Re: arsclist Sound Display Cases/Equipment?

[Don Cox <doncox@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On 11/12/02, Michael Tarabulski wrote:
> Suggestions, please, ladies and gentlemen, for types of, and sources
> for, display cases (or equipment to go into existing cases) that will
> let patrons hear some recordings. Could be the type of thing with a
> speaker on it, or with headphones, so long as it is pretty much a "You
> push the button, we do the rest" sort of thing. In this particular
> case (both instance and object) we'll have some signage and photos and
> a 78 or two and we'd like to give people the chance to hear some
> snippets of singing by the subject of the display.

This is what is generally called a "kiosk" application. There are
companies specialising in this field, especially for museums.

It could use a touch-sensitive screen, or hardware push buttons.

In the old days it was typically done with a program such as Scala on
Amiga computers, but these are not currently available (said to be back
on the market next year), so a Linux-based installation might be safest. 

The advantage of the Amigas was that the box can be switched off at the
power at the end of the day with no "shutdown" procedure.

You could have a sequence of images showing during each music example -
or of course you might have "Soundies" converted to MPEG or AVI.


If you only want sound, perhaps all that is needed is a custom remote
control for a standard CD player (hidden inside the case). That would be
cheaper than a computer based kiosk. 

Regards
-- 
Don Cox
doncox@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

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