Indonesian Pod 101

Type: Online Program
Cost: Basic $4/month, Premium $10/month. Currency unknown
Requirements: Computer with internet
Audience: Absolute Beginner + (but see below)
Website: http://www.indonesianpod101.com/

Update 21/2/2016 - These guys have cleaned up their website big-time. I can't review it because it's a paid site and I'm not looking to join anything at the moment. I'll leave the post below as-is, but be aware that as this was 4 years ago, it's probably better now.

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I'm a little confused about this product so far. My first impression was that it was a scam, but a Google search revealed that they do several other languages too, particularly Japanese, and people do like it.

This is a horrifyingly messy website. It's complicated, has a million options, and looks like it was put together by a committee. It actually looks like a scam, one of those ones where everything leads to "pay here". Even the "connect with Facebook" link doesn't work.

The basic premise is audio and video podcasts, which you can either download via iTunes or directly from the site, with PDF lesson guides and flashcards. With varying levels of membership, you get more included. The free membership gets you the last 3 weeks of podcasts (you can download these from iTunes without an account anyway) as well as access to the "community" with lesson discussions etc - however I have as yet been unable to find this community. There's a forum, but with only 3 posts.

The problem is, there actually isn't a lot of content! Take, for example, the Absolute Beginner section. This is supposed to be a 25-lesson course and from the "Explore Curriculum" link, it looks great. But it's not there! There are no lessons, not on the website and not on iTunes. There are Advanced lessons, but nothing basic. This could be explained by my account being a free version, except that you get Premium for the first 7 days, so in theory I have full access to the site at the moment. I emailed them, mentioning that I was thinking about paying (this is true) and could they tell me where the lessons were, but I received no response.

So the net result at the moment is that I think a free account is worth signing up for to have a look, but paying is up to you. Perhaps I have just missed the point. I'm going to keep trying, and if things improve, I'll update this post and put it into the "Great Resources" section.

Update: 3 days later... still no reply. Not looking good.