Telephone On Hold Music - A Downside with a Big Upside

No matter how you slice it, there’s just no free lunch. Take the case of technology, for example. Modern, computer-based, digital technology in particular. I remember just short of a couple of decades ago when we all began to be sold like never before on the marvelous ways technology was going to improve our lives. Personal computers, cell phones, etc., were going to increase our efficiency so much that we’d all get our work done in half the time and have more time to enjoy life and the things that matter, such as friends and family. While it would be tough to deny that the list of things we can now do with computers, the internet, cell phones, pda’s, etc. is so long and so impressive that it would have sounded like sheer science fiction just a few years ago, the problem is that the more technological capabilities we have the more things we discover that we can do or think we need to do or want to do or to try to do with that technology. I am not aware of anyone talking about all the extra time they now have on their hands thanks to modern technology. If anything, it seems to be the opposite.

In today’s world of on-hold messaging there is a wide range of “telephone on hold music players” to add to your phone system. Thanks to all the new technology, no longer are you limited to either locking into an over-priced, poorly serviced, long-term contractual relationship with Muzak, or, playing your competitors’ radio ads into your phone system for the listening pleasure of your on-hold customers. The good news is that you have a lot more options to choose from. The downside? There’s a lot more information to wade through and homework to do to determine exactly what you want, how to hook it up to your phone system, how to use it, what the legal ramifications and issues are of playing music produced by someone else, and more. While there is no free lunch, there is a silver lining in that all of this has created a business niche that has been filled very effectively by companies like Holdtime Studios, where custom-written messages, broadcast quality fully licensed music beds, professional audio production, equipment selection and installation, and system and message updating and maintenance are all included in the service. The only downside that I can think of to this picture is that there is a fee involved, but the amount is so small that it’s not really much of a downside at all, especially in light of all of the benefits.