to the Sync List of your Windows Media Player.

Fifth, now you should click on the Sync tab on the Windows Media Player. This will bring a pull-down arrow on the left-side box of the Sync tab. Make sure you select the labeled "Removable Disk (E)" as the source where the audio book will be copied to.

Sixth, a display with an option will appear, "start sync". Select the option by left clicking it. When this is completed, Windows Media Player will show a message, a message telling you that it is transferring the audio book files to your MP3 player as "Removable Disk (E)".

Seventh, as soon as the sync (or copying) is complete, you can verify if it is in your MP3 player.

One last note, make sure you select the hardware icon (found in the system tray - near the clock) to ""safely remove hardware"". Don't remove the USB cable until you get the clear signal saying "safe to remove the hardware". NOTE if you do not do this before you disconnect can cause errors on both your PC and MP3 player.

When all of this is done, you can then try to playback the audio book from your MP3 player. After you have gone through the above steps your audio books should appear on you MP3 player.

If however you are using an older version of Windows Media Player, you can still follow the exact steps above. The only major difference is that instead of having "sync", you will have "copy". You can select this and go through the same steps as above transfer your audio book onto your MP3 player.

A really good place that I came across to get all your favorite audiobooks is

Spoken Network. You can locate them at:

www.spokennetwork.com?cam=ama0017

The beauty with audio books is that you have more than one option for listening to them.

For those of us who like to be given lots of options for doing certain things instead of being forced to adapt to just one choice, you definitely have lots of options for listening to your audio book.

If you are someone who likes listening while seated on your favorite couch or seated on your desk, listening to your audio book on your cassette tape player (if the audio book is in audiocassette tape, of course) is the option for you.

But if you have a desktop or laptop computer, you might prefer listening to your audio book from it.

It is most likely that your PC already has some software for playing audio books. If your PC doesn't have any (very unlikely), you can still download them completely free on the Internet. The 2 best digital audio players that you can get completely free to download from the Internet include:

- RealOne Player: This can be downloaded free of charger here; http://www.Real.com

- Windows Media Player: This is available for download free of charge on their website - http://www.Microsoft.com

But if you would rather listen to your audio book while on a walk, running, on the way to work, going around the house, going around the shops (and many more) then a portable audio player is the right way to go, preferably with an earphone.

With the ever expanding market of portable audio playback devices, it goes to show that more and more people are now using them, because of the wonderful benefits they provide.

The most common form of these portable audio playback devices are the normal audio CD players or CD-ROM devices. You can carry these around with you while you do your household chores, exercise, jog or commute to and fro work.

The more advanced form of portable players, used for playing audio books, include;

— Audio-ready PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants). Some of these PDAs include the Casio CASSIOPEIA and Compaq iPAQ. Both can be pretty expensive, costing as much as about $500 for the Compaq iPAQ and about $400 for the Casio CASSIOPEIA.

— Compatible Portable Audio Players. Some of these include the Creative’s NOMAD Jukebox 3 and the SONICblue’s Rio 900. These are cheaper than PDAs. For example, you can get the SONICblue's Rio 900 for about $250 from sites such as Sonicblue.com

Finally, like I said in the start of this article, whatever tool you decide to use in listening to your audio books will depend largely on “how” you prefer listening to your audio books.

For example, for the "young and restless" teenagers they can't do without the PDAs. I bet you wouldn't too if you were their age, right? The 'good old' cassette tape could not be a better format for the "aged and rusty", who would rather just be sat on their favorite sofa!

A really good place that I have come across to download audio books is Spoken Network. You can get these at:

www.spokennetwork.com?cam=ama0017

Technology really has given us a lot to be thankful for.

Who would have ever believed that not only would we cut down on the way we use up our vegetation for making hardcover and paperback books, we would also be able to "listen" to our books instead of "reading" them.

Ironic? Not with the introduction of audio books.

With audio books, we now have the unique advantage of doing other things that take up our hands, but not our minds. We now have the freedom of doing what we want, while having the book read to us.

Audio book sales are increasing as more and more people are taking advantage of how wonderful they are to listen to.

If you are considering buying an audio book, below are 6 of the great places you can enjoy an audio book

1. In bed - There are certain days when we just don't want to do anything but lie down in bed thinking of certain issues. We could even just lay there in the darkness while we fall asleep.

What a great time to listen to an audio book. You wouldn't have to bother with putting on the lights, holding the book, flipping through the pages or the stress of reading the book itself.

With an audio book, the entire book will be read to you while you stay comfortable in bed - without flipping any pages, holding the book or putting on the lights.

2. In the kitchen while doing household chores such as washing the dishes or cooking. For some people it can be very boring being in the kitchen, especially washing the dishes or other such chores.

This is a great time to enjoy an audio book because your hands are busy but your mind is free.

Another, much better thing would be to listen to an audio book, this would crush all the negative thoughts.

