There has been some concern over the new style of PDF transcript. Let me explain:
1) The traditional characters will be back soon. We are switching things over to V3 where the 2 versions of the PDF transcripts will be in separate files.
2) Copying and pasting from the PDFs: It was never the plan to stop this. It is a temporary side effect of switching to a better PDF creation system—one that will also re-generate all the old PDFs to change them over to the new, improved format.
3) Font readability issues: We will be changing the pinyin font back to something clearer.
4) Including the lesson numbers in the PDFs, along with the lesson titles: We are working on a way to work the lesson numbers into the new PDF style.
Apologies for any inconvenience. I promise all of this will happen soon. I’m sure that once you see V3 you will agree that it’s worth it. We thank our big family of Cpoddies for their patience, and hope that this helps to put everyone’s mind at ease.
Amber Pisoni
中文 Chinese
AuntySue Says:
April 10th, 2007 at 6:22 pm
Phew! Thanks for the clarification.
It’s not too much trouble to bear with the changes when we know what’s going on and that it’s not permanent. Even nicer to know that you’re developing a new more controlled system for maintaining them.
And if you _can_ find a way to get some numbering system in there as well, any system will do, that’ll certainly make it easier for the compulsive organisers among us
Lady Luck Says:
April 11th, 2007 at 3:20 am
Sorry if this has been asked & answered, but what is the estimated date of availability for V3? Thanks!
Ken Carroll Says:
April 11th, 2007 at 8:00 am
Lady Luck,
Very soon.
Ken Carroll
敦禮 Says:
April 11th, 2007 at 9:08 am
Is the Chinesepod V3 the same format as the SpanishSense website? From what I have seen in the Cpod blogs and what I saw on SpanishSense, the website format seems identical. Colleen’s picture even made it on the home page.
Thanks Ken for resting our anxious desires. Now that Cpod has treated us poddies so well, we might be consider a bit spoiled but appreciative.
Pat Says:
April 11th, 2007 at 9:26 am
Great that you responded to Cpoddie concerns on pinyin font readability issues. Thanks
goulnik (郭力毅) Says:
April 11th, 2007 at 1:08 pm
well, AuntySue isn’t there is a numbering system already?
I personally keep all lesson and file names in an OO-calcsheet I use to automate renaming of both pdf and mp3 to something human-readable (e.g. B102_China_s_Most_Famous_Tourist_Destinations) which I then organize in separate folders for each level.
Yv
Bazza 白锐 Says:
April 11th, 2007 at 7:01 pm
Frank’s blog seem to think I’m a spammer now.
Eileen Says:
April 12th, 2007 at 11:53 am
I’ll inform Frank, Bazza, don’t worry!
Barbara Verble Says:
April 12th, 2007 at 5:06 pm
I don’t know if this is the place to report this, but since we seem to be talking about technical difficulties, is anyone else experiencing problems with the audio on the expansion exercises? I really love to listen to those sentences played over and over again, but when I skip around or start in the middle of the exercises, I have issues with the audio which often skips and stops after a few words. Its very kun4 rao3. Is it just me? Computers are not really my friends.
Marc Says:
April 13th, 2007 at 4:13 am
Barbara,
I have the same script problem with audio once I scroll down the page and try to play back the sentences beyond the first half. There is a workaround: wiggle the moisepointer back and forth over the arrow. I don’t know what the bug is but I hope it will have magically disappeared in version 3.0
mike in Jubei Says:
April 13th, 2007 at 5:59 am
Marc and Barbara
The same occurs for me on a PC but not on my Apple. Also it seems to be dependent on the length of the sentence. Sometimes I sense it is related to the time of the day so I do not know if it is a bandwidth limitation on myside or CPod side.
Mike in Jubei
LostInAsia Says:
April 13th, 2007 at 8:43 am
On the PDFs: is it possible to cut and paste the pinyin yet? Can anyone just respond below when it IS possible?
(I ask because my subscription expired last week, and without being able to cut and paste from the PDF into other programs, the subscription is somewhat useless for me.)
I AM looking forward to seeing more traditional characters in V3–I could get a lot more use out of premium features that I tend to ignore. I really hope you’re somehow setting up a toggle where I can switch the whole site from all-simplified to all-traditional.
Thanks!
dave lancashire Says:
April 13th, 2007 at 4:08 pm
(1) AuntySue & goulnik - Under marching orders from Amber, we’ve added an alphanumeric tag to the PDF file right after the title. This is the combination you’ll find on the MP3 file and various documents. It is formatted this way so computers will group files by difficulty level automatically.
(2) LostinAsia - the new PDF has a link to a text file whose content more suitable for copying and pasting. We should probably look at tweaking the interface to make this more directly. All of the content in the PDF can now be copy and pasted directly from the website in V3 as well… which might save a download. The traditional PDF should be going up as soon as the bug-fixing with V3 quiets down and the new site allows people to express a preference for simplified or traditional.
AuntySue Says:
April 13th, 2007 at 5:05 pm
“The traditional PDF… new site allows people to express a preference for simplified or traditional.”
I must be dreaming! ::pinch:: No I’m not, it’s really going to happen!
RhodyRed Says:
April 18th, 2007 at 1:04 am
The V3 upgrade finally forced me to become a paying member, something I had planned to do for a while. Thank you. I like the PDFs but I think one or two things could make them better.
Can you bold face the characters? And use a larger font? Some of the characters are very difficult to read on screen especially if they have several smaller strokes. In fact I have to use a magnifying glass on the printouts and I have to increase size of the PDF onscreen to 200% of actual size to make them legible. I realize my eyes may be older than some users but I don’t need bifocals….yet.
Mike in Taipei Says:
April 22nd, 2007 at 3:45 pm
Hi Ken greetings from Taipei.
One of your old stomping grounds I believe.
Just read your comment above that the Traditional Character PDF’s will be back soon. Thats great. I thought you had droped them. there seemed to be no explination until I stumbeled over your blog site. ( please ignore the email I sent as a conmplaint)
The new web site format is great. Hope paddys days was a success.
Joe Says:
June 23rd, 2007 at 6:53 am
Has this been fixed? I can copy the text from the PDF, but when I paste it’s just garbage.
I’ve created a sort of flashcard database with Access and pasting in the new vocabulary would be a whole lot nicer than typing it in.
Thanks.
Henning Says:
June 23rd, 2007 at 12:58 pm
Joe,
the HTML versions are the perfect fix, aren’t they?
Joe Says:
June 25th, 2007 at 2:33 am
Thanks Henning,
Yes they are actually. Though I didn’t know about them until you posted this. I looked around and saw Aunty Sue’s recent post in the feedback section.
Would be nice if there was an actual link to the HTML page from the lessons page.
Anyway, I’m happy.
Joe