Rip Large Audio Files into Flashcards

[radioman]

One of the frustrating things I see with using CDs or large audio files for study is that they are linear. That is, you have to listen to it in order, and its difficult to back up to re-listen. And over time, as you study your 10 minute audio file, you might ultimately want to study 6 sentences (the rest you already know). You then have to hunt them down, by listening to the whole thing again. There are players with bookmarks, and other tools that try to make it easier, but it is still a hassle. I believe the following idea is better.

Basically, I wanted to do the following:

• be able to chop up the CD into small audio files of phrases - FAST.
  
• be able to review the phrases in order, just like the original file.
  
• EASILY repeat words or phrases that I am not familiar with and want to hear again without fumbling to back up my MP3 progress marker to back up the recorder.
  
• study selected sentences later using SRS, and
  
• have the ability to listen to all the audio in order exactly as presented in the original large audio files by playing all the files together automatically.
  

Now, I use Flashcards Deluxe for my Chinese language audio needs. It is frankly a great program, arguably the best for handling audio. It even now includes Text to Speech (TTS) So I can TTS the English and the Chinese Word flashcard lists and then SRS study on the treadmill without looking - very cool).

But Flashcards Deluxe accepts external audio files as well. And it can conveniently play them back by just dumping the filenames into a huge sequential list. With this in mind, I created the following procedure:

Notes:

1. This procedure is for an Apple Computer, but I figure there are similar programs for the PC - the concept remains the same.
   
2. DISCLAIMER - make sure you can legally rip the audio file of interest. Laws and restrictions vary depending on type content and the location where the files will be used.
   

Audio Ripping Procedure Overview

1. take your large audio file.
   
2. tear it apart using a free program.
   
3. create an "audio" flashcard deck with the full list of new audio files.
   
4. download to iOS device and use.
   

The full details of procedure can be found here.

Please feel free to provide any feedback or suggestions.