InterLingua Educational Publishing wants to put Shakespeare on your portable media player.

The company announced today the availability of NotePods, a collection of $1.99 audio downloads for iPods and MP3 players designed to help students with their exams and term papers.

“NotePods are audio summaries of books and plays by Shakespeare, Dickens, Austen and other required authors that can be played on a student’s iPod, MP3 player or computer,” says Jack Bernstein, President of InterLingua Educational Publishing.

“The NotePods are being written by university teachers and recorded by professional actors,” says Bernstein, “so they should be accurate, comprehensive, and easy to listen to. By formatting the summaries for use on an iPod or MP3 player, students can study while riding on the bus, jogging, biking, laying on the grass, and even walking the dog.”

An online survey of required reading found almost 500 titles that are commonly assigned at the high school and college levels. The titles were ranked in order of popularity and InterLingua started at the top and worked its way down the list, so the most popular titles, such as Macbeth and The Catcher in the Rye are completed first.

By the end of 2006, InterLingua expects to have about 125 audio summaries available, and the goal is to have around 300 titles available by the end of 2007.

In addition to the audio summaries, students can also download text versions of the summaries which can be read on their computers or iPods, and they can also download the full text version of many, but not all, of the books and plays, also for only $1.99 each.

Also, to help students focus their studies, a “Test Questions Blog” is also being added to the site, so students can review typical exam questions prior to taking a test.