That sounds perfectly adequate for the job, just not as sexy as a smartphone app! Pete Molly's Revenge <http://www.mollysrevenge.com>
On Thu, Sep 8, 2011 at 1:38 PM, Peter M. Brigham, MD <pmb...@gmail.com>wrote: > 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 > > _______________________________________________ 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
