IMPORTANT Changes to ESLPod.com – Please Read

info-553639_1920We want to let you know of some big changes to ESLPod.com. We have completely redesigned (changed the look and function of) our website. We have also changed how you can listen and read our lessons.

WHAT ARE THE CHANGES?

We are very excited to be launching (starting) our new Select English Membership. We designed the new Select English Membership to be an even better way for you to listen and learn.

As a Select English Member:

  • You can choose any of our 1800+ lessons.
  • Each lesson you choose comes with MP3 audio and PDF Learning Guide files you can download to listen and read anywhere.
  • You can choose from regular podcasts (now called “Daily English” lessons) and English Café episodes (now called “Cultural English” lessons).
  • The choice is yours: You pick only the lessons you want and only on the topics you need.

Get more information about the Select English Membership.

BASIC AND PREMIUM MEMBERS:  Don’t worry!  If you like your membership, you can keep it! The main difference will be a new way of downloading your audio and PDF files. To get detail instructions, go to “How to Log In and Download Basic and Premium Learning Guides.

Have more questions? See our new Frequently Asked Questions page for more details, including questions and answers in 11 different languages. Get help with:

How to Sign Up for a Select English Membership
How to Find and Download Select English Lessons
How to Download Files for English Collections + Special Courses
How to Log In and Download Basic and Premium Learning Guides

WHY DID WE MAKE CHANGES?

We made these changes so that we can still make our lessons available to everyone at a low price.

Please keep in mind that:

  • ESLPod.com began over 11 years ago. Since we began offering Basic and Premium Memberships, we have never raised (increased) our prices. At the same time, the number of lessons Premium Members have access to has gone from a few dozen to over 1800. During the same period, our production costs (cost of making podcasts/lessons) have gone up 670%.
  • ESLPod.com does not have any advertising on its website, audio lessons, or blog so that you can listen and read without being bothered by ads.
  • ESLPod.com does not receive any money from the government or from any other source. We are supported solely (only; completely) through your memberships and donations.
  • Neither ESLPod.com nor Jeff (nor Lucy) have ever been paid for endorsements (getting a fee for saying they like or use a product or service) or promotions (activities to increase sales).
  • ESLPod.com has never accepted money by partnering with larger companies or organizations that wanted access to our listeners and users. We have never sold our email lists.

We have kept our independence because we wanted the freedom to create the best lessons we could for our listeners. If we had advertisers, sponsors, or partnerships, we would not have complete freedom to do what we know is right and best for the English learners who visit our website and listen to our lessons.

This is why we need listeners like you to become Select English Members. With your membership and your support, we can continue to make our lessons available to everyone at a low price.

Thank you for your understanding and your support. ESLPod.com would not exist (be here; be alive) without your generous help.

~ Jeff McQuillan + Lucy Tse

(1) If you are a Basic or Premium Member, you should have received an email from us already explaining our changes, with a limited time special offer that will give you a low price on our new Select English Membership. If you did not get that email, please email us at eslpod@eslpod.com.
(2) We will not be using our iTunes or podcast feed for the audio files for Basic and Premium Memberships. We will still have sample lessons on our iTunes podcast, however.
(3) The new Select English Membership gives you the most for your money, but you can also buy lessons without becoming a member – see our English Collections option.
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14 Responses to IMPORTANT Changes to ESLPod.com – Please Read

  1. emiliano says:

    Dear Jeff and Lucy, you know that are the best English Teachers I ever had, so I will remain with you for as much time as could or live.
    Congratulations for the change, I do think it was time to do some of these changes that I am sure they will be for good.

    Yes I am sure about that.

    With all my best wishes and love. emiliano

  2. Mary Carmen says:

    Hello!
    Congratulations Jeff and Lucy on the new design of your website, it is much appealing.
    Fortunately, you haven’t changed the esl logo with those letters in green that I like so much.
    Good luck,
    Mari Carmen

  3. saul veloz says:

    i really learned a lot from you. you are the best but i am poor ,i use my broken cell phone to hear you every day, i hope to have free acces to hear you , good luck my friend

  4. Myokoko says:

    Hi, Jeff and Lucy,

    Now your website has transformed into complete new look and theme, with special membership featuring in. Good things always come with the changes and these changes are just the added values to what it has been for 11 years. Congrats!

    Has said many times and will be saying countless times that the teachers themselves at Eslpod.com and their teaching materials are the best ones in this world. Someone won’t never get a chance to know that this guy dropping down these lines was once tripping over his words and sentences in sweat in just figuring out how to say a Thank-You message in this blog until he listened to a few ESLPodasts.

