An audio guide is a pre recorded hand
held device of spoken words, these devices are normally used at tourist
attractions and places of interest. There are many different kinds of audio
book ranging of different platforms and models. Some of these include audio
guides, audio books, podcasts, magazines, book and even on the radio. The first
spoken word recordings were on radios and tape recorders as the years went on
more devices were available to use audio guides on from cheap to state of the
art, some could be a normal tape recorder whilst others could be of state of
the art tablets. An example of this would be the Tate moderns code based audio
guides. For a small price at £3.50 you would be giving a galaxy S3 by the Tate
modern which is fixed with the Tate modern app, in which you type in a code
corresponding the code on a specific exhibit, after this the device plays a
recording about the artist, the feel and many other bits of information which
the user would find useful. This specific audio guide was created so people
specifically going to the Tate modern can use it easily and understandably,
audio guides can be molded into many different ways just like it had been made
to be used for the Tate modern.
This is only one use of an audio guide
other ways depend on what sort of information is being given such as tourist
and travel as well as diet, health and medical advise. They are made in a way
to interact with the audience as if they are being talked to directly, due to
this you may have a certain voice depending on the topic or you can even get
and audio guide for many different languages. This is ideal for overseas
visitor, which may have trouble reading or understanding a normal tour, and
offers a quality experience of discovery to the customers.
As said before they can be used on many
different platforms therefore some many be obtainable on mobile phones or pads
via download. you can obtain audio guides from library’s, companies, tour
groups or even online websites. An example of a website which sell these would
be audible.com. Audible.com
is an Internet provider of spoken audio entertainment, information, and
educational programming. Audible sells digital audio books, radio and TV
programs, and audio versions of magazines and newspapers.
here are there price plans, they also
offer a 1st one month free trail.
Other websites include amazon and
iTunes. Itunes sell an audio guide for around £3 depending of the age genre and
demand.
According to statistics,
Europe is selling the most audio books in the world and the UK alone sold 71
million audio books in 2006, audiobooks are a massive market which is growing
very fast with new integrated technology such as tablets and smart phones. The
best selling audio guide was the hunger games, which went for £25 on amazon and
sold 800.000 units. And the main celling target audience for audio books is
between 3-8 years old and between 30-50 years old. Audio
guides are very helpful in such places as museums, galleries or any other
place. They help you understand and guide you into discovering, learning or
acquiring knowledge about the piece observed.
They mainly explain how the piece made was inspired,
were the inspiration came from, who's designer made it etc.
Audio guides also prove useful for the less able for
example such as people with disabilities, learning difficulties, dyslexia etc.
they are very simple to use and can easily be understood as the voice is clear
and goes at a very fluid pace. This is ideal because a lot of school trip and
groups attend attraction, which use audio guides. An example of this would be a
blind individual which can receive a special audio guide for the blind, which
will offer in depth informational directions at a slow and easy pace. Another
situation would be if a new popular book is released, the individual can listen
rather than reading, as said before audio guides can be tailored depending on
the situation. A charity, which deals in these matters, is Calibre Audio Library; this charity provides
audio books for people whom suffer from disabilities such as dyslexia, sight
problems, being blind or other disabilities. Because this is a charity people
using the service get the service for free. They have the newest books out for
this kind of customers.
[ Source: http://www.calibre.org.uk/ ]
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[http://www.blind.org.uk/links/links.asp]
My opinion is that audio guides are such
an asset in the day of today, it provides a great service on multiple platforms
so easily, it has only recently been getting popular and I can see the
audiobook industry expanding continuously, as well as this I believe audio
guides can keep getting better, target more people and become a lot more
integrated into day to day lives. In the future there will be more smart and
intuitive ways of using audiobooks and different types of audiobooks, in the
near future it will become a massive commercial product and many artists,
organizations, attractions will keep using and improving the concept of audio
guides. Already audio guides are being used in the education system as they are
extremely well at teaching and many students and teachers prefer these rather
than books. The future of audio guides is a bright one.
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