Megaplay came up with an idea to develop a new generation of jukeboxes capable of playing not only music, but videos as well. They wanted a jukebox that was completely legal, unbreakable and flexible enough that it could be deployed as easily in up-market restaurants as in shebeens and taverns. Security was a major concern and consequently a new box was developed that is almost impossible to break, and therefore well suited for African conditions.
Although MP3 and DVD music tracks are widely obtainable from the Internet, there are legal issues when it comes to duplicating them onto a jukebox for playing to a public audience. A number of organisations licence such activities including RiSA (Recording Industry of SA), SAMRO (SA Music Rights Organisation), AIRCO (Association of Independent Record Companies) and NORM (National Organisation for Reproduction Rights in Music in South Africa). Megaplay negotiated terms with each of these organisations and every Megaplay jukebox is sold under the terms of these licences, so that neither the operator nor the end-user has to worry about any legal issues.
Music is stored in an encrypted format on the jukebox, without the decryption keys. Before a track can be played, it has to be decrypted, and the decryption key has to be requested from a central server. This ensures that no music is played without the royalties being paid. Each jukebox is also tagged with the GPS coordinates of the location where it is to be used, so that it will not work if stolen and moved to a new location.
The only way to achieve full legal compliance was to go online and Clever Devices and Designs was approached to integrate its RLOG modules into the Megaplay Jukebox. The RLOG device was chosen as a data transport medium because of its simplicity and easy integration.
The RLOG unit communicates via the GPRS network to a central server which records all jukebox transactions. The RLOG unit also allows the downloading of advertisements and new releases while providing up-to-the-minute royalty reports to ensure that no one plays without paying.
Other information that is recorded through the RLOG device includes the number of coins in the jukebox, GPRS signal strength and quality, system messages and errors, duration of tracks played, as well as general system health such as temperature, power supply and hard disk space.
According to Megaplay, about 700 jukeboxes have been rolled out to date and with great success. “Since deployment not a single Megaplay Jukebox has been broken into or stolen,” says Willem Roux, MD of Megaplay Trust. “A lot of hard work went into this project, and the reception in the marketplace was excellent. It provides a whole new dimension to the industry.”
For more information contact Clever Devices and Designs, +27 (0)12 667 4124, [email protected], www.cleverdevices.co.za, Megaplay, +27 (0)83 262 3828.
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