Muzak

[MuzakFan]

^I think the whole "¢heap ¢hannel jukebox" phrase is spot-on, actually. As I understand it, IBN is a completely-free service. It's an advertisement-first system with background music interspersed in-between the ads. The music itself is downloaded to a hard drive on a standard HP DC5700 computer (that may have changed, but that's what they were using back in the day) and played at random. IBN's revenue comes from advertisers, not from retailers.

Services like IBN are what drove Muzak into bankruptcy in the first place--and what caused them to come up with systems like the Encompass DS(?) for video-messaging to compete with the CCTV messaging systems provided by IBN. You've probably seen those IBN products, including the highly-annoying checklane-mounted screens in "attractive" metallic gray boxes with the worst-sounding directional speakers you've ever heard in your life. As someone who stood next to one of these screens for 8+ hours per day on multiple occasions, I could practically recite everything that came through those screens after it looped for the umpteenth-time every shift. I'm not sure if IBN still offers this service since I've noticed a lot of stores pulling the CCTV/checklane systems.

Muzak get's blamed for others bad programing.

I don't disagree with that. I've heard waitresses at a certain chain of "country cookin'" restaurants named after a barrel containing crackers complain about how much they hated "the Muzak", even though their services have been provided by Trusonic since 1998. Now there's where I could open up a whole can of worms about terrible programming. Incidentally enough, Trusonic was also picked up by Mood a few years ago.

 

[MuzakFan]

Sorry to double-post, but check this out. IBN has went through its own merger and is, apparently, now called the In-Store Audio network. While that might not be all that big of a deal, one of the main people on the board is none other than--drumroll, please--Stephen Villa, former Muzak CEO.

News here.

This is certainly a shocker! Also notable: apparently CVS is now an IBN (or IAN, whatever you want to call it) client. They were on Muzak's network for years.

 

[Darth_vader]

"the highly-annoying checklane-mounted screens in 'attractive' metallic gray boxes with the worst-sounding directional speakers you've ever heard in your life."

The only store I'm aware of in the entire city that actually has those is the Albertson's on NE 137th and Padden Parkway (http://wikimapia.org/#lat=45.6831492&lon=-122.5329379&z=18&l=0&m=b). At least, they did have them when I was last in the store, which had to have been around 2009-2010ish. Actually, I never paid attention to how they sounded since I had my earphones on, but it wouldn't surprise me that they'd sound bad. The speakers in devices like that generally aren't much better (or different) than the tinny-sounding crappy ones built in to most laptops.

 

[MuzakFan]

As requested by oldies76, here are the new additions to FM-1 I've heard/spotted this month:

Bird And The Bee – I Can’t Go For That
Cowboy Junkies – Anniversary Song
Eagles – Busy Being Fabulous
Eagles – No More Cloudy Days
Eddie Money – Baby Hold On
Gnarls Barkley – Crazy
Heart – Hey You
Huey Lewis and The News – Couple Days Off
Marc Broussard – Rocksteady
Michael Franti and Spearhead – Love Don’t Wait
Michael Jackson – Rock With You
Jason Mraz – Make It Mine
Johnny Nash – I Can See Clearly Now
Sade – Hang On To Your Love
Seal – Knock On Wood
Shins – Phantom Limb
Soul Asylum – Runaway Train

Also notable is the switch in the tagging of Ingrid Michaelson's "(Untitled Track)"--they're now referring to it by its unofficial name, "Far Away". It's still the same song. I guess they were getting lots of questions about it and felt the need to switch it over to an unofficial but Google-searchable name. Other than that, I've got nothing.

If there are any more new additions to report, I'll be sure to post them here when I spot them.

