WHAT IS TORAHMEDIA?
Project Genesis and many other organizations have become concerned about the preservation and distribution of the many Torah lectures recorded on audiotapes. With the advance of MP3 digitalization and the accessibility of the internet, the solution was found. Many Torah institutions offer streaming and downloading of lectures from their own websites. Our vision is to make ALL the Torah audio libraries accessible and searchable in ONE place. Through our site you can link to all of these libraries or you can listen right here.
Read about TorahMedia.com featured in the Baltimore Jewish Times.
At present TorahMedia has 26,032 files to stream and download. These lectures have been gathered from throughout the world. Some of them are from web sites. Some of them are from rabbis' or organizations' archival collections. Many of them are live lectures recorded just last week!
HOW TO BECOME A MEMBER
Listen to recordings on TorahMedia.com by becoming a member of our library. We have three types of membership: Free Listening, Monthly and Yearly.
- Free Listening allows you to download or stream only the "Free Access" TorahMedia titles. It's a great way to try out TorahMedia for the first time.
- Monthly Members will have access to more than 26030 files of Torah inspiration and education for just $9.95 a month. There are no extra charges for downloads. The membership works like a lending library. You can "take out" up to 15 recordings at a time. You can use them as long as you like, but you cannot take more unless you "return" the ones you have. These recordings must be "returned" in the form of erasing them before you take more. We use the honor system, trusting you when you tell us you have erased them. You receive a 10% discount on all purchases.
- Yearly Members have all the benefits of Monthly Members - plus TWO FREE MONTHS of membership. $99.00 gives you an entire year of TorahMedia.
Honor Policy
With a traditional library, you return a physical object like a book or a tape. In our library since the files are electronic, you cannot "return" them. Returning the files to TorahMedia means to ERASE them. If you have downloaded the files directly to an MP3 player, erasing the files will make room for more. If you downloaded the files to your computer, you need to search your hard drive for the location of the file and delete it. Most computers will offer a delete option when you highlight the file in the file menu; right click the mouse and choose delete. If you have copied it to your computer and then burned it to a CD, you need to erase the file from both places and discard the CD if it can't be erased. When you return to borrow additional files, you can click on the borrowed files to indicate which ones you have erased or "returned."
We trust our members and we know you will behave honorably. This site has been created with charitable funds in order to spread Torah. Each download provides the speaker with income credits. Please respect our efforts and the speakers we represent.
HOW TO SEARCH TORAHMEDIA
In TorahMedia you can find all lectures by a certain speaker, all lectures on a certain subject or you can find a specific lecture that you know about. There are several ways to search.
Top of the Screen
Use the search tabs on the top of the screen that allow you to use drop down menus to search by topic. As our library grows, we will further refine the topic list. If you click on speaker, you will see a list of all the speakers in our system. If you click on a specific speaker's name, it will give you a list of the titles of all lectures available from that speaker. If you click catalog you will see a list of all lectures currently in the TorahMedia database arranged alphabetically by lecture title. In each case, if you want to listen to a few minutes of a lecture that interests you, you can click Listen Now. This choice will begin streaming the file at low bandwidth, which provides the fastest access.
If you want more details on a lecture title that interests you, clicking on that specific title will bring you to a page that gives you all the lecture details we have available. You will see a more detailed description of the lecture, the length of the lecture, the size of the file in computer terms, which will affect how long it will take to download and many other facts. This lecture page might include a speaker's biography. We are slowly adding speaker biographies as we receive them.
Left Side of Screen
On the left-hand navigation bar, there are two choices for searching. A simple search allows you to enter a subject of interest, the name of a speaker, name of organization or even a word from the title. The Advanced Search gives you all the details that you can use for a more refined search. You can look for a lecture or series title, a speaker or organization, audience and level of instruction. It will also allow you to search ONLY among files that have a compatible file type for your software.
HOW TO STREAM AND DOWNLOAD
In order to stream and download there are some basic requirements your computer must meet:
Browsers
For all types of computers including PC's, Macs, which are the most common, browser requirements include Internet Explorer version 5 or newer, Netscape 4.7 or newer, all versions of Mozilla and Firefox, and AOL 6.0 or newer.
File Formats
There are three kinds of file formats in our library, MP3, RealMedia and WindowsMedia. The MP3 file type works on virtually all audio software and is the easiest to use. For that reason all lectures that WE upload here at TorahMedia are MP3 files. Our lecturers, however, can choose in which format to use in recording their files. Unfortunately, files that are encoded (recorded) in RealMedia or WindowsMedia formats are not compatible with one another but either player can play MP3's. The good news is that most computers have enough space to have both programs.
Players
RealPlayer and Windows Media Player are software programs that are available to download free.
To play Real Media files, download RealPlayer from www.realplayer.com
To play Windows Media files, download Windows Media Player from www.windowsmedia.com/download
When you start streaming or downloading, the audio interface page from your software, such as RealPlayer or WindowsMedia, will come up on your computer and will allow you to open the file. The buttons on these players will allow you to start, stop, change volume and quickly advance or replay the file.
MY ACCOUNT
Once you log in as a member you will be able to view a summary of your file activity on the top of the left-hand navigation bar on all inner pages of the website. This box is titled MY ACCOUNT. To modify your address or credit card number, click on the "modify information" link in my account and enter the correct information.
To view more detailed account information click on the account button on the right hand side at the top of the screen. This will allow you to view all the information about your membership, such as the date you joined. In this menu, you can also view the files you have borrowed. In this link you can return your files as well.
HOW TO CANCEL YOUR MEMBERSHIP
To cancel your account, first click on the account button on the top right hand side of the page to access the information for your account. Next click on "Cancel Membership" and follow the directions.
CUSTOMER CARE
If you have any questions or comments regarding TorahMedia, please feel free to contact our staff at 410-602-1350 or at [email protected].
