Pizzey & Knight Digital Edition review

I bought some discounted iTunes cards yesterday and used them to download the app today. Given how iTunes works, you can install the same app on multiple devices so I’ve put it on an old iPod Touch running iOS 5 and a full-sized iPad running iOS 6. So far, it looks like a great piece of work. I’m not that keen on list-taking as I find the record keeping part of record keeping incredibly tedious…so I can’t comment much on that. What I do like: * It’s great to have the full text and plates of the latest Pizzey as my (beloved) paper copy is a few editions old by now. * Photos! I really like having photos, particularly for more cryptic or anonymous species. For my money, there isn’t a set of plates in any Australian field guide that does an adequate job on the LBJs. * Similar species is a very nice feature to have. * Another set of recordings is good to have. I’m looking forward to spending some time on these. Just as a random check, I looked at Golden Whistler and was happy to find 8 recordings, including one from just down the road from my location. The ones I listened to were very clear. By chance, I recently used the sister application to this – Roberts South Africa (where Guy Gibbon is very well known) so the basic functionality and UI are familiar to me already. Would I recommend buying Morcombe or Pizzey electronically, for those that are interested? Yes. I’ve never loved Morcombe’s plates but the sounds and convenience are super. As a few people have already noted, being able to keep one or more field guides in your pocket without having to think about it is just fantastic. Not only for trips, but when you’re around town. When people ask me about what binos to get, I recommend “the highest quality you can afford and no heavier than you’re willing to carry.” Same same. If you don’t have your binos or guide with you, they don’t help much. (Hello, spotting scope and tripod in the closet? I’m talking to you.) With the electronic guides, it doesn’t take any more weight if you put more guides in. (Well, slightly more since, as everyone knows, 1s weigh more than 0s.) With this in mind, I really hope that future electronic field guides add more text. Once weight and printing costs are no longer an issue, why not put in more information? Speaking of electronic guides, I find them super useful for subjects where I don’t need them as much. Eh? If I’m going somewhere and there’s a guide to herps or something I’m not so fussed about, I won’t take a paper guide. If there’s en electronic guide, I can take it along and often end up being very happy to have it….but it wouldn’t have been worth taking on paper. =============================== To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message: unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line) to: birding-aus-request@vicnet.net.au http://birding-aus.org ===============================

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