LearnOutLoud.com Teams with Loomia to Bring Personalized Recommendations for Educational and Inspirational Audio and Video Content

March 21, 2006 (PRLEAP.COM) Entertainment News
LOS ANGELES, March 21 — LearnOutLoud.com (http://www.learnoutloud.com/), one of the fastest growing sites for educational and inspirational audio and video content, has teamed with Loomia to provide personalized recommendations to improve user discovery and enjoyment of its growing set of audio books, podcasts, and downloadable audio and video resources.

With over 10,000 titles on its site, LearnOutLoud.com provides the Internet’s largest and most focused selection of audio and video learning materials in the world. Their catalog ranges from the most popular audio books on business, relationships, and self-improvement to insightful and educational materials covering language, literature, history, and religion. In addition to audio books, LearnOutLoud.com features the Internet's first podcast directory specifically created with learning in mind. The company screens thousands of podcasts to find those guaranteed to instruct, inspire, and enlighten. Many of these podcasts, and a number of other downloadable audio and video materials, are free of charge.

To help visitors more easily find titles that most appeal to them within this growing set of content, LearnOutLoud.com recently incorporated the personalized recommendations service from Loomia, which takes each person’s likes and dislikes and makes personalized recommendations that are specific to that user. Only a year old, LearnOutLoud.com is one of the first audio book websites and the only learning provider to offer personalized recommendations to its visitors.

“We have a very large selection of material, but one of the things that has always been a challenge is tailoring our selection to the interests of each visitor. The recommendations system from Loomia makes it very easy for users to find content that suits their tastes and discover titles they might otherwise have missed," says Jon Bischke, founder of LearnOutLoud.com. "We see this as a real benefit to new visitors to our site as well as to our growing audience of life-long learners.”

The recommendations engine allows LearnOutLoud.com visitors to rate audio books, podcasts and other titles on the LearnOutLoud.com site and get recommendations based on these preferences. The recommendations work within and across media types directing visitors to and from audio books and podcasts. After making a handful of selections, the system will start presenting recommendations to users based on the collective wisdom of others in the community.

“No other audience is probably more mindful of their time and so we are very pleased that LearnOutLoud is using our service to help improve the discovery process,” says David Marks, CEO of Loomia. “LearnOutLoud.com is a terrific company to work with because they not only know the learning space but they’re also committed to creating the best type of experience for their growing community of users.”

About LearnOutLoud.com
Launched in 2005, LearnOutLoud.com (htp://www.learnoutloud.com) has quickly become a primary destination on the Internet for audio and video learning. The company is privately held and based in Santa Monica, CA.

About Loomia Recommendations
Loomia Recommendations (http://recommendations.loomia.com) is the quickest way to add personalized recommendations to a web site. The service can be used for any form of media, including audio, video, music, and ringtones regardless of whether they’re downloaded, rented, purchased, traded, or gifted. It can also be used for retail goods and travel and entertainment listings. Founded in 2004, Loomia is a privately held company based in San Francisco, CA.

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