We are wanting the local radio station to be able to record our telephone schedules. They will be sending the pre-recorded announcement to me via a wave file each week.

Currently we have seven phone lines, connected on a rollover, each with a seperate answering machine connected to it. This is cheaper that a voice mail based system (way cheaper).

My question is:

Does anyone make a device that can answer seven phone lines AND accept recorded information from a PC?

The fewer microphones involved, the clearer the end product will be.

Russ

Oscar!! Help!!!

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Smart has a couple of possibilities. One is the CTR-2000/DASA300 combination. This will handle 8 phone lines. The downside is that this is a barge-in system where callers join the message in progress.

The newest thing we have is the MT4-16 which handles 4 lines. Each caller starts at the beginning of the message, and the the system memory is divided into boxes so that the caller can press a number as directed by the greeting message and randomly access various messages in the system. You can call in on our demo line and hear this in action. I am at home as I write this, and unfortunately I can't remember the demo phone number. Call me tomorrow at 1-800-449-6278 and I can tell you more about it and give you the demo number.

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Oscar Neundorfer
Chief Engineer
SMART Devices, Inc.

oscar@smartdev.com

I have been thinking about a new design on a movietimes announcement machine. Something that would handle at least 8 lines or multiples thereof, possibly be PC based (but not sure), be VERY simple to use, offer almost infinite configuration flexibility, etc.

What is your wish list for such a device? Do you know of or are you using something similar which is already available? If so, what is right and what is wrong with what you are using?

BIQ QUESTION: Would you buy and what would you pay for such a device?

Let me know by posting here or by e-mailing me: oscar@smartdev.com

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Oscar Neundorfer
Chief Engineer
SMART Devices, Inc.

It should answer eight lines simultaniously starting each caller's announcement from the begining.

It should be PC based (or controlled) so that all I have to do on Thursday night is click and drag the wave file out of email and into the machine.

Easy, right!!?

Well, that's my wish list anyway!

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Ok, wanna make "THE" answering machine that cannot be beat? Here it is:

The machine should answer up to 10 lines.

There should be 3 main greetings for such use as:
GREETING #1 Hello and thank you for calling our fabulous theater where we have all THX sound and the most kick ass answering machine in history, etc, etc, etc.
GREETING #2 This month we are having an incredible sale on concessions. Buy a large popcorn and any size drink and get a free candy bar of your choice for the amazingly low price of $32.50! (Ok, so I stole that promotion from Bruce Taffet at UA.)
GREETING #3 Now showing: Press 1 for that damned "Pokemon" movie. Press 2 for " Star Wars Episode 2-Jar Jar dies". Press 3 for...etc, etc, etc.

The idea of the above set up is so a generic announcement that never changes (but of course "can" be changed) is set on greeting #1. Then concession promotions and other such items that are not permanent, but are not changed every week can be placed on greeting #2 without altering the main greeting. Finally, week to week changes can be placed on greeting #3 listing the showtimes. If nothing is recorded on greeting #2, the system should just automatically start playing greeting #3.

Next, there should be 35 sub announcements. Each film can then get it's own announcement box, so when a new film is opened and no other showtimes change, the manager only has to record that one single showtime announcement along with greeting #3! Other sub announcement boxes could be used for "click 30 for instructions to the theater", "click 31 for our R rating policy", etc, etc, etc. The idea behind this is to make calling the machine more convenient than calling into the box office and speaking to a human. This saves employee time and clears the phone lines quicker, so less are needed to handle the load. No one likes sitting through 4 minutes of showtimes just to get to the one they are waiting for...that's why so many customers call the box office directly.

Finally, this should of course be digital, should have an external line level input (for those of us who like to professionally record the announcement beforehand and bring in a tape) and should be able for each line to call straight in...no "barge-ins". (Dolby digital 5.1 audio would be an add-on option.)

THAT would be awesome!

Generally I have found that (read: been bitched at by customers about), they want showtimes when they call the hotline.

Press one for this and two for that is usually way more effort than the caller wanted or expected to expend in their quest.

We use a one message system now that states up front that it is for showtimes only. If the caller wants more, they are directed to call our office number or visit our websight.

We do state pricing info at the end of the call up message, but when we listen to the machines, they usually hang up at the end of the particular movie times that the customer was looking for.

This also has the added advantage of freeing up the lines for the next caller. On a Saturday afternoon with Pokemon, the machines run constantly. If we list it first, we can accomodate more callers.

It just sucks having to recite the message six times every Thursday night (once for each line).

Voice mail adds the convience of changing the message from anywhere, but it just costs allot here.

I guess that this comes from living in one of the last places on Earth where phone lines are not in hot demand! Heck! WV still has only one area code! (LOL)

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