http://blog.smart.fm/en/2011/01/27/closi...m-service/

Found via tofugu: http://www.tofugu.com/2011/01/26/smartfm-closing-down/

Yeah, I'm gonna stop using it as soon as I need to pay money. I only use it because I can do it at work and it helps make my reviews go more smoothly. But, Anki is really where it's at--it's just not worth it to pay for something that does nothing more than kinda help me use Anki faster.

Well I guess I won't be using smart.fm anymore, or iknow, or whatever, anki ftw.

Does anyone know if the smart.fm impporter will still work? I'm pretty sure that it won't but I'm hoping for the best...

Yeah the smart.fm importer works or at least it did the other day.

fleet street Wrote:Does anyone know if the smart.fm impporter will still work? I'm pretty sure that it won't but I'm hoping for the best...

It still works on the old site, but they have their new for pay site up that will start charging march 1st for new users and April 1st for current users.

The importer would have to be re-worked to fit the new site and newly tweaked application, if it would work at all......

Get your data now before it's too late

The importer still works, just pulled down the core 6000. Grab what you want while it's there.

I was just starting to get into their Dictation feature.

Their users are right, content was created by them and shared with everyone and now they are supposed to pay for using it... not gonna happen. There needs to be some different business model here.

I see a great opportunity for Anki here. Expand/update AnkiWeb, add cross-deck fact linking (it probably would require a dumbed down card model universal for everyone to make it work) and collaboration features for creating/updating/managing facts in decks and you have yourself a smart.fm

Make it a subscription service (for sync and access to new stuff) from the start but in a normal price range (12$/mo is a lot for some people).

[ファブリス]

Meetup lost 95% of its activity when going paid, and had some serious backlash, but now is doing very well.

It turns out charging the event organizers also acts as a quality filter, and made the business sustainable.

For a site like iKnow it doesn't work the same way. But who knows, maybe that's what they are betting on: if only 5% of users choose to continue to use it with a subscription, and the current user base is large enough, then they'll have a sustainable business model.

Why would you want to cater to people who don't value your service? Better have 5% of the user base, be paid, and feel a lot better about the service you provide.

Gingerninja Wrote:The importer still works, just pulled down the core 6000. Grab what you want while it's there.

Does it dl the audio? I can't seem to get it to work...

Iknow! ... no. actually I don't know - what were they thinking? Surely targeted ads for language textbooks, language schools, exchange programmes, holiday sites, etc. would have been a far more effective way of making money from the site.

I'll miss this for the dictation, I don't spose there's any alternative is there?? I think you can do it in anki somehow but it was good with the scores etc.

I think that kind dictation app has a lot of potential if it's be used with real life stuff from dramas and songs. I made this goal for dictation and it's pretty fun: http://smart.fm/goals/184172

Front:
Audio

Closed Delete (set to check against this field)
sentence

Back
Whatever else

It's fairly close.

The way smart fm gave you 4 chances and highlighted the mistake was good for training the ears though...

Is there anything good on there apart from the Japanese Core? I was searching for some basic Spanish and French resources before, and all I could find was crappy 20 card goals full of mistakes and robo audio. If the new service means they're going to start offering more quality content like the Core for other languages, then it could be half decent. $12/month is way too expensive though.

Anyone who pays for the service after giving hours, days, weeks... years to creating public lists should never claim to have an ounce of self-respect again.

Javizy Wrote:Is there anything good on there apart from the Japanese Core?

Chinese Core. But you can get plenty of Chinese sentences with audio elsewhere, too.


If they offer something good, it will be ripped sooner rather than later.

I feel kind of bad for the folks who spent all that time on it, but I feel kind of relieved that I'm not one of them.

This is a reminder to all of us who use these kinds of sites-- what you think may be "your stuff" isn't your stuff. As soon as you put it on their website, on their servers, you're pretty much at their mercy, and if they decide to shut it down, erase it, go pay, or whatever, that's that.

mistamark Wrote:

Gingerninja Wrote:The importer still works, just pulled down the core 6000. Grab what you want while it's there.

Does it dl the audio? I can't seem to get it to work...

Iknow! ... no. actually I don't know - what were they thinking? Surely targeted ads for language textbooks, language schools, exchange programmes, holiday sites, etc. would have been a far more effective way of making money from the site.

Yeah mine has the audio. I typed in core 6000, and picked the file with the 4000 facts, one big deck so i can systematically go through it.

Sucks. The new interface looks better, but it look a really long time for them to change anything at all, regarding the many (and really good) suggestions users made. The fact that they are taking everything and giving nothing is makes me puke. Guess they expect some users to leave.

buonaparte Wrote:

Javizy Wrote:Is there anything good on there apart from the Japanese Core?

Chinese Core. But you can get plenty of Chinese sentences with audio elsewhere, too.

If they offer something good, it will be ripped sooner rather than later.

I'm also curious about this. I never used the site (except indirectly through the Kore deck) and had considered looking for more stuff on there but never had the time. Are there any good _Japanese_ resources besides Core6k?

overture2112 Wrote:[ Are there any good _Japanese_ resources besides Core6k?

If you mean sentences with audio and a translation into English there's JapanesePod101 line-by-line audio. It was ripped and posted here, but the links were deleted by the Admin. But it is floating around the Net.

If you mean parallel e-novels with good quality audio, there are not too many good resources, I'm afraid.
There's The Little Prince, Alice in Wonderland, two Harry Potter books, and some older stuff by Japanese authors: Natume Souseki, Akutagawa Ryuunosuke, Dazai Osamu, etc.

The Japanese are not too keen on audiobooks, I'm afraid. I wish they were. I don't like them because of that. If I were the Emperor, I would tell them to record plenty for me.

I'm bummed about smart.fm closing down, but I use Anki as well. So it's not a total loss.

If anyone knows of a good vocab list besides Core6000, can you post a link? Core6000 was on my goal list after finishing RTK, but I don't want to use it illegally... And there's no way I can finish RTK before smart.fm goes paid.

Thanks in advance! This community is awesome.

Am I the only one saddened by this?

I found learning Core 2000 through Anki impossible, where as studying new vocab using the iKnow application just works for me. Not sure if it's the way it breaks it in lessons of 10 words, or way it tests you, or the fact that every word has some context (an image and a sentence), but everything just sticks.

Yes Anki does have better SRS for long term retention, but I love smartfm for short/medium term learning and the dictation mode. I should finish Core 2000 by March, guess I'll find a new way to study the 6000

Edit: By charging, I hope they're going to add serious value to the site i.e. clean up the UI, new features (like offline mode), and a new iPhone (the last one didn't work, so they just dumped it) etc. If they're just going to charge for what they have now, I don't think it's worth $12 per month..

winterpromise31 Wrote:I'm bummed about smart.fm closing down, but I use Anki as well. So it's not a total loss.

If anyone knows of a good vocab list besides Core6000, can you post a link? Core6000 was on my goal list after finishing RTK, but I don't want to use it illegally... And there's no way I can finish RTK before smart.fm goes paid.

Thanks in advance! This community is awesome.

Just download the Anki deck with audio now, you won't be using it illegally. They released all that material for free, and made a public API specifically so people could connect to their servers and access the material. It's perfectly legal to use it, even after they start charging for the site.

I'll be bummed if youtube decides to paid...Smart FM on the other hand frankly never seemed worth my time. There are much better ways to learn vocab, not from arbitrary lists made by other beginners...You don't need to sit around waiting for other people to create perfect learner content for you, just hit the media and start learning from it indiscriminately or use quality materials published by professionals. I'm talking about books like the DOBG, phrasebooks full of translated sentences or that particles book everyone's always going on about...