3. While gardening, Of course, you can listen to an audiobook while gardening. If you find gardening a real chore, an audio book would take your mind of it and make you feel more at ease.

4. When you are exercising. When you are busy exercising, your whole body is busy, you wouldn't be able to read a book but wouldn't it be great, as your mind is free. This is a brilliant time to listen to and love an audio book.

Most people perform exercises for many minutes or even hours while their minds do nothing. But listening to an audio book during this time ensures you don't waste those times that you exercise.

This couldn't be a better example of killing 2 birds with one stone, a workout for your mind and body!

5. While travelling. Imagine how much time is spent sitting in a car, train, bus or especially on a plane. You see, many people loose a great deal of time doing nothing while commuting to and fro their jobs.

Why not use that time to listen to an audio book, especially one that develops your mind and/or improve your professional and business skills?

For example, listening to an audio book that improves your skills daily can do a lot of good to your career, instead of listening to a musical song which wouldn't help you much in the area of skill acquisition.

6. While travelling in the air, There are a lot of people who actually spend much more time in the air than in a car. There are professional assignments that involve traveling from one state to the other, or even from one country to the other.

If you are in such a situation, consider the enormous benefits you would get listening to audio books, especially those that improve your professional skills.

Yes, there are many audio book courses made specifically for professionals to improve their skills in many areas of their professions.

An excellent source that I have found for audio book downloads is Spoken Network. You can find them at:

www.spokennetwork.com?cam=ama0024

When it comes to burning (or copying/writing) a downloadable audio book into CD, you must be sure that it isn’t for commercial purpose, but strictly for personal use. Violating this law can get you into serious copyright infringement problems.

Of course, the audio books you download are still under copyright. Even after you have payed for them as the content still belongs to the publisher.

The only example of audio books that are not under copyright anymore is when the author or translator dies over seventy years ago. There are also some publications that are made by the government that are not under copyright.

But this rule, "only for personal use" still applies when you are burning any of your downloadable audio book onto CD or any other format.

Even though it is for you own use, there are some publishers that will not allow you to burn your audio book to CD. Such audio book publishers then go ahead to disable the ability to burn into CD.

To be sure if your audio book publishers allow this, check it out before going ahead to buy it.

It could be very frustrating to download an audio book just so that you can put it onto a compact disk, and then find you where not permitted to do so. It would be a real waste of time and money.

Also, when you are transferring audio books onto a compact disk you may need to use multiple CDs. As an example, if you have an audio book than spans ten hours this make take up to 7 CDs.

Saying that, These following instructions show you how to burn an audio book onto a compact disk

NOTE that the below instructions are based on Windows Media Player Version 10. If you have a previous version installed you can install the most up to date version from Microsoft's website. Here's the exact link - http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/download

First, the computer you want to use to burn the audio book into CD must be equipped with a recordable CD drive and CD-burning software.

In other words, it is this CD-burning software that can burn the audio book into the CD. And it is the recordable CD drive that can be used for this purpose.

Second, play the audio book on Windows Media Player. Ensure that you choose "Full Mode" when doing this, not "Skin Mode".

Third, you will notice the "now playing" information displayed on the right-had side of your Windows Media Player. If it isn't displayed, you should click the "Restore the Video and Visualization Pane" button to display it.

4th. Now slect the 'Library' tab. You will notice the “Start Burn” button displayed.

Fifth, at this point, insert the blank CD into the recordable CD drive.

6th. Press on the 'Start Burn' button. You will now see that Windows Media Player will start to burn the CD you placed in your PC.

Lastly, if the audio book is larger than the CD (most always are), Windows Media Player will prompt you that it requires a new CD. You can remove the one inside and insert another blank CD.

Once the full 'burn' procedure is completed you will see the message "Complete".

An excellent source that I have found for audio book downloads is Spoken Network.

You can find them at:

www.spokennetwork.com?cam=ama0018

With the popularity of audio books, there are now many places to buy the audio book of your choice.

Before the days of the Internet people would either travel to a book shop or purchase over the phone. Now we have the incredible power of the internet you can do all of this much faster and without actually leaving your seat.

It is now safe to say that the audio book market place is now on the Internet. Physical book shops cannot compete with the advantages shopping for audio books on the Internet provides.

The audio book market place on the Internet gives you the opportunity to instantly search for and find the particular audio book you are looking for.

This can't be compared to the era of physically going through several bookstores and manually checking the thousands of books available before you find the audio book of your choice.

For those who don't have any online audio book store in mind, an excellent source that I have found for audio book downloads is Spoken Network.

www.spokennetwork.com?cam=ama0021.

Apart from this audio book store, there are other audio book stores in specific categories such as business, motivational, fiction, etc.

If you don't find the particular audio book of your choice from this major audio book store online, then use the search engines. It will be very helpful if you know either the exact name of the author or title. If you don't, it can end up being a case of "jargon in jargon out".

Basically, if you enter an incorrect author name for the book you are looking for, it will be really hard to actually locate the audio book.