the smart.fm plugin doesn't seem to be working anymore, or maybe it's just me...

it is working i just got 2 of my goals downloaded
and im on ubuntu
the plugin did say it was not working in the descriptions though


even got the sound files

no pictures though!
anybody know how to do this?

[ファブリス]

Like nestOr, I always found the "smart.fm" name silly. I also thought it meant something like a radio or a podcast site. Hopefully for them and for the users, they are refocusing on their core strengths. It seemed like they had drank too much of the social-platform kool aid.

I would be curious to know what their typical user is. It seems to me they are still targeting the smart crowd. It's just a feeling I get from their message and the design of the site.

Are they popular in Japan, with their Japanese version?

Dustin_Calgary Wrote:

Dustin_Calgary Wrote:Kind of neat isn't worth paying an extra recurring monthly fee for however so I will be sticking to anki for the time being. I expect one day it will cost money as well, and as long as it's only a one time fee, I'd have no problem supporting it for the benefit it's given me.

Anki on the other hand is much more customizable, can be used offline, on just about any portable device, and I can guarantee that even if they did decide to make it a paid app, it wouldn't be a recurring monthly fee, for an "application"

Don't forget that anki deck information can be easily converted to and from a universal format (CSV/TSV of field data) so someone could always just write their own anki clone without too much effort. I for one would never consider investing my time making decks in a proprietary format that I couldn't easily use with other software or even use if the program stopped being supported on my platform of choice.

The key is that Mr. Elmes has put a good deal of effort into developing the community for anki by keeping it open source, making it easy to add/modify/share plugins, etc. It also has a really handy UI for manipulating your decks and is just generally a "polished" product.

As such, I think it's just the opposite as what you say; anki wouldn't have anywhere near the draw if the desktop client was closed off. Paying a monthly fee for premium ankiweb, syncing, online deck storage, etc seems to be a much better fit.

The problem is they promised during the last change it would always be a free website, with the addition of premium services or advertisements sometime in the future. I have only occasionally used the site over the last year because after the switch to smart.fm, it became very frustrating to use. Though, I spent hours upon hours creating English learning lists for my private students (and anyone else) to use, which will be useless soon.

Fabrice: the issue here is that they did not provide a way for people to migrate their data. They dropped support for their API a while back, and all the documentation has disappeared from what I can tell. The servers servicing the API calls still appear to be running, but if the Anki plugin wasn't already written, people would have no way of getting their data out now short of scraping the website.

And that's only the content of the cards, too - as far as I know, they provided no way of exporting learning data. If users want to preserve the progress of their studies, they have no option but to start paying money - they are effectively locked in. Yes, companies need to make money, but providing no exit strategy for users who don't want to or can't pay is pretty nasty.

[ファブリス]

I see. Without any inferred meaning, I don't think they meant to build a business around Anki, or any other SRS for that matter. So I can understand if they didn't plan a way to export data to popular SRS software. They don't even have to, if they simply allow to export the data to standard xml or csv files, for example.

I assumed they had at least simple links to export your lists as xml data and such. If not, I can understand the frustration.

Some comments on the blog are flat out wrong though:

Quote:Did you research this strategy? Show me a succseful web-based company that doesn’t get most of its revenue from advertising.

There's tons of websites which don't get their main income from ads. Popular Business Models for top 100 Web Apps in 2008: 34 % uses plain advertising, at least 50 % appears to be various form of immediate payments (eg. listing an ebay item), and subscriptions.

Can anybody explain how to down the Chinese core? I'd love to have this on hand for when I'm ready to start Chinese. I don't see any way to bring the content over though.

keys84 Wrote:it is working i just got 2 of my goals downloaded
and im on ubuntu
the plugin did say it was not working in the descriptions though


even got the sound files

no pictures though!
anybody know how to do this?

yea it still works. I guess I entered the wrong link for importing. I plan to import a lot before it's to late too do so.

Since they are taking our work and locking us out of the lists we created ourselves, someone should create a new website using all of the Core steps

Had they simply implemented premium services, I would have paid for them as a teaching aid, mainly for the Brainspeed application that I use for reviews at the beginning of lessons.

I would go back and delete all of the sentences I created, as I asked my Japanese girlfriends to do the readings on Japanese language lists for about 500 sentences, but I sure that would not remove them from their database.

for bulk downloading from smart.fm there's also scanki

Whoa! I just read up on the company. Turns out I know of two them from the Tokyo banking world in the 90s (a founders and an executive.) Bankers who got into trouble (they worked together.) I guess industry reputation doesn't extend into other industries.

