Hi Terry

We've had very positive experiences using the Podcatcher audio guides from Guide ID. We have in the past created audio guides for our collection and for specific exhibitions, the last being an exhibition of photographs of Manchester in the 1960s and 70s by Shirley Baker in 2017. The guide was made available for free and the pick up rate for this show was high. Contrary to received wisdom too, many of the 'stops' on the tour had audio clips longer than 3 minutes, and some had branching content that was also listened to. It may be that the nature of the content - much of it was recorded reminiscences from people depicted in the photographs, or who lived in the places depicted at the time - had a strong appeal, but it defied my personal expectations. The podcatcher devices are very easy for visitors to use, and while staff were able to assist any visitors who needed help, we didn't even staff the pick up point, and during the entire run of the exhibition we had no real technical issues - other than the power supply to the mini PC (which ensured the units were constantly synchronised) being occasionally switched off by accident. Also, we didn't lose a single device, which considering that they were more or less unsupervised by staff, is frankly amazing. We had a lot of support from Guide ID in configuring the tour this time. At other times we've done this ourselves and while it can take a while to get used to the logic involved in programming the tours, it is pretty straightforward. And, being able to make real-time changes to the tour behind the scenes is useful. Though we didn't make use of them, the tours are also able to be delivered by Android and IOS apps too. In the past we have provided paid for tours for exhibitions, each time with a negotiated income share with Guide ID. For clarity, we're not on any commission from Guide ID, just happy to report that their offer is a solid one in our experience. Happy to answer any other questions if you have them. 

Cheers

Martin

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