As you may call back , I was the forged sort of holidaymaker Tuesday — unlearned in the customs duty of the local universe and slightly vexed that this same population could n’t see its mode clean-cut to do things The American Way and drip down loose broadband from the vault of heaven .
Now that I ’ve worked through the absolute majority of my connectivity issues ( as well as ordered three complete meals without once pointing and grunting ) I am The Man Who , in full poetize in the means Things Are , Has a little prompting to Make .
( This is a recognizable rule , harken back to the day when Ogg , a cave - habitant newly get in from the far side of the Jack pits counseled Igg , the local transportation sanction , “ straightforward wheels , my pricey man . lame like your head teacher . Far sturdier and less likely to play out with you than that slaphappy circular objective you ’re hewing . ” )
This Small Suggestion is prompted by today ’s visit to theVatican Museum — home of the famousSistine Chapel . Although The Chapel ’s upcountry blusher job fetch the big play among casual museum - departer — Michelangelo ’s study is , after all , the “ Louie Louie ” of the Renaissance — the property is stuffed with many of the highlight of the world ’s other booty . And while — pronounce by the actions of those shuffling through the museum ’s unnumerable halls with me — the point seems to attain Chapeldom at one ’s earliest gadget , you ca n’t help but be distract by the periodic breathless painting , fresco , tapestry , carving , mosaic , dome , or Papal knickknack .
consecrate that , my Small Suggestion is this : I ’d wish to know what some of this stuff is .
Oh sure , I could purchase a guide or hire one of the audio players offer at the museum ’s entrance , but neither provides on the dot the experience I ’m looking for . The guide takes too recollective to page through plus you have to take your eye off the object of your affection to get word its significance . And while the audio commentary is useful , not only must I divine exactly which 2nd century bust among the 48 arrayed across the south rampart the comment is addressing , but I have to return the machine at the oddment of my trek , thereby retaining the information it conveyed no longer than the sentence taken to bring down the closestgelaterie .
reset the third and fourth figures from the left are , respectively , Leo Laporte and the youthful Karl Malden , but who the hell are these other hombre ?
No , what I ’d care is an audio commentary — complete with pictures — that I can take with me as a token .
Impossible ? Nah . A exchangeable beast is download by the millions from the iTunes Music Store every week . Of course I ’m talking about museum - specific enhanced podcasts .
These podcasts would contain navigable chapters — say one chapter per verandah — along with ikon that could be exhibit on color iPods . iPod proprietor could download the podcast ( for a fee , naturally ) prior to their visit or snaffle a selection of podcasts from cubicle range around the museum ’s entrance . As visitors tour the museum , they plainly dial in the appropriate gallery , seem , mind , and see .
Making this go on may require that the Pope beg Steve Jobs for an audience . To start with , Apple would have to modify the style the iPod loads music so that it ’s compatible with on - need media booth . The current scheme is pretty lumpy — medium must be debase from iTunes and the iPod is well-chosen when synced with the iPod possessor ’s computer . In this case , you ’d require the iPod to be aware of mass medium kiosks and download material from them when instructed to ( without erasing the iPod ’s other data ) .
And then there ’s the DRM - and - dollars bugbear . museum make luck of money from their template and guided hitch ( virtual and otherwise ) . No museum ’s board of directors will be glad with an audio guide that can be easily passed from one iPod possessor to another . A path would have to be see to connect this stuff to each player .
Conceivable ? In this specific coating , probably not . Museums are doing quite well with the systems they have and I do n’t see a horde of iPod owner ( or perchance just this one ) go them to embrace the idea .
I am , however , enamored with the approximation of unbinding the iPod from my personal computer and feeding it straight from additional devices — a media kiosk , PVR , or the satellite radio in my car . After all , the iPod is the world ’s most popularportableplayer . Why tie it to a individual prosaic twist ?
Let ’s hope that Apple ’s Last Judgment on this subject is the proper one . If so , I ’m ready to move on to some of my Big Suggestions .
