Finally, redeem your commute time!

Picture taken from 123rf.com

I think most of us commute. Some long ways on smooth roads, others in subways crossing town, yet others short distances in huge traffic jams. Or few like me; on a bike - in my case 20 minutes both ways.
What do you do in this valuable time? To be honest, I always used to just listen to the radio. It's so easy. That button is right there, and there is always some kind of radio station for the mood I'm in. Or the mood I want to be in! But yet it always dictates what I'm listening too. In between the great songs or great interviews there is tons of 'junk' from the radio station itself, or worst yet, commercials! You are not in charge...

These days you can redeem your traffic time much better. Imagine redeeming your commute time to grow academically. Imagine redeeming your commute time to become an expert in an area you really enjoy. Imagine redeeming your commute time learning a new skill, a new language or... a new profession! Seriously, with the  constant development of the web - we have choices!

Here are three amazing tools available for EVERY ONE that wants to redeem his/her commute time! And with all of them; you can start today!

1. Subscribe to some good podcasts
One of my current favorites is to listen to Pod-casts. I personally don't use Apple's I-tunes for this, but I simply subscribe to pod-casts  using Google Reader. In this reader I've made one folder called 'Listen' and gives me direct inside into all the new episodes of the programs I like to listen too. Without commercials! Or without me having to wait until a certain time to listen! I even have one stream of the national News Broadcasting Service, allowing me to always choice the lasts radio episode of the news. And all this is for free! If you pay for Internet on your phone, just make sure you download the episode when you're still in a place that has wireless Internet. And if your Internet usage is part of your phone plan (like mine is) you do whatever you want to do!

2. Listen to an audio-book
I just started doing this - and I absolutely LOVE it! I always get so jealous when I hear people that read one or two books a month! (People that read more than that  I can't even acknowledge!) I think: where do you find the time to do all this?! But recently I discovered a thing that has been around for a LONGGG time: Audiobooks! To be honest, I thought it was always a bit...dull. Listening to somebody reading a book to you. And I found it expensive too. But after receiving constant offers from Audible I just wanted to give it a try! At this point I've listened to 5 audio books cover to cover within 2 months, and I love it!
Tip: you can put the reading speed faster! Of course you need to be able to 'process' all you hear - but I find that 1,25x the speed works great for me!

3. Other great tools!
There are many other great ways of taking charge of what you listen to, and how you redeem your commute time. For example, I've put a whole French MP3 course on my phone! Truth is, I'm still no good at it, so I thought I shouldn't really make it 'point number 3' on the list...
Yet an other great way to redeem my commute time is listening to YouVison. It's an amazing library of bibles, many of which have audio Bibles available as well! They are all free - but you can't download them ahead of time - so you do need Internet connection for the audio versions. Of course this does not have your interest if you're not a Christian, but hey - I thought I share it here anyway! Sure there must be other faith-related books available - I just don't know about them!

What am I missing? What do you do to redeem you commute time?!