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More Facts About the #1 Rated ELE-2020!
Charles H. Duell, Commissioner, U.S. Office of Patents, 1899 * * * * *
We’ve now had four generations of experience with the digital voice announcers (DVAs) and are pleased to provide such a superb product, the ELE-2020, at a great price. These units list for $349 WITHOUT any of I.O.S.’s “generic” medleys loaded, but as you can see from the packages below you can obtain one of these units, complete with a 3-year warranty for a small fraction of the list price. This is the current “state of the art” in our industry and we would be happy compare its functionality with any MOH playback device you are considering.
BEFORE YOU BEGIN... If your company has the need to remotely administer multiple locations then please call us to discuss the ELE-2025i.
The ELE-2020 DVA has earned our #1 recommendation in head-on competition with all other lines of digital voice announcers. As a custom audio production house our primary concern is producing your on-hold message to the highest standards possible at the most affordable prices. Until you see fiber optics to the desk top you are not going to need a higher quality or more flexible unit than the ELE-2020 unless you require networking to dozens (or even hundreds) of locations from a central administration facility.
The ELE-2020 has the ability to take both wave and MP3 files (simultaneously). It also has a two digit LCD track counter so you can keep track of up to 99 program selections (of varying lengths) that can reside within this unit SIMULTANEOUSLY and are available for INSTANT TRACK SELECTION! It also has an "all track" feature and uses non-volatile memory that WILL NOT be lost during power surges or failures, unlike many of its competitors. Its’ memory can be expanded beyond anything you will ever need simply by providing a larger compact flash card, which (as you can see below) is very economical. NO LONGER will you be locked into a hardware solution that must be replaced as you grow. The are NO MOVING PARTS to wear out either… so, even though the warranty is only three years long you should expect to get many more years of service from these units.
Please Note: If you think you have a better answer to your MOH application then call us toll-free at 1-800-925-9025 and we'll be happy to compare notes with you.
This revolutionary product utilizes more capable (and economical) Compact FlashCard technology for unprecedented cost effectiveness, flexibility and quality. For example, to upgrade the previous generations top DVAs (the OHP-5000 or OHP-4000) from 8-minutes to their maximum capacity of 32-minutes required the addition of THREE expansion chips, each of which cost another $59 for a whopping $177 pricetag! That's WITHOUT factoring in the time, shipping and labor costs involved. Don't let our low sticker price lessen your perspective on this next generation product. Just remember that technology is constantly driving up product functionality and reliability while reducing prices.
The main competitors to this product are the OHP-7000/6000 series (from IntelliTouch) and a late comer – and more expensive clone - the Messenger MP3 (from Nel-Tech Labs). The OHP-6000 is equipped with only 16MB of "on-board" memory and may only be expanded to 128MB with the addition of an optional “secure digital” card, which is pictured on the box but NOT INCLUDED in their package. It uses only a 32-kbps sampling rate for its generic music vs. the superior 128-kbps sampling rate used with the ELE-2020, whose compact flash card technology also provides a better upgrade path.
PC MAGAZINE favors the compact flash card over the Smart Media or secure digital formats and provides their reasoning within their article "Flash Memory: Pick a Card", where you can read what they have to say about the competing formats.
CompactFlash (CF): “CF is the aging but far-from-dead flash memory champion. More devices currently use CF than any other media type. Its future likely lies in professional digital cameras that need massive capacity—4GB CF cards are becoming available—and whose users don't mind the size of CF cards (roughly half of a PC Card). Makers of consumer and advanced amateur cameras—led by Kodak—are moving to smaller SD cards, but pros will stick with CF. Most CF cards are Type II, which are as thick as PC Cards. CompactFlash card dimensions: 1.4 by 1.7 by 0.2 inches. Current maximum capacity: 4GB. Projected capacity by 4Q 2004: 8GB to 16GB.”
See our Bargain Basement for starter MOH ELE-2020 Capacity & Pricing Matrix
Larger Compact Flash Cards are Available Upon Request
Comparison of OHP-5000 (Previous #1) vs. the ELE-2020
Comparrison Matrix of ELE-2020 vs. OHP-7000 & OHP-6000
Lets spend a moment comparing these new challengers to the ELE-2020, which raised the high-bar on this technology after knocking out the OHP-5000 with it’s predecessor, the DP-100.
The first item is the sampling rate used by these three products. Until the OHP-6000 arrived this entire technology was moving towards higher audio fidelity by sampling at ever-increasing rates. We have seen these rates move from 8-kbps, to 16-kbps, to 24-kbps, to 32-kbps, to 45-kbps, to 64-kbps, to 128-kbps, to 176-kbps to 196-kbps. The highest two, by the way, are the top rates used by these competing products. There is obviously a point at which you can no longer gain any audio quality due to the limitations of the telco’s copper wire in your walls but why would you move all the way back to 32-kbps? Answer: To exaggerate the amount of audio recording time available in the limited amount of memory of a 16MB machine, which effects how many tracks may be "instantly selected". At I.O.S. we use the medium level on the ELE-2020 and sample at 128-kbps, which equates to about 1-minute of recording time per MB of memory capacity and provides superb fidelity.
