Julia,

We used Antenna Audio tour for our outdoor, random access tour.  We chose
them for a variety of reasons.  Namely,we found Antenna's hardware to be
the most flexible and their front-line sales staff members were both
informative and very professional.  However, we have had a very poor
service in terms of the company's follow-up and support staff.  Their
training session on how to use the equipment and computers was incredibly
disorganized and very poor.  We were given a training manual, but half the
things were not written down or included in the manual.  We have never had
an opportunity to evaluate the service or equipment.  Repairs, although
few, have been mishandled on the company's part.  We are still waiting to
receive a software program to track stop use, etc.  It's possible that this
poor follow-up service is due more to our contact person than anything
else, but I'm not certain.

The MP3 players are definitely worthwhile, if you are trying to choose
between MP3 and CD players.  I wonder if it might not be better to use
something like an iPod than the Antenna equipment.  Part of that, of
course, is dependant on whether your museum intends to use the audio tour
writing/design team.

We designed and recorded our own tour, which was definitely the way to go
for us, since we wanted to control the accuracy of the information as well
as a few other components of the tour.

Depending on your needs or wants, other companies to check out include:
Tour Mate, Acoustiguide, and JVC.  I'll make no comments on the quality of
these companies, but I think it is wise to check out as many options as
possible.

Good luck!

Susan


Susan B. Zickel
Interpretive Programs Coordinator
Historic St. Mary's City
St. Mary's City, Maryland

=========================================================
Important Subscriber Information:

The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes).

If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).