The Shaft! Smart.fm Is Closing Down

Do’h. Smart.fm, a service that is used pretty heavily in TextFugu, is getting shut down. It makes me a bit angry, and it’s okay if it makes you a bit angry too. But, it’s totally my fault for relying on something that isn’t my own product, so I’ll take the blame for this one. The important thing is getting this fixed (quickly).

Current users will still have access to everything until March 31, 2011. New users, however, get the shaft, which means TextFugu has to transfer over to something really quickly, otherwise they’ll go to Smart.fm and wonder why they have to pay to play with flashcards. Luckily, a lot of the early stuff has Anki decks, so that should keep everyone covered for at least a week or two.

Here’s the plan I think moving forward, I think, though.

Switch everything over to Anki (which I don’t think will be going anywhere for a while)
Figure out how to start building a flashcard system… in house.

Not trying to put a downer on Smart.fm, but over the last six months or so the user interface has gotten worse and worse. It’s gotten more difficult to use, and there were more problems than solutions, it seemed.

Anki, on the other hand, is good, but not perfect. It has some things that Smart.fm lacks, and doesn’t have some thing Smart.fm has. Depending on what kind of learner you are, Anki might be better or worse for you.

That being said, perhaps it’s time to build something in-house. Something that is perfect just for TextFugu members (but maybe not everyone else). I’m not 100% sure what that would be yet, or how it would be built, but it seems like the next logical step, and would fill a few gaps that are currently being filled by other, free services (that are really good, but maybe not perfect for the long term plan).

So, there you have it. Thanks to all of you who notified me about this, I really appreciate it! We’ll be switching over to Anki for now (I’ll get everything switched over probably by the end of next week), and will be looking to create TextFugu’s own SRS system in the long term.

I’m sorry for the sad news on this – I suppose it was bound to happen, but hopefully it will be a big blessing in disguise, at least in the long term.

Anyways, enjoy your free membership (if you had one already on Smart.fm) until March 31, 2011. It’s not that far away!

http://www.twitter.com/christaran Chris Taran

Thanks for the quick response on this topic. Looking very much forward to whatever solution you’re able to come up with for the future!
http://twitter.com/MiniImai ~Shannon~

I’m glad I can use it until March 31st, but this is a real downer… The reason I liked smart.fm over Anki was the way it quizzed you… Whereas Anki just asks if you know it, really. If you make an SRS system, quizzing would be nice! :D
http://www.callistospatches.com Callisto

This actually really upsets me. Smart.fm was one of the biggest parts of my study routine. Nothing lasts forever, I suppose. So if you’re switching things to Anki, do you think you could do a tutorial on how to use it? Admittedly, I only glanced at their site once and decided I was too dumb to use it, so I’ll take some initiative too and actually *try*…
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=692956199 Andrew Miller

Hey Textfugu. It sucks to hear that this is what’s happening! If you need any help with making the new SRS system, feel free to contact me. I’m currently learning Japanese and have a basis in web design. Building something like an online SRS on your own might prove to be quite time consuming I’m assuming.
Lathandien

I have big hopes for Anki. The problem I had with it was the way to find other people’s flash cards. It seemed really hard to filter out the good ones from the bad (at least from my limited experience). Good luck Koichi.
Jordan

Good thing you already got this. Thanks for using a multi-platform open source program like Anki.
Anonymous

Thanks for the heads up on this! Luckily I relied heavily on White Rabbit Press for hiragana and katakana learning and learned both alphabets that way, but Smart.fm did have plenty of nice features, like audio. Oh well! On to better things, I suppose.
Lord_Azael

On the one hand, it is a shame, but after their big UI overhaul everything got so irritating to use (especially the new study app they made) which is part of the reason my use of textfugu slowed down, I couldn’t study any of the lists you provided on smart.fm without wishing it would revert and be good again.

Good luck finding a solution to this, be it Anki or an in-house system!
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http://twitter.com/Murasaki337 Lee

This is just my luck (^^)! I just signed up a couple of days ago to start learning with Smart.Fm. I’m not sure if I should take this as being lucky for signing up just before it ends, or unlucky that I have just signed up and it is ending soon. Oh well, as Buddha said; Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.
Ad

Darn, that’s a bummer! Of course it is their right to change into a paid service, but it feels a bit as if they’ve lured 1000′s of ppl into their site and now try their luck and see hoi many are signing up in order to not miss smart.fm!
I hope you can think of an alternative, Koichi! I personally am not a fan of Anki, but I admit I haven’t tried it really: I just switched off when I saw you have to pay for Anki if you want to use their iPod-app. Correct me if I’m wrong ;-)
In case you need a programmers’ assistence: I’ve got quite a bit of php- and database-experience and a little ajax too. Just as long as it doesn’t disturb my learning Japanese too much … :-P
Omnislashlb

It is a shame and I like the service even with the bugs. I’ve tried studying with the new system and it has locked up on me a few times. I studied a goal that I had already 99% mastered and now it states that I am 88% mastered. I am going back instead of forward! Darnit…
http://twitter.com/prairiepanda Caddie Frost

Aw man. Smart.fm had gotten pretty janky, but I found that I still made much faster progress using that than with Anki. The study system was much more intelligent in deciding which cards to bring forward. I never used the main iKnow method, but the other tools on there were very effective.(when they worked properly) When I use Anki, every card seems new unless I’ve already studied it well by other means. Also, I can never find audio for it.

There’s a lot of good talent hiding around the internet which is going to waste simply because there isn’t enough connecting reliable collaborators. If you browse around on obscure forums(especially ones with a lot of Anki-related conversation) you’re bound to find somebody with experience to help you with your project.
Shinmanotenchuu

I was thinking of something like what Koichi said… but I don’t like Anki or at least it confuses me. So back to music, games, and crash course reading.
Currently, I’m hoping they would offer basic/premium features. That way people would pay for apps for their phone and “premium” content. The basic features could be something similar to smart.fm but as a forum. In which people could create their own content, not of which uses the “premium” content.
However, if you’re a paid member you can do all sorts of whacky things. ;P -what do y’all think?
http://www.facebook.com/people/Jessica-Nunes/627684756 Jessica Nunes

I have tried to use Anki and I’m still facing some difficulties…
I would appreciate very much a tutorial, just like Callisto.
ngoilan

Really sorry about Smartfm. I guess a lot of us are. I guess, too, that I am in the minority in that I am not so techno saavy and gave up on Anki because I couldn’t figure out how to work it. So a tutorial, as others have suggested, would be great.

Thanks, Koichi, for all you do!
http://www.tofugu.com koichi

Here’s a quick and simple tutorial:

http://www.textfugu.com/season-1/reading-writing-memorizing-hiragana/4-5/

And here’s a super in depth one a TextFugu user wrote:

http://textfugu.com/forum/topic/how-to-use-anki-chea-boi
http://www.tofugu.com koichi

Here’s a quick and simple tutorial:

http://www.textfugu.com/season-1/reading-writing-memorizing-hiragana/4-5/

And here’s a super in depth one a TextFugu user wrote:

http://textfugu.com/forum/topic/how-to-use-anki-chea-boi
http://www.facebook.com/people/Daniel-Parrey/1342361409 Daniel Parrey

Because Anki has been so integral to my learning so far, I’m not too bothered by this. Also when you get around to thinking about in house SRS, I think whats most important is finding the right algorithm, or just simple system.

Kanji Koohiis inhouse SRS is quite good and its simple because it uses the Leitner box method.