NotebookLM efficiency tips

In recent YouTube video titled "NotebookLM in 30 Minutes," Tina Huang shares two practical tips that stood out to me for making learning with NotebookLM more efficient.

Condense NotebookLM audio overviews

For making the most of NotebookLM Audio Overview (that is, podcast-style) content:

• Download the NotebookLM-generated podcast
• Open the downloaded audio file in Google AI Studio (an accessible tool Tina highlights as being free to use)
• Prompt Google AI studio to condense the transcript and convert it from two speakers to one

This process trims away superfluous dialogue, distilling the podcast into its most valuable elements. To enhance the learning experience even further, Tina suggests listening to the processed audio at accelerated speed. This enables covering a concentrated amount of information efficiently, making it perfect for on-the-go learning. Could be useful for people with busy schedules who still wish to remain informed and educated.

NotebookLM "progressive summarization"

• Select specific sources from a notebook's source list and ask NotebookLM to summarize the selected sources
• Save the summary as a note
• Add note as a new source
  Can be iterated multiple times, condensing the summarization tighter and tighter. (Reminds me of Tiago Forte's progressive summarization.)

Outcome: Dense, quality information in fewer sources, which makes the using the free version of NotebookLM (with its limitation of 50 sources per notebook) even more practical.