MP3 Travel Audio Guides and Tours for Travelers
Download a Digital Alternative to Paper Travel Books
An interesting alternative to old style paper travel books are downloadable travel audio guides. These are also a great opportunity for people who enjoy self guided tours as they are widely available and cover many different tourist destinations and attractions.
What are Audio Guides?
There are many different types of audio guide. Audio guides can be short recordings which offer information on a single site of interest through to recordings that last for many hours and can be played over several days. Examples of recent audio guides released include an audio guide to the Normandy Beaches and the D Day landings, free city guides and audio guides for cyclists.
Audio guides are available from a wide range of organizations, including major audioook or mp3 retailers such as Audible.com and iTunes, as well as tourist information centers or direct from the museum, gallery or attraction. The guides are typically available in mp3 format allowing them to be played on most digital audio players and many modern phones. These guides offer a number of benefits over traditional paper travel books, including:
- Easy to carry around – several guides can be carried on a single mp3 and are more practical than paper guide books
- Frequently updated – many of the downloadable audio guides are frequently updated ensuring that the information is not out of date
- High quality recordings and knowledgeable guides – recordings are often extremely high quality and have been prepared by qualified and expert guides
- Cost effective – many audio guides are free or low cost
- Supporting websites – some audio guides have supporting websites that offer photographs, images and other illustrations
- Other information – some audioguides offer free maps or other information that can be used in conjunction with the tour in printable pdf files
Finding Free Audio Guides
Audio guides are extremely wide spread and can sometimes be difficult to find, however with a little bit of searching a large number of different guides can be found. Audiobook and digital book retailers are a good starting point and offer the a range of the most popular audio guides on many cities and other attractions. In addition to these, there are a large number of free audio guides available. There are many other places that offer free audio guides and these can be found on the websites of organizations such as:
- Tourist Information Centers (TIC)
- Direct from the attraction
- City Tourist Websites
- Specialist organizations
Audio guides are an interesting way to find out more about a region, city or attraction and are part of the digital audio revolution.
Further Reading:
- Free language learning tools - including free mp3 language lessons
- Why listen to audiobooks?
- Review of top Audie prize winning audiobook - the Chopin Manuscript
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