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Panasonic 616 Music On Hold

Started by Fabius, February 27, 2015, 07:35:05 PM

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Fabius

Is anyone using the music on hold feature? It seems to be a pretty straight forward procedure. What are you using for a music source?
Tom Vaughn
La Porte, Indiana
ATCA Past President
ATCA #765
C*NET 1+ 821-9905

unbeldi

Quote from: Fabius on February 27, 2015, 07:35:05 PM
Is anyone using the music on hold feature? It seems to be a pretty straight forward procedure. What are you using for a music source?

Yes, I have had it hooked up.  I used a decades' old RadioShack transistor radio that I got along with one of my Panasonic units.  The previous installation was using it too.

twocvbloke

I've played with it in the past, using a few different audio sources, but most required an amplifier connecting in between source and system, the only ones that worked reliably were my two laptops at the time (Toshiba Portege M300 and Compaq LTE5300), but given that it wasn't connected to the outside world, I just disconnected the MOH sources... :)

DavePEI

#3
Quote from: Fabius on February 27, 2015, 07:35:05 PM
Is anyone using the music on hold feature? It seems to be a pretty straight forward procedure. What are you using for a music source?
I have had a solid state Bogen TP-50 tuner hooked up to mine - it worked great, but I have moved the tuner over to my Norstar 6x16 which I use as the main museum system. The tuner is designed for use with a P.A. system.

Previously, I had another solid state PA tuner attached, but took it off, as every time that the power went out, it lost its programming. The Bogen tunes with a knob. Both have output levels high enough to feed the KSU.

On the Norstar, I don't have MOH enabled (just a matter of programming), but use the tuner to pipe through audio to each station. At each set, the audio can be turned on of off, and volume adjusted using the phone's volume control. It plays through each phone's speaker. It is basically like having a radio in each room, and the audio since MOH is turned off on the Norstar, stays within the museum.

Dave
The Telephone Museum of Prince Edward Island:
http://www.islandregister.com/phones/museum.html
Free Admission - Call (902) 651-2762 to arrange a visit!
C*NET 1-651-0001

TelePlay

#4
Just a word of caution having worked in love live theater for decades and from having worked at a small sales office 30 years ago and putting a CD player on our Merlin system, and years later actually having a friend whose work was to spend 8 hours a day calling numbers and being placed on hold, was to catch anyone playing music without the performance license to do so. I think she worked for ASCAP. The company I worked for bought an annual license from BMI to play one BMI CD. It was about $100 a year back then IIRC. They even gave us a sticker for or our front door saying we were licensed. Radio or purchased CD or downloaded music needs a performance license to use as MOH. It's easier the check on businesses just because they are such. Chances of getting caught for a private phone are quite small but with my luck I'd get nailed. Just passing this on as an FYI.

http://easyonhold.com/learn/on-hold-music-licensing/How-To-Avoid-Music-Licensing-Fines/

http://www.ascap.com/licensing/types/music-on-hold.aspx

Fabius

Quote from: TelePlay on February 28, 2015, 09:08:09 AM
Just a word of caution having worked in love theater for decades...

Love theater? Is that one of those porno places on PEI?
Tom Vaughn
La Porte, Indiana
ATCA Past President
ATCA #765
C*NET 1+ 821-9905

TelePlay

That's funny. Maybe we need a topic for "typo of the month" and then, of course, "typo of the year." Spell checkers and predictive typing can come up with some interesting word combinations.

Now, one of the nice things about staging live performances is that the theater has all the licenses for everything so whatever I would find for use in a play would be covered. Sound effects, speeches, movie audio, TV audio, music, everything. Never had to worry about copyright or performance licensing issues. That took a lot of worry off the table since anything used during the performance would be licensed.

As for MOH, the music companies treat violations of that the same way other companies treat software piracy, and it's not cheap if one gets caught.

Owain

Quote from: TelePlay on February 28, 2015, 01:10:37 PM
Now, one of the nice things about staging live performances is that the theater has all the licenses for everything so whatever I would find for use in a play would be covered. Sound effects, speeches, movie audio, TV audio, music, everything. Never had to worry about copyright or performance licensing issues. That took a lot of worry off the table since anything used during the performance would be licensed.

Licensed for performance in a theatre is not / may not be (depending on jurisdiction) the same as licensed for MOH.

There are sources online, or you can buy specific CDs, of royalty-free music whcih you can use for MOH.

Sometimes I've used Spazzmatica Polka.
http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100721

TelePlay

Quote from: Owain on February 28, 2015, 03:12:49 PM
Licensed for performance in a theatre is not / may not be (depending on jurisdiction) the same as licensed for MOH.

No, it is not. Was just saying when doing theater work, I never had to worry about (going out and getting/paying for rights to use) what we were using. With up to a hundred or mile sound files used for one play, that would have taken years to arrange. Not acceptable when one has but two months to create all that is needed for a 20 performance, 3 week stint on stage.

How much do you pay per month for the licensed MOH source?

Owain

Quote from: TelePlay on February 28, 2015, 03:31:32 PM
How much do you pay per month for the licensed MOH source?

In the UK it starts at about £150 pa plus dubbing charges if using a digital player
http://www.ppluk.com/Documents/Tariff%20PDFs/PPLPP084.pdf


twocvbloke

It's probably why so many low-budget MOH is usually a synthesised copy of Greensleeves... :o

Fabius

I emailed the local FM station (oldies format) asking if it was okay to use their broadcast as my music on hold on my non-business home telephone system. Hope to hear from them tomorrow.
Tom Vaughn
La Porte, Indiana
ATCA Past President
ATCA #765
C*NET 1+ 821-9905

Owain

I remember phoning one solicitors in the late 1980s whose system had a one-finger synthesised version of Thine Be The Glory ...

http://www.nimans.net/call-processing/titan-music-on-hold-cd-license-free.html

has Boccherini Minuet for the classical option and a couple of more contemporary tracks.

TelePlay

Searching the internet for MOH information, I've come to the conclusion that nothing is free and in this minefield termed MOH, one also needs a very good lawyer and experienced accountant.

Wow, reading all those web sites claiming free (royalty, license, production, or some combination of all three) music reminds me of visiting a few car dealership lots in one day - and never getting a firm answer as to "how much is it really going to cost" if I go with them.

Seems all who claim "free" MOH still end up with someone paying something somewhere or somehow to get it.

Doug Rose

Music on Hold on the cheap!
Kidphone