Betrayal

iKnow / smart.fm started over 2 years ago as a free way to increase your vocabulary. They started out very strong but over time got messier, harder to use, and now they've decided to start charging people for the privilege of using their now broken interface.

I liked the way it quizzes you on learning words, but I can just use anki for similar benefit, just a little less "fun". There was a TONNE of user submitted material as well that will only be accessible through the new paid app.

They tried to combine a study platform with social networking, I liked seeing friends progress, commenting etc. but now that aspect of it is gone.

I'm not going to be subscribing. It might be worth the money for some people, but I'll save my dollars, use anki, and perhaps buy a new book.

Sources

http://www.tofugu.com/2011/01/26/smartfm-closing-down/

http://blog.smart.fm/en/2011/01/27/closing-the-smart-fm-service/

http://blog.smart.fm/en/2011/01/27/closing-the-smart-fm-service/

RTK done

Well about a week ago I entered kanji #2042 into my SRS. 2 days ago I exported my progress from kanji.koohii.com to anki.

It feels good to be done the book, but it will take some time for my reviews to die down enough to be comfortable :)

I am doing a super quick runthrough of all the grammar and vocab from lessons 1-8 of JFE, and then will start Lesson 9. I am also entering steps 1 and 2 from smart.fm's Core 2000 Japanese lists. I am around 150 sentences in so far.

Progress is great, now back onto learning real Japanese ^_^