I was at a museum in the Boston area a while back and they had an interesting solution. You call a number on your phone, and the audio menu invites you to enter a number (posted next to each picture), and then you hear the commentary on that particular picture. Simple, low-tech, doesn't even require a smart phone. Only requires a cellular phone connection, which might be a deal-killer for larger museums with internal rooms that are out of cellular signal range. Still, I thought it was pretty clever.
-- Peter Peter M. Brigham pmb...@gmail.com http://home.comcast.net/~pmbrig On Sep 8, 2011, at 4:05 PM, Pete wrote: > It does sound very simple on the face of it, which begs the question of why > nobody has implemented this much cheaper solution already? Perhaps museums, > being very traditional institutions, lag behind technology developments? As > I recall, I've always had to pay for this type of guide so perhaps the > museums make money on them, or perhaps they are just recouping the costs of > the equipment, who knows. > > I'd think an Android phone (I have one) would be more than capable of doing > this, as would an iPhone. Storage might be an issue since Android phones > tend not have a huge amount of SD storage available, maybe 16megs, but that > should be room for a lot of mp3 files. > > The interesting thing is to ponder on how to charge for this. I could see a > situation where some clever person develops a single app that can deal with > as many museums as want to subscribe to the service. Maybe the app is free > but you pay to download guides to different museums with the payment being > split between the museum and the application developer? No need for wifi, > the phone data service can take care of the download. No doubt Apple would > throw up on including the ability to buy the guide from within the > application though. > > I think you may be on to a very nice business opportunity here Peter! > > Pete > Molly's Revenge <http://www.mollysrevenge.com> > > > > > On Thu, Sep 8, 2011 at 11:56 AM, Peter Alcibiades < > palcibiades-fi...@yahoo.co.uk> wrote: > >> The way the audioguide business works is, you have a special museum type >> handset. This costs hundreds of dollars to buy, but what it consists of is >> a keypad, tiny lcd screen and a phone type speaker. >> >> The user goes around the museum and sees large numbers attached to exhibits >> or freestanding. He/she then hits the number, and the track plays. >> >> Yes, that is really it. And yes, they cost hundreds each. They come with >> a >> charging rack typically so you can plug them in to recharge overnight, and >> they have a 512Mb compact flash card. >> >> Then you get software with them. The way this works is very nice. The >> software is registered to the individual machine you first install it on. >> Want another machine? Pay. This software uploads the tracks you have >> recorded into the handsets. What you do is load one handset, the master, >> and then this propogates to all the others. The makers of this software do >> not seem to have thought of virtual machines, because if you install on one >> of these, you can put it all over the place in as many machines as you >> like. >> Well, there you go. >> >> My first inclination, when confronted with this, was to say what is wrong >> with cheap mp3 players? Well, this is where it gets interesting. You get >> grants for this stuff as a charity and museum. The grants are based on the >> going rate, which is hugely expensive, because no-one does this stuff >> themselves, they get consultants in to do it all for them. A museum, >> which >> will be state run of course in Europe, can easily spend $100k or so to have >> 50+ handsets and the right tracks recorded by professional actors. >> >> Into this surreal world comes Android. The thing about android phones is >> they can run apps. It looks to your usual, what is the word, adventurous >> user? asi if anyone with half a brain could make an app that as J says, >> only needs to play a track when a number is pressed. Why, I am asking >> myself, should this cost more than about £200 including the mobile >> non-profit Livecode purchase? Some cheap machine they have lying around, >> and there's a usb port to host it on. What more do you need? >> >> So, I'm on the point of saying to the museum, buy me the livecode android >> version, and away we go. Glad to hear everyone saying in tones very like >> my >> own, that this is not rocket science, more like an afternoon. But given >> pause by the fact that I have never knowingly seen an android phone, so >> maybe developing an app for one from scratch is a little courageous? >> >> If any of you guys have a spare afternoon, I think the museum market is >> quite interesting. >> >> Sometime if there is a long rainy afternoon, I'll tell you about the even >> more surreal world of museum databases and catalogue software.... Now if >> you think audioguides are a turnup for the books, wait till you hear about >> catalogs.... >> >> Peter >> >> -- >> View this message in context: >> http://runtime-revolution.278305.n4.nabble.com/audio-guide-app-in-livecode-tp3797632p3799715.html >> Sent from the Revolution - User mailing list archive at Nabble.com. >> >> _______________________________________________ >> use-livecode mailing list >> use-livecode@lists.runrev.com >> Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your >> subscription preferences: >> http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-livecode > _______________________________________________ > use-livecode mailing list > use-livecode@lists.runrev.com > Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription > preferences: > http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-livecode _______________________________________________ use-livecode mailing list use-livecode@lists.runrev.com Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription preferences: http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-livecode