 

[oldies76]

As requested by oldies76, here are the new additions to FM-1 I've heard/spotted this month:

Bird And The Bee – I Can’t Go For That
Cowboy Junkies – Anniversary Song
Eagles – Busy Being Fabulous
Eagles – No More Cloudy Days
Eddie Money – Baby Hold On
Gnarls Barkley – Crazy
Heart – Hey You
Huey Lewis and The News – Couple Days Off
Marc Broussard – Rocksteady
Michael Franti and Spearhead – Love Don’t Wait
Michael Jackson – Rock With You
Jason Mraz – Make It Mine
Johnny Nash – I Can See Clearly Now
Sade – Hang On To Your Love
Seal – Knock On Wood
Shins – Phantom Limb
Soul Asylum – Runaway Train

Thanks, but I do not believe I've heard any of these tracks on FM-1 of late, except forthe Sade song, but that was a ways back. Wonder if our FM-1 could be different from yours, that you are hearing, or programmed differently?

I've also heard "Crazy" but not since 2010 or so.

Today, heard "Help Is On It's Way" by Little River Band (1977) for the first time on FM-1...Great song!!

 

[MuzakFan]

It's the standard satellite stream. I'm not sure how the LE (satellite) streams compare with the MV (Internet) streams, but there may be some delay. "Help Is On Its Way" is another one I've heard in the last few hours, along with:

Ellie Goulding - Lights
Kool And The Gang - Joanna
Rickie Lee Jones - Young Blood
Rod Stewart with Ronald Isley - This Old Heart Of Mine
Squeeze - Tempted

I'm not sure if Mood looked at my "If I Programmed FM-1" lists on our Muzak Fans Facebook page (they know about us, but that's as far as it goes), but a lot of these additions have been pulled straight from those lists--especially the Ellie Goulding and Michael Jackson songs. Those lists are also heavy on older FM-1 stuff. Muzak was known to take random songs fans mentioned on their page and add them to FM-1 on occasion, so who knows? "Three Marlenas" and "One Headlight" by the Wallflowers and the huge addition of Chicago a while back were a couple examples. We never pestered them to add songs, so I don't recommend doing that now with potentially different social media people on board. 8)

Maybe it's all just coincidence, but I'd like to think Muzak--er, Mood--just might be that awesome. Meh, I can't break myself from calling it Muzak!

 

[Darth_vader]

*groans* Unnhhh.....

"Wonder if our FM-1 could be different from yours, that you are hearing, or programmed differently?"

Who was it that I was replying to in past months about this? *hits head against wall in frustration*

The LE is addressable, and certain versions of it are capable of receiving and storing customised programming. So I'll say it again, oldies76, you're probably (likely) receiving a customised version of Foreground Music One.

"I'm not sure how the LE (satellite) streams compare with the MV (Internet) streams, but there may be some delay."

I've heard *of* the MV, but never seen one or even a specsheet for it. How different is it from the CM/CM2, which is also capable of pulling programming down off the network?

 

[MuzakFan]

I've heard *of* the MV, but never seen one or even a specsheet for it. How different is it from the CM/CM2, which is also capable of pulling programming down off the network?

The MV uses SD media instead of CD's, it's configurable over the Internet, and it's way smaller. Those are the only differences, as far as I can tell. I'll expand (ramble) on it more below.

The LE is addressable, and certain versions of it are capable of receiving and storing customised programming.

If they're in a newer store that elects to use the MV or MV2, it's capable of this, too. Muzak shipped an SD card with those units, so they're able to download customized programming via the Internet, as well. I've not had my head inside the online MV control center, but I've been told by Muzak employees (and techs who would've been responsible for their initial installation and configuration) that it's possible to "request" songs that would then be played over certain intervals in the standard programming streams. Example: The satellite stream of FM-1 may show it's currently playing "Sway" by Bic Runga, but the software inside the MV's SD card has chosen to play "Fake Empire" by the National. As soon as "Fake Empire" stops playing, it transitions seamlessly back into the original programming. I've got no clue how it works except it just does. Muzak closely guards its trade secrets, so we'll probably never know.

As far as what you'd hear on an MV/MV2 vs. an LE/LE2, I've been told those streams are the same unless something has changed in the past three years since it's physically possible to connect a dish to an MV. It kinda defeats the purpose of the whole on-premise thing to have a dish connected to an Internet appliance, but what can you do?

