I recently switched jobs and my former 18 minute (each way) is now a drive of, no less, than 40 minutes each way daily. It’s taken some getting use to, but I happen to enjoy listening to shiurim and also music (90% Jewish music and 10% non-Jewish).
Just last week, on RavMosheWeinberger.com, they reduced the price of shiurim credit to 99 cepts per credit and also started offering 50 downloads per month for only $6.99. That’s right, you can download 50 shiurim a month for the low price of about 14 cents a shiur. You can even roll-over unused credit to the next month. This is incredible and for me, means I can actually learn more Torah from Rav Weinberger and also catch up on a bunch of shiurim series that I’ve been hold off on purchasing.
I even figured out that if I drive on the non-toll roads about 10 days out of the month, I will have actually saved the same money as I’m spending on the the monthly download fees. Of course, this means that it will take a little longer to get to work those days, but that’s more time to listen to shiurim!!
Please spread the word about this great offer and go check out RavMosheWeinberger.com.
I live on MP3s from:
– yerushalmioneline.org
– yutorah.org
– kmtt.org (“Gush”)
– hashkafacircle.org (R’ Treibitz)
and
– rabbisedley.blogspot.com
All of which are free. The first has enabled me to check my Y-mi learning ability, which in turn enabled me to develop that ability to begin with, which in turn enabled me through almost 20 mesechtos (out of 40), and counting…
Not for a car ride, though.
I would also check out
– 613.org
– naaleh.com
and of course, for someone who follows this blog (thus indicating something about his/her interests) and can follow Hebrew while driving:
– bilvavi.net
Neil,
You might want to switch to embedded comments, as blogger.com took out the subscription option from this version.
And I can’t really leave a tab open on my browser for every comment chain I chimed in on.
Here’s how (as given to me by someone else I made this suggestion to):
1. Go to Layout
2. Choose Settings in the left-side sidebar
2. Choose Posts and Comments in the resulting left-side menu
3. Set Comment Location to Embedded
Thanks and embedded, Micha!
I really appreciate the suggestion!
I think Rabbi Weinberger’s shul should free his Torah, like Rabbi Shaffier of the Shmuz did many years ago.
Imprisoning it behind a pay wall, no matter what the cost, greatly diminishes the ability to spread his Torah.
OTOH, people value more what they pay for. So, RMW’s divrei Torah may be reaching fewer people, but it is probably making bigger total impact.
And $1/shiur…. Even if I did listen to his shiurim, the total cost per month would still be less than what I waste on coffee.
-micha
Mark: I know that his site always offers free shiurim in the “free samples” tab. Also, yutorah.org has 6 or 7 of R Weinberger’s shiurim, too. The same argument about the pay wall could be said for Artscroll and Feldheim. Even the Bilvavi site decided a few months ago to take the text of R Schwartz’s seforim off-line.
Micha: I also made the coffee cheshbon.
I agree that most of the “chassidim” who pay for Rabbi Weinberger’s shiurim appreciate them better.
It’s not just the cost it’s the friction in the process of having to pay.
For the record I have purchased some of them. I would listen to many more for free, but I’m hesitant to pay at this point considering how much free variety there is in the free stuff that is available.
I think the better model is giving them away for free, with a one time registration like Naaleh or the Shmuz and then ask for donations in appreciation or sell special value items if appropriate. More Torah is spread and I think they would actually make more money from non-members of the Shul.
As far as Art Scroll and Feldheim, they need to charge to support their publishing. I do wish they would charge much less or make some things available for free or a much cheaper cost.
I don’t think the income they get from these tapes contributes significantly to the price the Shul pays for Rabbi Weinberger’s service.
Both those models are good. I guess people are willing to pay for what they like, though.