iTunes backs StrollOn. Sort of.

On 18th June I opened up a discussion as to where I thought that the industry was headed, that is the mp3 city guides industry. Click here for a more detailed and long-winded definition of the mp3 city guide industry. Already, after further exploration and investigation on the internet I have found some interesting development. These will undoubtedly excite the technophiles out there whilst striking fear into the heart of all you technophobes. My findings enable me to say this, that the travel industry is fast embracing all aspects of mobile technology.

Before I try to cover this in as brief and as interesting a way as possible, I would like to applaud one particular development on behalf of Apple and, more specifically, iTunes. After a good couple of years of striving for confirmation that the mp3 city guide industry does present another popular way of using an iPod, iTunes have actually said as much on their website. The boys from Cupertino, California have created a new section, ipodtours, where they have promoted the mp3 tours currently available for Chenonceau and Versailles in France, SFMOMA museum and Berlin's Jewish museum. Unsurprisingly the only other guide that they currently mention is the Disney Cruise Line iPod, which is preloaded with the relevant tours for your journey and ready to play. And more surprisingly they then supply an online guide on how to make a good a ipod tour.

Whisper it softly, but it looks like Apple are starting to agree with us, that the ipod lends itself to guiding and advising tourists and city visitors as well as it does to music listening. Have we turned a corner in professional and public perception? Well, certainly the professionals are beginning to value what we are doing and why, so it is now time to gain the trust of you, the disbelieving public. Over the course of the coming weeks, when we discuss several occurrences and changes within the industry, I am certain than you will start to have faith as well.

In the meantime, StrollOn...

A World of Audio guides, Walks and iPods

Hello and welcome to StrollOn

We are a new company, providing a recently developed product on our new website. We've set up this blog so that we can tell you all about us as you join us from our infancy. We don't want you to help us simply to become the biggest, but we do want you to help us become the best. So let's start at the beginning, with where we are right now.

What do we do?

Our aim is to bring popular technology, city sightseeing and walking together, serving them up in an interesting, amusing and accessible package. In short, we produce high quality Audio tours and Overviews of cities that you download onto your iPod or mp3 player. The rest is explained on our website, where you can find a full description of what we are and what we do.

Why do we do it?

We feel strongly that people can miss a lot from the experience of visiting and walking through a city. We want to give everyone a new view through their ears. And by everyone we mean you, your friends and family.

How do we do it?

With the help of professionals: guides, actors, actresses, designers and studio technicians. They are the finest that we can find and we look forward to introducing them to you over the coming months, as we allow you access to the production process with our behind the scenes tours and updates.

Who wants them?

We make them for everyone. They are not only for visitors - even residents enjoy them. Students, independent travelers, single people, families, people on business and holiday, the elderly, the young, the conventional and quirky. Whoever YOU are we look forward to meeting you.

In the meantime, StrollOn....

StrollOn - just you, me & an mp3

The New World of MP3 City Guides

When StrollOn went live in April, we were interested to note that, during the time in which we developed and produced our products, creating the current business, some 35 other MP3 City Guide companies had registered online, resulting in an industry that now constitutes some 50 companies in all. It is a growing industry, of that there can be no doubt, although it is equally clear that the concept has still not fully caught on, capturing the public's imagination and attention.

I came, I saw, iPod

This is just one of the many sorts of slogans that the industry has been using to date to try to capture the traveling public's attention. However, it does not exactly explain what is on offer. It is certainly clever, but perhaps a bit too glib and therefore not effective in explaining what MP3 City Guides are - what their purpose is. Many journalists feel that the purpose of audioguides, audiotours and audiowalks is to take over the guidebook market. They all make it clear that, at the current point in time, the MP3 City Guide industry is ill-equipped to do so for various reasons. One of the main reasons appears to be the public's inevitable cynicism towards new ideas and products and I would suggest that where the MP3 City Guide industry has gone wrong to date is that it has not offered a clear and concise explanation as to what it offers the individual user, when it should be used, by whom and for what reason. Ultimately, the Industry has not managed to successfully explain away the cynicism and nervous attention with which it has been greeted thus far.

At the London Book Fair, 2008

At the London Book Fair this year there was a tangible and obvious shift in how the Travel Publishing Industry views the "digitalisation" of travel related content, whereby information is relaid to the user in mp3 audio format, enjoyable on an iPod. There were several seminars on this matter accompanied by meetings of softly spoken men and women, trying to gauge what each other's companies were doing about adapting to a new age in the distribution and presentation of travel information. Some companies, such as Dorling Kindersley, were leading the way offering podcasts, but clearly this was not seen as the answer. And yet, in spite of all the furtive glances and clandestine activity during those three days in April, none of the Travel Publishing Industry's big boys - the likes of Rough Guides, Lonely Planet, AA, Berlitz and Dorling Kindersley - have subsequently acted upon this evident impulse. Clearly they do not feel that there is any "first mover advantage", most likely due to the fact that this requires explaining to the masses what this new concept actually is and where it is likely to lead.

