Months ago, I signed up for a free resource at Learn Out Loud and have been pleasantly surprised by all of the goodies I’ve received in my inbox since. From talks by Amy Tan to lectures featuring famous authors and historians to even classical books on tape, nearly every free download has provided something to enjoy.

And if you don’t feel like signing up for the emails, you can actually access hundreds of free audio files on the site instantly. There’s something for everyone, including biographies, philosophy essays, business lectures, current events, digital information, travel, sports, health and fitness—if there’s something you’re hoping to learn about, chances are you can get a free download here.

The beauty of this opportunity is that many of these talks are great source material. So if you’re an auditory learner looking for some sources for a paper, you can find what you need and listen to it, jotting down what you want to quote from and include it in your outline later. You can even source much of these materials the same way as you would any that you would read; you’d simply be listening to them rather than reading them.

Of course, there’s also the benefit of being able to download items and listen to them while driving, walking, working out, etc. You probably wouldn’t want to take notes during those times (particularly while on the road!) but you could, say, learn a foreign language, or read a book for pleasure that way. Why pay for expensive programs when you can get them here?

Yes, the site does have items you can purchase as well, but with so many free things available you probably won’t need to go as far as to do that. There are even relaxation mp3s, Billy Graham sermons for the religious folk out there, and Randy Pausch’s famous inspirational last lecture. You can search by category, author, publisher, and more. If you do sign up for the email, you will also receive free video tutorials as well.

The audio I received most recently was Spanish for Beginners, and is led by a native Spanish-speaker. Though I’ve taken several Spanish courses, I look forward to this refresher with its “tips on how to learn Spanish better and faster… how to improve pronunciation and expand vocabulary efficiently.” It’s also supposed to contain sections on grammar, sentence structure, and more. If nothing else, this is a great resource for building on knowledge already being learned in the classroom.