Remember the first time you got in an elevator with Muzak? As I sit here and type, I can hear the soothing melodic tones in my head, and it's clear I am going to be seeing more this. (I remember the first time I heard Muzak I went looking for the speakers). Now they will be right in front of me. Although it may be that the video content will be independent of audio.

Visiting the website of Muzak its clear that they see the world as being more interactive these days as noted by their tagline "Turn viewers into customers." The company that was all about setting the mood is again looking into how to improve the experience. 

While digital signs can have that in-your-face feel (I often dread the walk by the sections of my local department stores where the beat and flash of lights make me think they want to be a disco) the idea that Muzak has thought about how to make DigitalSigns a pleasurable experience is logical.

The Encompass DS is a product developed with BrightSign (www.brightsign.biz) a division of Roku and Scala ( http://www.scala.com/) and Muzak (www.muzak.com) to deliver a small business solution. 

The Encompass DS product combines a small, simple device with premium rich HD content and nationwide service and support. This creates strategic opportunities by uniting premium content, leading technology and nationwide support for the very first time. The Scala system represents the content delivery platform Muzak is utilizing to deliver the service.

Small Business can log in from any Internet-connected computer to manage and monitor their content quickly and simply. With 1,000 unique content-rich feeds from top weather, news and fashion outlets including The New York Times and People Magazine, and dozens of easily customizable templates, users now have the power to create custom rich content plans in minutes.

'We're honored that Muzak selected BrightSign technology for the new Encompass DS,' said Jeff Hastings, BrightSign CEO. 'The solid-state hardware platform we developed for Encompass DS is based on BrightSign's HD210 network-enabled player.' The system features full HD video and premium-quality images, with no moving parts, the controller is also more reliable that PCs and more affordable and offers a lower operating cost. The hardware for the Encompass DS weighs just 20 ounces and measures a mere 6.6''(w) x 5.9''(h) x 1.2''(d).

Should be interesting to see ;<).