MP3 City Guides - a new concept in travel

Except it isn't and this is exactly where I believe that mistakes have been made in the promotion of MP3 City Guides. It is merely a different way of producing and distributing an old, tried, trusted and popular concept in travel, the Travel Guide. It is more accessible and convenient, allowing the user to get more out of their surroundings precisely when they want to, using two senses as opposed to one to enjoy the sites of the city.

The convenience stems from the fact that you can buy and receive the information online and then all that is needed is the ability to download the mp3 files to an iPod or other mp3 player. And since over 6 million members of the British adult population owned an iPod in early 2007, according to BMRB research, which amounted to 40% of the entire MP3 market, this last stage should not be a problem for many.

And the idea of two senses versus one stems from the fact that, by listening to city specific information, the user is able to concentrate fully on looking around themselves as opposed to reading from a page.

Ultimately then, the current concept is to make your ipod your "Guide Pod". Nowadays, when businessmen go abroad, the third item of technology that they allegedly pack, after their Laptops and Blackberries, are their iPods. With leisure travelers you can remove Laptops and Blackberries from the list. The idea is simple then: to utilise what you already have in your pocket to help you get more out of the city in which you are living, staying and walking.

The Future of "Guide Pods" and MP3 City Guides

There is no doubt that the idea of audio city-specific information will continue to grow in the coming years. In early 2007 8 million UK residents regularly downloaded and/or listened to podcasts, whilst museum and gallery audioguide producers such as Antenna are producing more and more content for growing client lists. But will the iPod and MP3 player still be key in how the information is presented and received? This is unlikely with the evolution of the mobile phone and PDA. Networks providers and handset producers are both seeking ways to improve their products, making them yet more indespensable to the average user. One way in which this will happen is by enabling the user to know not only where they are at any given time, with the help of mapping devices and GPS, but also to understand what attractions, features, sites and opportunities exist around them. The city will become more interactive and our aim is to ensure that not all the content is commercial and promotional, but also cultural, amusing and memorable.

So where does this leave StrollOn, MP3 City Guides, the Travel Industry and you, the potential user?

It leaves us all in the same place, at various points along a learning curve, trying to decide with which forms of new travel technology and media of travel information distribution should we acquaint ourselves and when. At the moment this continues to be the computer and internet, but soon it will be the mobile phone or PDA. In the meantime, StrollOn is using popular, widely available and easy-to-use technology to make city sightseeing into the most accessible, interactive and enjoyable experience that readily available modern technology allows. The revolution in travel information distribution and presentation is well underway; it is time that we all started to embrace the change. The Guidebook is dead; long live the GuidePod.

In the meantime, StrollOn...

Wikipedia in you ears

Not one to shy away from warmth and sunlight, I decided to take an hour off for lunch today. I wasn't, however, set for one big picnic in the park; I was due to meet up with an old friend of the family. She's a fascinating woman, full of ideas, who has successfully set up several companies and still seeks to initiate new and occasionally absurd ventures. The point is that, although amusing company, she is open minded, observant and incisive. She is able quickly to grasp a new concept and then outline its pros and cons as she is able to see it. And she is always able to "see it". 

So when I explained to her the concept behind MP3 and iPod audioguides she was quick on uptake. Using her own experiences in travel and technology she wanted to know what it was that StrollOn was. Not what did we do, but what we were. After a tiring and longwinded explanation from my part she then clicked into action: "Oh", she blurted, "so it's like Wikipedia but in your ears". My memories of the rest of lunch fades into cheesecake and goodbyes, as from that point on I couldn't stop thinking about the idea of an "audio-wikipedia". 

Was this what we wanted to be? Was this a product that people would consider useful, amusing, intriguing and enlightening? Was this what we were and indeed, if so, what we should continue to be? And on further reflection I would be inclined to say yes, it would be good to be considered an audio-referencing tool as well as a guide; something that you can dip into whenever confronted by something that you feel needs further explanation when strolling around a city. In order to be able to dip into the guides they need to be available in short, bite-sized chapters, using simple, clear and memorable descriptions. You want to better and easier understand what is going on about you, or at least that is why I use Wikipedia. 

However, maybe you have alternative reasons for using Wikipedia - ones that aren't immediately obvious to me! Maybe you feel that the idea of audioguides is to give the user a much more in depth and detailed structured analysis of all that surrounds him/her. In each case let us know: at what level would you seek to better understand and appreciate a city such as London with an iPod at your disposal?

In the meantime, StrollOn...