Playing audio 40% faster

I was completely oblivious to this time saver until now, so thought I would pass it along in case others were in the dark... (and if you were not in the dark, I am mad at you for not telling me earlier.)

In Windows Media Player press ctrl+shift+g to play video and audio 40% faster. Or, if that's not fast enough, in WMP version 10, go to Now Playing > Enhancement > Play Speed Settings and set your own speed. (More instructions from Microsoft, if you need them.)

The average person speaks at about 150 words per minute, so 40% faster = 210 words per minute, which is still slightly below the average speed at which most people read (250 to 300 words per minute). To get to the same speed at which most people read, you would have to double the playback speed, but this makes comprehension more difficult. At +40%, though, the mind can easily pick up all the words. In fact, I will probably elect to play most around +70% or +80%.

Bloggingheads is the only podcasting service I am aware of that currently offers faster playback, so for all the other podcasts and lectures I listen to, this has the potential to save me many hours with zero loss in comprehension.

Update 11/19: To do the same thing in Quicktime, go to Window >> Show A/V Controls. See the comments for other useful advice on how to do this on your iGadgets.