so I just recently got into the whole i"whatever" hype with my recent acquiring of a hand-me-down iTouch from a new iPhone customer and i have to say i've become quite wrapped up in the thing... for the first month i toted the touch sensitive pad around with me absolutely everywhere i went raving about all the wonderful functions and 'apps' available... everyone received an email from me with the signature "sent from my iPod".. it was great! just as the honeymoon was beginning to wear down, i discovered the lonely planet app...
now for any of you who have traveled with me or had the pleasure of browsing through my books shelf, you will know that i am an AVID lonely planet activist, user and lover... i have a lonely planet for everywhere i have traveled in the last 5 years and they pretty much all reflect the tender love and care i have for my travel experiences, often including food stains on the pages... i'm not sure if its the format, maps or price point or the sometime brutal honesty they contain (re: india) but i've been actively using their product since 2005 with very few complaints (exception: new zealand 'boot leg' version bought on the street in thailand.. probably my own fault)... most of my books are more like 'bibles' with penciled in notes in the margins, corrections, additions, etc.... i covet them as though they are my children and am reluctant to lend them to others unless certain promises are made in advance... firstly, you must add your comments (price changes, hotel closures, missing information, etc.) part of the fun of my travels is testing out recommendations and finding places and things not yet discovered by lonely planet adventurers... for a long time my dream job was working for lonely planet and writing my own renditions of the far-reaching globe... but i transgress... the lonely planet app allows you to purchase and store guidebooks and language books right on your iPod which can be accessed without a WIFI connection!!! this may not seem like a big deal, but after carting around the 1000+ page anthology of the india lonely planet for 3 weeks, i can understand what a useful tool this could be! not to mention the language guides which have an audio feature so that you can actually hear pronunciation!!! i'm telling you, technology never ceases to get the better of me!
currently, i only have the Mexican Spanish language guide and the San Francisco City Guide which come free when you download the app... as much as i am impressed and fascinated by this app, i'm not quite ready to hop aboard the eBook train just yet.. there is something about the smells and textile function of a living, breathing book that i can't quite get from digital media... once they figure out that glitch.. then we'll talk!
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