Industrial Strength CD Changer?

[vex]

The request for a CD player for a nursery reminded me of something I need to get done. I need a new CD changer for my office. I have a dead CD player that feeds our music-on-hold system. We've gone through four players over the years and I'm getting tired of having to replace them. Working 24/7, I know it's just a matter of time before it breaks down, but I would appreciate suggestions on changers known for their robustness so I might maximize the amount of life that we can expect from it. I would like something that can accommodate six or more CD's at a time.

[Dave]

Sony ES series are built lika a tank. I've owned 2 in the last 13 years and the original (1990) is still going strong.

[vex]

Thanks for the recommendation. However, as I was doing more research on this I had a "doh!" moment. I should shoot myself for not thinking of this years ago. I'll just set up one of our spare computers with a sound card and rip all our CD's to the hard drive. Replacing the hard drive every 3 to 5 years will be a helluva lot cheaper than replacing a CD player every 1 or 2 years.

[PMC7027]

Don't you want to give people on hold high quality music? (LOL)

[Richard Feirstein]

Sony must be working an a DSD answering machine. I'm sure talking books will follow, along with talking DSD greeting cards. Give it time.

Richard.

[Sckott]

Heh heh.

Yes, using something like PCDJ can be an interesting program. It's like making your own XM radio station.

[-=Rudy=-]

Unless they are proprietary discs (with company information on them), you could consider just dropping the CDs entirely and tune in a radio station. I did that with our phone system ages ago. I either put on the news station, or a "light" station (light rock, jazz, etc.). The little GE portable radio only cost us $15, and once plugged in, it ran all the time. :) Some phone systems also let you use the music as background music over the actual phones--the Panasonic system I installed did that. If that's the case though, not everyone likes the same radio station...

[Sckott]

Good idea, Rudy but in some ways, many businesses don't like having radios blare advertisements over their customers. In this little 2 horse town, I've been in 2 stations in this market, and spots run as much as 11 minutes in holidays and for something like Stern, 14. That's 14 minutes of being annoyed. That's longer than most visits to the candy store :)

I also have to take heed of ASCAP license rules. Not like they have agents walking around daily, but a business can be hit hard with fines for not paying a music license in a public business.

I just wanna remind folks of that.... :)

[-=Rudy=-]

Originally posted by Sckott

I also have to take heed of ASCAP license rules. Not like they have agents walking around daily, but a business can be hit hard with fines for not paying a music license in a public business.


True. By that token, ANY music played on hold could result in an ASCAP "bust". Ditto background music in an office or store. That's why some companies have terrible, generic license-free "on hold" music. There was one tune I've actually heard at a couple of different companies, very generic and composed so it could loop without having a beginning and end.

I haven't heard of on-hold music getting busted (yet), but I have heard of ASCAP's gestapo going into bars and restaurants demanding to see licensing for the music or programming they're playing.

That's partly why I liked to put the news station on. Commercials were minimal (more spread out among the programming), and there was hardly any music to worry about. ;) Probably not any more legal, but hey... :)

I would also not insult my callers by putting on any of that horrible morning drive-time programming like Stern, Drew & Mike, Bob & Tom, etc. Very unprofessional. Might be a better idea to use the local public radio station...as long as there's not a pledge drive on. ;)

[Wired]

What cd players were you using and how long did each one last?

[BradOlson]

Speaking of PCDJ, we at NorthernLightFX do sell the program so if you wish to have the program, go to the NorthernLightFX site which is listed on Steve's Site Seeing part of the page and we do have the PCDJ stuff on the site.

[vex]

Originally posted by Wired
What cd players were you using and how long did each one last?

We had an old Carver CD changer that lasted about three years. Then we got a Teac changer that I really liked that lasted a year until someone broke the load mechanism when they were changing discs. Still, I really liked it so I bought another one. It died on its own after about a year.

I'm almost done with our "music-on-hold" server. This is definitely the way to go, I think. We don't want commercials, so radio is out. We want variety, since our phone system allows employees to listen to the music on their speaker-phones, so single-disc or endless-repeat digital sound-clip systems are out.

Incidentally, we have a library of royalty-free discs that we use. It consists of mostly classical titles and a lot of pop muzak, but what the heck. I don't listen to it myself, but it appeals to many of our employees.

[BradOlson]

Vex, PCDJ will definitely benefit you. For information on the program, go to www.pcdj.com