    Come on fellow English learners, you all are with the best teachers, the best learning materials, which are more than enough what you can ever get in the world today. Go grab these and crack the code to mastering the English language. If you do follow these lessons and learning materials, you will be quite on your way to improving your English skills. Oh my! Almost forget to say that you’re half-way there by just landing on this special corner of the English teachers and learners from all over 185 countries! Trust me. 🙂

  5. Artavan says:

    Hi Dr. Jeff and Dr. lucy. you’ve been doing an excellent job for years and i hope these changes help you to maintain your wonderful job, but its so unfortunate for some people that cant listen to you anymore . by the way we still can read your blog and other free stuffs.
    with a heart full of sorrows and tears on chiks, good luck and best wishes.

  6. Marcos says:

    Congratulations Jeff and lucy. I wish you and the ESL family the best and I sure ESL family will grow more and more with this change.
    I really learned a lot from you.

    Thank you all.

    Marcos
    From Americana city – Brazil

  7. Marcio Braga says:

    Hi Dr. Jeff, Today I talked to my niece:

    “it´s over, I can’t teach you with EslPod -podcasts, they closed the door.
    Unfortunatelly we don’t have the audios.”
    She is a pretty 14 years old girl and she loved your podcast.
    I´m very sad.
    I ´ve been studing since 2013…

    My best regards,

    Márcio Braga
    Brazil

  8. João says:

    Hi!

    One more from Brazil. IoI

    For years I have been following the website and for everything until today, thank you so much!

    Unfortunately for people like us in Brazil this new format is inaccessible, $15 turns into almost R$60,00 which is pretty much in a country whose minimum wage is R$880,00.

    It’s sad, but I understand your decision.

    Again, thanks for all.

  9. Anton_Rich says:

    Hey, why the production cost went up to 670%?
    How come?

    If it’s because the audio weighs too much, why don’t you use an external service?

    Why don’t you allow to download just the audio?

    Note on the design: The idea behind UX is nice, but the UI itself is very bad, it has no taste.

  10. Letícia says:

    Hello, Dr. McQuillan and Dr. Tse

    That was a fair decision. Your work on this website is awesome! And for many years it has been free! You guys deserve a payment for your great job.

    I am a Brazilian listener and I’m with you. 😉

  11. S says:

    I can understand they have to make some changes to keep ESLPod running forward but, from the academic point of view, I’m not sure if it’s a good thing that their huge amount of great free libraries being totally lost from iTunes since it’s been definitely helpful for the people who wanted to learn English for many years.

    If it’s a matter of the cost in a way, the audio files don’t need to be recorded in stereo; it still works pretty the same in mono, and the encoding bit rate doesn’t need to be so high, either. Their old episodes used to be very light; almost as half size as the recent ones. With the same twists, they could save some cost on their servers, I guess.

    I know it’s a very difficult problem but I hope there’d be some way remained to keep listening to Jeff’s funny joke with Lucy’s excellent job, for free, for the rest of us. Thanks.

  12. Napoleon says:

    Hi teachers. Thanks a lot for your lessons during all this years. It’s clear why you are making this changes.
    But, for students like me in Colombia ( South America ) it could be difficult to pay $15 dollars by month. Please consider keep free brodcasting at least 1 free lesson at month, or maybe, you can brodcast older lessons. It could help you to continuing promoting your site. You could also use ads to support a free membership. Why not? I’m sure that some of your students ( including me ) will have not problem to have ads and banners if that allows to access some of your great lessons!

  13. Esteban says:

    Hello

    I have been using and promoting your site during just a few months. I understand the reasons of the change as the other users, but it’s sad that the change is so radical in terms of costs. An important part of your audience saw the raising of an imposing market over their habitual free library for years without any prior notice. Anyway, i think you have done too much for that people in the past after all. Consider what Napoleon said about the ads, it can be a good idea too.

    Good luck and thanks

  14. claudio says:

    You are the best english course I know , with always interesting aspects covered in the podcasts and english café. I’ve heard many interesting lesson and I was able improve my poor english.
    I have to thank you for everything, specially for the free time ago.
    But I’m not sure it was the best decision. I think it was so radical.
    Why not to make a transition time?
    I’m afraid you lose followers and need to go back to the previous time.
    But all my wishes and thoughts are you be successful, you deserve.
    Thank you Jeff, thank you Lucy.

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