In the last 12 months, Guinness Storehouse, the original Guinness brewery which is now a museum, has registered 12,600 downloads of its audio guide, 8.4% of which in Spanish. The podcast audio file, which is currently available in five languages on the company’s website, has been downloaded 34 times a day on average.
Guinness Storehouse has made two files available to visitors: one on the brewery-museum, and another covering the route from the Dublin Tourist Office to the Guinness Storehouse, taking in the city’s chief attractions. After downloading it, visitors can reproduce the podcast audio file on their mobile phones or MP3 players, obtaining in this way a practical guide of the city and avoiding the bother and cost of renting audio guides at the museum.
Free audio guide of the whole city in five languages
Since being introduced in July 2007, the podcast audio guide has been downloaded 12,600 times, 61% in English, 13% in Italian, 10% in German, 8.4% in Spanish, and 7,5% in French.
Visitors should follow the directions they are given to guide them to the different attractions during the walking tour. Each time a fragment of music is heard, the pause button of player should be pressed until the next stop.
Technology at the service of museums
Other museums, such as New York’s MoMA and London’s National Gallery, also provide innovative podcasts that can be downloaded online, although only in English. Bilbao’s Guggenheim only provides “friends of the museum” with this service. Although uncommon, audio guides of other cities are available online.