All three of these units blow away all previous generation machines in every other category. From available quality, to expandability, to no moving parts to break (in the ELE-2020 and 6000), to the opportunity to use them as long-program solutions for piping audio over a PA System to a waiting room, shopping area, lounge, etc. Going back a few generations you had the Bogen ProMOH and Interalia lines, which loaded a cassette into VOLATILE memory. This meant that every time power was removed from the system, even for just a split second, the memory was lost, you were reduced to "silence-on-hold" and the tape had to be reloaded, which was done automatically but it caused wear on the cassette tape (that over time became audible) and added another point of failure to the playback device since all mechanical components wear out.
One of the primary differentiators is how do these products load new productions? All come with pre-packaged "generic" medleys and with the ELE-2020 you can even select which medleys you'll receive. With the DP-100, and it's successor - the ELE-2020, there are NO MOVING PARTS to break. The program is loaded onto a compact flash card via MP3 or wave files and an optional "reader/writer", which is a $15 item that already exists in the majority of offices. The OHP-6000 uses a USB cable connection to your PC but the logic of that fails me since this unit will be located in your telco equipment closet, which may not be very convenient and even floors away from your computer. What are you to do now? Disconnect the 6000, leaving you with silence-on-hold, and carry it to your computer and spend another 15-minutes doing the CPU-to-6000 handshake to upload / download audio files? Or perhaps you'll need to load the MP3 audio program onto a portable computer and stand in your equipment closet loading the device from there. The OHP-7000 overcomes this problem with the CD-loader, which proved very successful in the OHP-5000 line. Just load the CD, select the appropriate track and upload it into memory. A very nice product at a significant increase in price. (The best choice "IF" you're changing programs very frequently.) At I.O.S. you'll have your choice of receiving your updated programs via e-mail or a replacement compact flash card, which will take you all of about 10-seconds to swap out with the other one. As an audio production house we KNOW that your money would be better spent on a superb customized message-on-hold production.
Background: Many existing products use FlashCard technology for high-volume and economical data storage. (Just look at the recent advances in digital photography and portable storage devices.) This product takes full advantage of these advances and continues to "raise the high bar" while offering a lower price entry point. Want a longer program? Forget trading in your old unit or adding an expensive memory chip... just trade in your compact flash card for a larger capacity! The unit typically installs easily in under 5-minutes without the need to hire a telco technician.
The ELE-2020 is our top choice because it offers superior value... PERIOD! It also provides ease of use, instantaneous track selections (up to 99) and superb audio! Economical "compact flash cards" are readily available in 16 / 32 / 64 / 128 / 256 / 512MB and 1GB / 2GB / 4GB / 8GB ! (NO 128MB LIMITATION AS WITH THE OHP-6000!) I remember when just upgrading a 4-minute digital announcer to an 8-minute unit cost more than the ELE-2020 WITH A FULLY CUSTOMIZED AUDIO PRODUCTION! (See our “Bargain Basement” for complete production packages with and without equipment.)
Many new capabilities (beyond "information-on-hold") are now available through this device. For example; Do you have an office waiting room or other facility where you're currently paying annual licensing fees to pipe music into? Do you have a demo room where instant access to professionally recorded information could assist your sales team with their sales? Remember: This unit can have up to 99 tracks of info, accessed instantly OR provide many hours of continuous programming based upon the compact flash card capacity! (i.e. Over 12 hours of programming can be accommodated with a 1GB compact flash card.)
With all ELE-2020 purchases made in North America we will pre-load our 4-minute LICENSED medleys at no extra charge based upon the package you purchase. Compact flash cards may be traded-in for larger capacities at any time. As a special bonus all new buyers will also receive our "I.O.S. V3 CD Sampler", which has 72-songs and 18 different voice-over professionals (9 men and 9 women) to make your future audio programming choices easy and enjoyable.
Click the following link to view our
Larger Compact Flash Cards/Capacities are Available Upon Request
Click below if you would like us to convert
Note: The only negative we can identify with this product is that not all audio production companies will climb the learning curve this year. (That should tell you something about their capabilities and future viability.) We’ve been saying that technology would be moving in this direction for over three years and three more top manufacturers have now entered their competing products to try and compete with the Eletech ELE-2020. Don't take our word on it... just ask your teenager how easy it is to convert ANY audio program into a .wav or MP3 file!
PS: Small to medium size businesses with 1, 2, 3 or 4-line phones (with a hold button) from Office Max, Radio Shack (or similar venues) can now sound like a Fortune-500 company as well thanks to recent leaps in this technology. HOWEVER, THIS PRODUCT IS NOT FOR YOU. Please see our OHP-7500 and OHP-6500 model digital announcers for small or home offices, non-KSU (KSU-less) installations and SOHO.
Don't forget to ask your I.O.S. rep about our custom production services. We can be reached toll-free within North America at 1-800-925-9025 or from elsewhere in the world at 802-423-8220. Please visit our Executive Overview page if you are interested in learning more. Thank you for visiting with us!
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