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 AA> Thanks for the clarification w.r.t. your original post.   I thought
 AA> that you indeed were getting the "Muzak (tm)" feed, and I wondered
 AA> how.
This would have been a very easy thing for me to do when I was a broadcast
engineering tech for the local station(s) here in town, since the FM
transmitter was "my baby" and that station did operate an SCC...by reason of
"engineering signal quality monitoring", of course. In other words, "free"
feed...
"MUZAK (tm)" would have been just a shade more difficult: re-crystalization
and re-alignment of the SCC receiver. As it happened, we used the _same_
equipment as did "MUZAK (tm)" at the time...
 
 AA> But what did *you* do?!   From where did you source your
 AA> "piped-in-music"? 
I have a number of sources here from which to bring-in piped-in audio. And
I'm * not * going to be at all specific about this aspect......! Suffice
to say that I can (and do) switch between sources to provide "on-hold" audio
to my callers...at will...
 AA> Are you saying that Bell can offer a "Muzak" feed?   I can imagine how
 AA> expensive Bell could make it.
No, that's not what I am saying. Bell will come in and lay-in the necessary
connection between it's equipment and the piped-in audio source...and that's
about it. Mind, in some areas, the local BOC has contractual arrangements
with SCC providers and do come in and install a complete background music
system. You're right about the costs of having Bell do this: they're not
cheap ! In that case, one turns to Third-Party tech firms...
 AA> It is much more economical to install an on-hold device that feeds
 AA> another audio source to the party on hold.
As long as that device is an Approved Apparatus, this is fine. Electrically
-speaking, any such device must not leak any transient voltages back into the
attached teelphone equipment.
 
 AA> Yep.. a tape machine is great for making vocal announcements to
 AA> listeners. A portable cd-player with some new-age music or something is
 AA> great for a "music" on hold.
New Age music ? Agggggghhhhh !  When I'm put on hold, the last thing I
need like a hole in the head is to become excited... The whole purpose of
background/piped-in audio is to relax the person while placed on hold, and
New Age just doesn't cut it... Even an old Elvis tune I'd consider being
a bit pushy...
 
 AA> I heard that "music on hold" was now an exception in the copywrite
 AA> laws. There is no intent to make money off of the music that is
 AA> *briefly* played while someone is on hold.
I too heard something like that but I'm not really certain if it's "for 
eal".
So, being doubt, I play my cards very closely to the Old Rules that I _do_
know and understand. To be caught for royalty infringements would send my
blood-pressure skyhigh...and my bank account balance downwards, neither
condition being considered "healthy" at this end !
 
 AA> We could always hire a few students at minimum wage and have them HUM
 AA> a few bars!  
Oh yeah...sure ! Is it possible to hear "off-key" humming, I wonder ?
 
 AA> I was just wondering if the Bell models had special input jacks for
 AA> "music on hold" sources.   If they did, I would assume that it would
 AA> only be available on their rented units.
Over the years I have watched as Bell moved to embrace "less complicated"
phone sets. I've got a Meridian set in front of me here: _everything_ having
to do with it's setup is done via a couple of keyswitches alone. I find that
I _have_ to have the instruction booklet when there's a new configuration to
be done ! Ahhhh, the "wonders" of the Digital Age: I've come almost to hating
it ! Even simple systems are so much more intolerant and unforgiving
(technically) today: one slip or bad move and you run the risk of damaging
the connection - not only your own, but those of * others * running off the
same trunk line back to the CO !
When I was in the broadcast engineering field, I learned to appreciate what
is called "Proof Of Performance". What this means that that after each
electrical stage within a device, there is an open test point to which test
gear or other ancillary equipment may be attached, ostentibly to monitor
- periodically - parametric operations. The phone system here has been put-
together with pretty much the same philosophy, and so it is that I can attach
a lot of "things" that Bell would probably not want to see done elsewhere. I
can do literally anything here without unbalancing or adversely affecting
Bell's "outside" plant infrastructure to any extreme. I deliberately ensure
that the risk for damage is not only strigently controlled but is 99% fool
-proof. Interestingly enough, my little in-house telephone system meets or
exceeds Bell Specs as far as line quality control is concerned, though not
all of what I might cause to throw on the wire is necessarily pre-approved
for use, either by Bell or ISC (DoC). A few gizmos I've designed and
built on my own, you see...
 >>> Continued to next message...
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