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Muzak Encoding at Home?
zonker asks: "I work for a company that requires Muzak to be played over the speaker system all day long. However, I work into the night, well passed closing time, and often just crank up my own tunes on a computer with a nice set of speakers. I've been curious if anyone has developed any software that allows you to encode and burn to whatever format Muzak is using to make their discs. I've scraped around the net and haven't seen anything like it other than other people in similar environments that would like to make their own Muzak discs for their own after hours enjoyment. That thread has some interesting informational tidbits for starters. Does anyone on Slashdot know anything more about this?"
It's not as if the link actually explains that, though... Instead it's a good example of why "designer" should not necessarily be the most important part of a webdesigners work.
So, for us unenlightened people: Is Muzak a company, a general term for "elevator music", a specific electronic application or any of the above combined?
Because having silence would be very awkward. There's a bookstore near here that doesn't really have any music playing. When one is shopping near another customer, there's this sense that you must remain absolutely silent, so as to not disturb them or something. I can't really explain it further, but having silence is very awkward, having a background bed of music allows at least quiet conversation, walking without having to step tenderly, gas passing, all sorts of things that some would feel uncomfortable doing in silence.
Unless you were asking why play that specific music in that setting, in which case I suspect the reason is so as to not offend anyone...having no words makes it sink in to the subconsious background more -- you don't notice it as much. The bland style of reproducing all genres makes it possible to play a wide variety of music while still maintaining a bland unoffensive style. Keep in mind that no everyone likes Metallica, or Hootie and the Blowfish, or Yanni -- but everyone dislikes Muzak equally!! ;-)
I suppose it's a little like in TV -- when you're watching a sporting event, and they bring in a full-screen graphic, there's music -- but you rarely notice it. When they do a promo, there's music -- because it needs something to help set it apart from the game, but it's barely noticable. No, I'm not talking about the video-game style sound effects to call your attention to stats and the like, just music beds