[awesome_dude]

Audio is horrible (for me) for information transfer - reading (90% of the time) is where it's at

Not sure why that is either - because I look at people extolling the virtues of podcasts, saying that they are able to multi task (eg. driving, walking, eat dinner), and still hear the message - which leaves me aghast

[mr_toad]

Podcasts are fine for entertainment, great for tuning out people or the traffic. I don’t expect to absorb information quickly, but try reading anything serious on the train when some guy is non-stop on his phone using his outside voice.

[awesome_dude]

Ha! I used to

I had a 53 minute (each way) commute on the train, and I found it perfect for reading papers or learning skills - I was always amazed that the background noise would disappear and I could get lost in the text

Best study time ever.

[dwattttt]

Brittany Spears - Hit Me Baby One More Time.mp3

To paraphrase the overused 'ol Sapir-Whorf, if all you think about is information that can be best represented as text, all your examples will be ones text wins at.

[awesome_dude]

Not sure, text wins hands down at sharing the ideas of one person, with many, across space and time.

I can read the thoughts of a philosopher who lived on literally the other side of the world, several thousand years ago.

I'm unsure of, but would love to know, any other medium capable of that

[dwattttt]

And what of histories great artists? You can take a walk through a gallery and see many things people wanted to express, reading the artists textual description of it won't invoke the same ideas in you.

[awesome_dude]

You're right, and they do say a painting is worth a thousand words

My only counter would be - when you and I look at them do we get the same words (but I suppose you could also argue that for a book, poem, etc)