 

[Darth_vader]

"Example: The satellite stream of FM-1 may show it's currently playing 'Sway' by Bic Runga, but the software inside the MV's SD chip has chosen to play 'Fake Empire' by the Nationals. As soon as 'Fake Empire' stops playing, it transitions seamlessly back into the original programming. I've got no clue how it works except it just does. Muzak closely guards its trade secrets, so we'll probably never know."

Well, if it works anything like the CM does, it probably pulls down a number of individual song files at regular intervals from the server at Muzak, then inserts the "alternate" song into the playlist based on timing and performs fades and all other such operations locally. At least that's how I'd do it if I were supporting such a machine. Either that, or it *is* using an audio stream that incorporates "cue marks" (i.e. a text tag of timing and control data "transmitted" alongside the audio payload, in a similar vein to the title/performer display on many MP3 strems) which the MV would then use to automatically insert a song of the appropriate length "on the fly" from its internal store on the SD chip.

And that's another thing: why are they using something as painfully slow (from experience) as SD for something as time-critical as this? Compact Flash (IDE) would have been a much better choice for real-time playback, particularly if it's being played directly from the memory chip/cartridge. I can only imagine they would have had so set the system up to prebuffer each song to faster RAM then play it from there. Otherwise, they might as well have designed it to use a stepper hard drive running on an 8-bit ISA (verrrrry slow) interface board!

 

[MuzakFan]

And that's another thing: why are they using something as painfully slow (from experience) as SD for something as time-critical as this?

Cost and size, most likely. A typical MV/MV2 can fit in the palm of your hand, and they really packed the inputs and features into them. The little LCD screen on the front takes up most of the space they had on the front, so they only had enough room for an SD slot when they were finished designing it. CF would've been all but impossible to incorporate into the design without putting it into some obscure spot on the player. Muzak could've went smaller and used MicroSD, but that would've only led to people losing the cards.

On top of that, SD is widely-available and relatively-cheap these days. Depending on the encoding of what's being pulled over the Internet and physically downloaded to the MV's SD card, it's feasible that Muzak could fit several hours and several programs' worth of material in that space. Most of my knockoff Muzak programs are encoded in 48000 kHz, 80 kbps monophonic mp3 format, and I could easily fit two programs totaling around 1500 songs onto a 4 GB mp3 player back in the day. If we're led to believe Muzak has proprietary encoding methods and compresses the individual files they send down the pipeline (spacewise, not in audio terms), I'm sure they could fit a lot more into that space without sacrificing final audio quality when the music is played back. Considering it's not all that odd for them to fit 1200 songs onto an XD-format 4 GB DVD, I wouldn't be at all surprised if they've modified that method to work with the MV SD cards.

More on cost: when Muzak still had its online shop working, you could own an MV2 for a little over $250. In the grand scheme of actually buying and owning your Muzak equipment outright, that's cheap. I'm not 100% sure how much an LE costs, but I've heard ballpark figures on an LE2 around $500-550 with a $100 activation fee. If you want rainfade protection for your satellite subscription, you'll pay for it!

All that rambling aside, I'd like to hear an MV/MV2 one of these days to compare it to the quality of the XD/CM/CM2 streams. XD/CM has a distinct sound quality as a result of how Muzak encoded the individual files on the DVD. If an MV/MV2 sounds the same--well, that ends the mystery of how they're fitting the files on the SD cards!

By the way, another new addition to FM-1: "All Roads Lead To You" by Chicago. I love Chicago, so I'm glad they're getting a lot of airplay as of late!

 

[Darth_vader]

"If we're led to believe Muzak has proprietary encoding methods and compresses the individual files they send down the pipeline (spacewise, not in audio terms)"

Which they have (just dissect any XD disc) and I wouldn't be surprised if the MV stuff is encoded the same. If it does what they intend it to do, why reinvent the proverbial wheel? Unless the audio is PCM or some other uncompressed format (which is very highly doubtful in this case), there is very little, if anything, to gain from using any file compression system in conjunction with an audio compression system. An MPx file stored in, for example, a GZIP container at its highest compression level won't really take up much less space than the same MPx file by itself, so it's really kind of pointless.