It looks like one remains involved in iKnow's parent company and the other is still in management. A new CEO took over in May 2010.

Oh well...at least they're doing something now that helps people. And iKnow! users might not care. (I suppose it bugs me to see the bad guys rewarded in the end. Still being able to raise at least $24 million in venture financing. I don't get it.)

I would love to see a way for honest and hardworking developers to get more on a regular basis for their considerable efforts.

@Fabrice, thanks for that link. I find the business of traditional software companies vs open source vs monetizing web apps interesting. I noticed one 'model' with an ..um...unfortunate name: "Establish and Exploit" (attract a substantial audience before monetizing).

[Post edited a bit] Mistamark and Kazelee, points taken. cheers

I always hated Smart.Fm. That being said... where are the paid subscriptions for Koohii? I don't know what the benefits could be, but I demand it.

Edit.. I somehow quoted someone randomly!! removed for clarity!


gahh! anyone have any pointers as to why I'm not able to get the sound files downloaded? (yes, I'm clicking the dl audio boxes in the importer) on Win7x64 ??

I'm using the "Smart.FM - Import Lists" plugin....

Extend the core Japanese and I'd pay. Just saying. You know, in case they read these threads like they say they do.

I wasn't shocked by the change in service. When they changed the design and deleted the forums, their intentions were quite clear.

TheVinster Wrote:I always hated Smart.Fm. That being said... where are the paid subscriptions for Koohii? I don't know what the benefits could be, but I demand it.

Well, you can set up an automatic monthly donation...

resolve Wrote:And that's only the content of the cards, too - as far as I know, they provided no way of exporting learning data. If users want to preserve the progress of their studies, they have no option but to start paying money - they are effectively locked in. Yes, companies need to make money, but providing no exit strategy for users who don't want to or can't pay is pretty nasty.

This is the shitty thing imo. Very glad I didn't recommend it to my students now, the reason I didn't was because I had a feeling they'd do something like this. I def think if it was going to be paid they should have done it from the start.

caivano Wrote:I def think if it was going to be paid they should have done it from the start.

Many sites start for free. JapanesePod101 was completely free at the beginning, for instance.
I didn't use iKnow (or smart.fm), but I did rip it at the beginning some years ago, just because I am Jack-The-Ripper.

1#

ファブリス Wrote:I always found the "smart.fm" name silly. I also thought it meant something like a radio or a podcast site.

There is a company that produces English radio podcasts that have a restricted vocabulary that was called smart.fm. I think it was the same company.

2# I can't wait to see the thread for when Ankiweb goes commercial, charging for private server space. I think Damian will handle it well, but depending on free features for free users it could bomb or go down well.

3# I used smart.fm for my first 1000 words in Japanese using the Core2000. It was a fun website to use, but, I think that too be honest, once you learn how to learn with Anki (I mean find your own personal way) then it is vastly better. It's taken me MONTHS to find my Anki Mojo, but now that I have I, honestly, couldn't use anything else. Then again, like most I'm starting to need it less and less each day - 1-2 years and I probably won't use it.

Can someone tell me where to get the Smart.Fm plugin please? I tried searching both this and the Anki forum but got nothing.

Splatted Wrote:Can someone tell me where to get the Smart.Fm plugin please? I tried searching both this and the Anki forum but got nothing.

where?

...Anki?

Lol thanks, I feel really stupid now; I actually spent 30 seconds staring at your post thinking "Wtf is that supposed to mean?".

buonaparte Wrote:

caivano Wrote:I def think if it was going to be paid they should have done it from the start.

Many sites start for free. JapanesePod101 was completely free at the beginning, for instance.
I didn't use iKnow (or smart.fm), but I did rip it at the beginning some years ago, just because I am Jack-The-Ripper.

But with a site like that you're not really locked into using it, people who have been using smart.fm long term as an srs are either going to have to pay up or start the lists again from the beginning on anki or something, which would be annoying.

Re anki, if ankiweb goes commercial you would still be able to use your file on your pc, just without the convenience of the networking stuff which is fair enough.

boohoo

People really need to stop being so married to their srs decks. If losing access to Smart fm or even anki data is a huge setback, I think there are some holes in your learning strategy. seriously

nadiatims Wrote:boohoo

People really need to stop being so married to their srs decks. If losing access to Smart fm or even anki data is a huge setback, I think there are some holes in your learning strategy. seriously

If we're talking about a deck of mostly mature cards where few or none are being added, then sure. On the other hand, imagine being halfway through RTK and permanently losing your deck data.