Digital Roaming: Chinatrackers.com

Recently we stumbled across an interesting website that might have finally answered the age-old question: 'What should I do with my visiting friends and family while I'm at work?' ChinaTrackers.com is a company offering MP3-guided tours of Shanghai and we would assume, from the animation on their homepage, other cities will be soon to follow. The Shanghai destinations include plenty of the standard tourist fare (Old Town, People's Square, The Bund), but also has a couple of off-the-beaten-path stops (two Hongkou tours) as well.

We downloaded the tour or Jewish sites in Hongkou and, while the weather hasn't yet provided us with a good opportunity to use it, there seems to be plenty of information crammed into the 30-some minutes of audio. Definitely a lot more than we've found in our library of guidebooks, at least.

The major drawback we see is the price ($9 per tour), which is sure to scare some potential listeners away. Still, it's cheaper than most organized tours we've seen around Shanghai and an MP3 player is easier to lug around than a guidebook or backpack. The website also allows you to download their tour of People's Square for free if you'd like to try it out.

Has anyone else tried this service? What are your thoughts?