At 07:25 PM 7/12/98 -0400, you wrote:
>Has anyone tried to use audio CDs for audio tours? I had an idea that CD-R
>blanks (the kind you can write on your own computer) are now about $1.00
>each in limited quantities (less than 100). The cost to mass produce them
>can be even less. This is certainly competitive with audio tape. I also
>thought another advantage was that you could let people play back the
>"tracks" in any order. This way they could proceed from place to place in
>any order they wanted which might help with traffic flow. People could jump
>past an exhibit (or three) and then come back to it (them) later.

I haven't used an audio tour in ages but I just did a bunch of research on
the major companies who produce them and the products they offer.  First
off, most companies only use tapes for temporary exhibits since they have a
shorter play time and wear out faster.

The writeable CD-ROMs or digital chips that are PROM (Programmable
Read-Only Memory) seem much more versitile and easier to maintain than
tapes.  You're right, you can set the systems up to play in any order by
punching in a number for each exhibit.  You can also set them up to
activate by themselves with radio/IR transmitters.  Length per PROM can be
much longer than tapes, up to several hours of stored info.  Obviously, the
longer the length, the more expensive to produce.

A guided tour helps with traffic flow much better because people are led
throughout the exhibit in a specific path as opposed to randomly walking
around the room.  Tours can be set up to direct and regulate traffic
throughout an exhibit.

And the neat thing about the PROMs is that they can be used for an entire
museum as opposed to just one exhibit.

Deb Fuller

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