"`I've heard ballpark figures on an LE2 around $500-550 with a $100 activation fee.`"

Howzabout this: $15 at Goodwill this afternoon. Yes, I really bought it. My first piece of actual Muzak equipment! Doesn't have a power supply unit or a hard drive, though. I'm guessing whomever had it before probably just used it as a basic satellite receiver, considering the lack of a drive.

 

[oldies76]

*groans* Unnhhh.....

Who was it that I was replying to in past months about this? *hits head against wall in frustration*

The LE is addressable, and certain versions of it are capable of receiving and storing customised programming. So I'll say it again, oldies76, you're probably (likely) receiving a customised version of Foreground Music One.

??? Frustration is a wonderful thing, huh?

MuzakFan, I did hear "Rock With You" and "Baby Hold On" today at work. Hopefully it's a sign of more additions to come soon.

 

[MuzakFan]

One more I didn't post that's new this month: "All You Wanted" by Michelle Branch.

I've counted 25 new additions this month, and that's a normal update. That means we've probably heard everything by now.

Howzabout this: $15 at Goodwill this afternoon. Yes, I really bought it. My first piece of actual Muzak equipment! Doesn't have a power supply unit or a hard drive, though. I'm guessing whomever had it before probably just used it as a basic satellite receiver, considering the lack of a drive.

I don't know about everyone else, but I'd love to see the inside of one of those units. It's probably nothing more than a small circuit board with some RCA outputs and the LCD screen in the front attached to it, but it'd still be interesting nonetheless.

 

[Darth_vader]

Ask and thou shalt receive:

http://mistman.pdp10.org/pub/filebox/muzak/encompass/le/le_mother.jpg (59K) - A wide-angle view of the inside of the unit, which isn't much more than a circuit board with some RCA outputs and the LCD screen in the front attached to it. The two columns of pin-headers directly to the right of the little socketed 8-legged integrated circuit and the RF coils are probably where an IDE hard drive would be connected, but I wouldn't dare try it myself since they might also be carrying fatally high voltage that could wreck the drive or the machine.

The big square IC is probably the CPU and audio processor, judging from its proximity to the 24 MHz quartz crystal in the little silver box off its lower-left corner. The Flash chip to the upper left of it is probably where the BIOS and settings are stored.

Markings on the motherboard (above the RF module):

©2001
WEGENER
COMMUNICATIONS
700006-D
MADE IN TAIWAN

Adjacent white decal:

700006-02 REV - G

Better view: http://mistman.pdp10.org/pub/filebox/muzak/encompass/le/le_cpu.jpg (37K) - Markings on the big IC:

ST5500BVB
G4W-F3217115
F22260225
MALTA
ST

http://mistman.pdp10.org/pub/filebox/muzak/encompass/le/le_front.jpg (23K) - front panel
http://mistman.pdp10.org/pub/filebox/muzak/encompass/le/le_back.jpg (18K) - back panel (serial number painted out.) Power supply: 18 VAC/1.2 amp; 50/60 Hz.
http://mistman.pdp10.org/pub/filebox/muzak/encompass/le/le_labels_bottom.jpg (42K) - The labels on the bottom (serial number and barcodes painted out.)

Physical dimensions (assembled):
Height (F-B): 6 3/4"
Width (L-R): 9 1/16"
Depth: 2"

I counted no fewer than eight small Philips screws holding the stainless steel top/side cover on to the stainless steel baseplate, along with two flat hex nuts holding the 75-ohm connectors firmly to the back. This machine appears to be very sturdily built, to the point it could probably survive multiple thermonuclear wars!

 

[MuzakFan]

Thanks a million for those pictures, Darth!

I'm always amazed at how much these little guys look like computers on the inside. I do agree that the bigger chip in the center is likely a CPU of some sort, with the chip next to it being some kind of northbridge. The rest of it looks pretty standard: a huge filter cap, other smaller electrolytic caps scattered about the board, and smaller BIOS-looking flash chips soldered to the board elsewhere. I'd imagine one of those holds the firmware for the machine, but I don't have any idea where.

