E-Mail us

503-224-3766

If you've had an opportunity to review equipment features, you may have begun to notice that player systems differ in price, longevity, warranty, sound quality, tape or CD longevity and program length. We always recommend that clients consider what program lengths and changes are anticipated before selecting a player system.

Pro Digital SYSTEM

other DIGITAL SYSTEMS

CD SYSTEM

Although ONHOLD still supports endless loop cassette service for those clientel with analog cassette players, we no longer recommend or replace said systems.
Like any mechanical system, an analog cassette player will wear down over time, averaging a life of two years under general office conditions and when used with a timer.  When new clients seek the best audio quality at the lowest cost - we recommend our ONHOLD on CD® services.

Digital players become an effective alternative to CD audio whenever you decide to play the same recording for a long period of time or experience electircal power interruptions. If you have a limited number of topics to share with callers and you have few, if any, return caller customers, then a single recording played on a digital player can be a cost effective alternative for you.

It is important to understand that a digital player offers TWO fundemental operations that CD audio does not:

1) non-wearing playback of tapes (or CD) and
2) automatic player/program re-start upon eletrical power interruption. 
(CD players must be reset by an operator to start anew and endlessly repeat following a power interruption.)

It should be noted that digital players DO NOT deliver increased audio quality. At 3-4 times the cost of a portable CD player, the value of purchasing a digital player is non tape/CD wear and the auto-restart options . ONHOLD does not recommend the purchase of a digital player to run regularly changing (quarterly) programs - since CD wear is not an issue.

The choice of a digital player for it's non-wearing tape play should never be confused with equipment longevity or sound quality. There is no appreciable difference in sound quality at normal sample rates, and only lower sound quality on a low sample rate.  And, in our experience, digital players do not always outlast portable CD players in equipment longevity.  At an average of $80 a piece, clients will have to buy a portable CD player and two replacements to equal the equipment costs of the lowest priced digital player.  (If a CD player lasts only two years, that's  a fractional investment every two years over the up-front cost of a digital player.)

CD player systems become a terrific alternative to digital players when either the highest sound quality or longer program times are paramount. Be aware, however, that sound quality is dependant on a large number of variants, from the quality of the recorded source, the quality and condition of the (tape) player head, the sample rate in speed and bit size, the age and quality of the phone system (both sending and receiving the MOH program) and the frequency/fidelity capabilities of the phone lines (copper and optic) and switching systems that carry the signal.

By example, CD quality sound will be diminished by the carrier rate of the phone line. Your home stereo system, like the ONHOLD CD, offers a fidelity range of 20hz to 22,000 hz, from the lowest audible bass sounds to the upper ranges of the tremble instruments and harmonics. This is why home stereo systems do a superb job of reproducing the original music and sounds. Current copper phone lines carry a very limited, human voice, fidelity range of approximately 200hz to 6,000hz and it is this single limitation which accounts for a great difference in sound quality.