The SCORM 2004 3rd edition was just released within the last year (I think) and the SCORM technical writing group has announced plans for SCORM 2004 4th edition.

Mike Rustici of scorm.com blogs about it here. He has some interesting things to say about the update, and how he feels it is necessary for progress. Also contains some interesting comments on a possible upcoming SCORM 2.0, which is in his words, "a radical update and restructuring to take advantage of how technology has evolved over since the original inception of SCORM and its underlying specifications nearly a decade ago."

Mike Rustici is THE guy to talk to when it comes to SCORM/LMS integration, so his post makes for an interesting read.

Labels: SCORM

Check out this article at Yahoo that discusses among other things eLearning, and MITs OpenCourseWare initiative which is enabling some serious distance learning:

Internet opens elite colleges to all.

Labels: eLearning Technology

So I read the article 3 down, 1 to go: Warner Music Group drops DRM last night and decided to check it out. I have been really happy with the ease of ordering music from Apple's iTunes in the past, they really pioneered selling music on the web, and have made purchasing music and transferring it to my iPod dead simple.

What compelled me to check out Amazon's MP3 service?

The main reason I was interested in it is that music purchased from Amazon is DRM-Free. For those that don't know, DRM means Digital Rights Management, which "is an umbrella term that refers to access control technologies used by publishers and copyright holders to limit usage of digital media or devices." - wikipedia. Since the music I purchase is DRM free it means I can easily copy it to any device I own, including my laptop, my iPod, my new iPhone, or my desktop without any limitations, which is nice because I have so many devices.

The real significance of the announcement mentioned in the article is that "EMI, Universal, and Warner now offer their catalogues in DRM-free digital formats," on Amazon.com, which constitutes 3 of the major music labels to come to such an agreement.

The thing that bothers me so much about the DRM that Apple/iTunes uses is that it is way to restrictive, and way to difficult to backup. So far I have purchased 3 movies, and 1 season pass for a TV show, and of all those videos that I have purchased I can't get them on all the devices that I want and own because I downloaded them to different computers. If I purchased them, shouldn't I have the freedom to put them on any device that I choose? This also pisses me off about my DVDs...I have about 100 DVDs, but I can't easily transfer them to my computer, iPod, or iPhone without jumping through a bunch of hoops.

Well, enough on the DRM-Free aspect of Amazon's service, there are some other benefits too, such as price. So far I have purchased two albums from Amazon, and both were only $8.99, which is cheaper than iTunes standard $9.99 per album for music.

There is also an added benefit of increased quality of the music purchased form Amazon over iTunes. The majority of music purchased through iTunes has a bit rate of 128kbps, where as Amazon's music is all 320kbps (Correction, it is 256kbps or higher). For those that don't know...higher bit rate means higher quality. From what I am told the human ear can't notice any sound quality difference at a bit rate over 192kbps, but it can distinguish the difference for anything less than that. So Amazon's music should have a noticeable quality upgrade over Apple's.

So to sum everything up, Amazon's mp3 store is better than iTunes because:

• It is DRM free
• It is cheaper than iTunes
• It is better quality

The only time I can see going back to purchase any music from iTunes is if Amazon doesn't sell it. Try it out if you are the type that buys music online. I don't think you will be disappointed.

Labels: iPod

I am back! It has been a long time since I posted last. Have been really busy at Articulate working on some pretty big stuff and haven't had much of a chance to give any updates here.

Thanks Mike for posting your comment and inspiring me to post again.

We completed the MS 150 back in October on a couple of cold and rainy days. The second day wasn't too bad, but for about half of the ride on the first day it was raining or drizzling making the ride a little miserable. But hey, the ride was for a good cause, and we helped raise over $22,000 as an 8 man team! It really is incredible. I personally have raised over $2500 for the event, which puts me just outside of the top 150 fund raisers in the event. If I make it into the top 150 fund raisers I get a special jersey next year and entrance into the club 150 tent, which I am sure is pretty sweet. Today is the last day for fund raising, so I think at the end of the day I think I am just going to have to sneak in a donation to myself in order to get me over the top.

The picture above was taken of Ajay, Mark Firger, and I as we were about to cross the finish line on the second day. The picture on the left is of day one as we were about to start riding through Camp Pendleton. The event was a amazing and something that I won't soon forget. The ride itself was more difficult than I imagined, and I learned that you don't "grow into" a bike that is too big for you. By the end of the first day (roughly 108 miles) my back and neck were so soar that anything but lying down, and drinking excessive amounts of beer caused intense pain.

I really appreciate all the support that everyone gave me. The people that I work with at Articulate, and many readers of this blog were more than generous in their support. My original goal was to raise $2000, and I really didn't expect to get anywhere near that goal. But our team got really competitive when it came to fund raising, and it really inspired me.

Thanks again to all those that donated.

Look forward to more blog posting coming up in '08!