Pimsleur App: 50 years old, offering 50 languages — and now a “Killer App.”

I’ve always dreamed of being within a mile of a Killer App.  Merriam-Webster defines one as “a computer application of such great value or popularity that it assures the success of the technology with which it is associated.”  In fact, my Facebook membership dates to August 6, 2007 when I got it into my head that I could invent a Killer App for SparkNotes (where I then worked), just by a little osmosis and a lot of hutzpuh.  No such luck.

Years later, our Killer App, better known as the Pimsleur Course Manager (Pimsleur App), is now responsible for moving the digital courses from our website to your phone, tablet, or desktop, without your having to look under the hood and locate where the downloaded MP3 audio files have been hidden.

All you have to do is follow the link for your free Course Manager App of choice:  iTunes for all the Apple mobile devices, the Google Play store for Android, and then two desktop versions –one for PC’s and and one for MAC.  Activate the Pimsleur App, then log in using your Pimsleur.com email address and password.

It’s at this point the miracle happens (ok, it’s just another cool use of WIFI):  the App’s Library fills up with a list of the Course(s) you have purchased on pimsleur.com, and when you touch the appropriate icon the app begins to import your Course(s), allowing you to determine the amount of  download– from all at once, to lesson by lesson, depending on how much available space you have.

Once the Pimsleur App has you squared away with your course, it ceases to be a download manager and becomes the perfect companion for learning with Pimsleur.  Basically it lets you focus solely on the content of the lessons, proceeding daily through each half-hour session, remembering where you left off if you take a break.  The Pimsleur App makes the courses truly Pimsleur-Portable.

The Pimsleur’s Course Manager App operates on the same principle as the Nook for i/Phone, or the Kindle for i/Phone apps.  Each is free, and only requires you to log in with your Web ID and password, displaying your library of digital books and then letting you read a book in the same environment as the full blown Kindle or Nook.

For me the “Killer” aspect of the Pimsleur App is the perfect marriage between how we recommend you do a Pimsleur course and how the App effortlessly walks you through the daily application of the lessons and readings.  Pimsleur is a linear program and with the Pimsleur App you spend your time learning, not trying to remember what lesson you are on and where it’s stored.

This simple, free shell of an App that takes 120 half-hour lessons of Spanish (and/or lessons from 49 other languages) and delivers them up one-by-one, keeping  your place no matter where you leave off,  magnifies the effects of the Pimsleur Method by letting you focus on your accent and not your hard drive.