Saturday, October 5, 2013

Big change from a little app

I like to listen to The Great Courses while driving.  However, quite a few appealing titles are only available in video format, but I can't watch and drive.  That would be even worse than texting and driving.  We have several video courses that I have already bought but haven't gotten around to watching.  For one thing, I don't think of them.  I have to get the box the DVD's came in and load them in the player.  They tend to be intellectual and tv in the evening is usually a veggie-out time.


The Great Courses company sends me catalogs quite often.  Since I do listen more or less every day, I look through them.  I just finished The Skeptic's Guide to American History a couple of days ago and am now listening to Prof. Mark Muesse on practicing mindfulness.  Anyhow, I looked through the last catalog and bought some courses that are on sale.  On sale prices are often only about 20% of the regular price.


Just as I was finishing the order, a screen said that the Great Courses had an app available for iPad.  That got my attention.  Sometimes, I am in the mood to listen in the house and the iPad is quite portable.  But more importantly, the possibility of viewing the video courses on the iPad anytime and place in the house was of strong interest.  

I installed the app and it is quite handy.  I have been thinking of buying a 32" LED tv for the basement  to watch the video courses I have, not cable tv.  With the app and the good streaming that the company provides, I don't need a tv set.  Today, for the first time since I got my iPad mini at Christmas, I plugged in ear buds and listened to Prof. Neil DeGrasse Tyson, an excellent lecturer on our inexplicable universe and the scientific puzzles that have gotten solved and those that still hover.


Lynn, too, listens in her car and her iPad, too, can allow her to keep listening to an audio course in the house or to select a video course and watch as much of it as she cares to. My friend has a Kindle Fire.  Those devices run on the Android system, not Apple.  I called customer service and was told that they are working on a Great Courses app for Android.



--
Bill
Main blog: Fear, Fun and Filoz
Main web site: Kirbyvariety


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