The pins sticking up off the board are the interesting part. One part of me wants to say they're for some kind of mobile IDE rig for an internal hard drive (as you'd originally thought), and another part of me believes those might be some kind of accessory jumpers. A mobile IDE drive is typically a 48-pin interface. There's definitely enough room to accommodate one via the pins next to the daughterboard with the LCD on it, but I'm not sure how that would work. A cable with two connectors? Unless they found a way to power the drive off one connector, I guess that'd be how they do it. I really wish the Muzak guy I used to talk to was still around, and maybe I could find out some more info.

Then again, I've heard the rainfade protection added into an LE referred to as a "card". Maybe my information is just outdated!

I've looked around trying to find manuals for both the LE, LE2, MV, and MV2. Nothing. It'd also be nice to have manuals for both revisions of my XD's and the MCD-1000, but Muzak guards their stuff pretty closely. I doubt emailing them and asking for this kind of stuff would be successful, post-Mood or otherwise.

 

[vchimpanzee]

Another site I go to has announded the Muzak name is gone.

I had the opportunity to go to a nursing home where several members of my church now live and was lucky enough to hear a song I recognized and then go to the Muzak web site and find out which format had just played it. It was City Lights, which is smooth jazz. I would have guessed Environmental, but maybe I haven't heard that format lately. So much of what I heard in a shopping center several years ago was smooth jazz, but it was more mellow than smooth jazz radio. So was what I heard in the nursing home, actually.

The URL did include the word Muzak, but the web page itself just said "Mood".

 

[Darth_vader]

"Then again, I've heard the rainfade protection added into an LE referred to as a 'card'. Maybe my information is just outdated!"

It's entirely possible Wegener intended those headers to be used as a proprietary (read: nonstandard) interface for a solid-state drive of some sort. The low profile of the components to the right of them (which would be underneath a "card" connected to them) and the screw-holes in the vicinity seem to suggest that. Probably Flash or RAM, although a moving-platter device like a laptop hard drive could be a possibility.

But then, it would also impede CPU ventillation by having a circuit board hovering overhead, running the risk of premature failure. LEs can (and do) get quite warm when they've been operating for hours on end.

The little 10-pin connector near the lower right looks like a USB or serial-port pin header, especially considering the shape of the white outlines surrounding it, which seem to suggest orientation of a keyed connector. This may be where they're connected to the computer at Muzak to be programmed before being deployed.

Too bad I don't have a suitable 18VAC power supply unit, otherwise I could put a voltmeter and a logic probe or an oscilloscope across some of these pins and try to come up with more definitive hypotheses of what purpose they serve. (Too bad I don't have my oscilloscope any more...)

"It'd also be nice to have manuals for both revisions of my XD's and the MCD-1000, but Muzak guards their stuff pretty closely."

Well, I'll tell you, from what I've seen on E-Bay the XD "manual" is more like a leaflet, at least where the end-user is concerned, that simply tells how to hook it up (how difficult is it to connect two RCA jacks to an amp or stereo receiver? ;o), turn it on and put a disc in--think of what Sony have taken to doing within the last 20 years or so, only more sparse.

As far as service manuals go, good luck. Hate to suggest it, but speaking "professionally" as a hacker and a sometime fone phreak, probably the only really reliable way to get your hands on such material would be to go "trashing" at your local Muzak office, *IF* such technical data are even made available to the field offices! Dead serious.

 

[vchimpanzee]

I don't know what I've done with my other lists of what I heard in the grocery store. Last Saturday my left ear was stopped up and I couldn't hear much. I recognized lyrics and forgot them. But two songs I knew: "Free Fallin'" by Tom Petty and "If You Love Somebody Set Them Free" by Sting.

 

[vchimpanzee]

"Don't Go Breaking My Heart" and that Sade song with the bass.

 

[vchimpanzee]

This is disturbing. I heard these at my grocery.

"Crazy" by Gnarls Barkley.

Much more in character is "The Tide Is High".