But the merger with Ticketmaster last month is perhaps the best signal yet that on-line guides are quickly moving from simply providing information to performing transactions.

Many producers of on-line guides acknowledge that the effort has proved a more expensive proposition than they expected.

Sidewalk, Microsoft's on-line guide to the city.

SwimmingHoles.info:, on-line guide to swimming holes and hot springs - directions and details on 1000 beautiful, natural places for a cool swim or a hot soak.

We are developing a comprehensive on-line guide for nonprofits and schools to make hardware purchase decisions.

In fact, you are walking through history - at each point in the game you can consult an on-line guide to ancient (and modern) Kyoto.

Citysearch, which was founded two years ago, has on-line guides for five cities, including San Francisco and New York, and several others are planned.

The ventures with local magazines, newspapers and television stations give the on-line guides access to the listings and articles of their established media partners.

Most on-line guides sell advertising space, known as banners, on their Web sites.

Microsoft, in turn, will offer technological expertise to expand the breadth of The Voice's on-line guide.