# Why is hold music so crappy these days? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 14, 2015, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-hold-music-so-crappy-these-days/725156 "2015-07-14T17:26:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2015, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-hold-music-so-crappy-these-days/725156/1 "2015-07-14T17:26:53Z")
I suppose I should clarify. Hold music has _always_ been crappy. I’m talking specifically about the sound quality. In the old days the music was crappy but it still sounded clear. Most hold music I hear these days sounds like an old wax cylinder being played on an ancient victrola. Why is that? ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2015, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-hold-music-so-crappy-these-days/725156/2 "2015-07-14T17:36:28Z")
Maybe you have a rubbish phone. ---
**Author:** ![Cabin\_Fever\_1](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cabin_fever_1/32/2908_2.png) [@Cabin\_Fever\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cabin_Fever_1)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2015, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-hold-music-so-crappy-these-days/725156/3 "2015-07-14T18:00:23Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > I suppose I should clarify. Hold music has _always_ been crappy. I’m talking specifically about the sound quality. In the old days the music was crappy but it still sounded clear. Most hold music I hear these days sounds like an old wax cylinder being played on an ancient victrola. Why is that? Methinks you have answered your own question. Except one has to assume a MELTED wax cylinder - which aren’t compatible with ancient Victrolas anyway. (Just doing my part to Fight Ignorance). And yes, it may be your phone. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2015, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-hold-music-so-crappy-these-days/725156/4 "2015-07-14T18:06:16Z")
A lot of places are using these cheap ass devices that either have an FM radio receiver or a 12 minute digital loop. They connect right into the phone line and activate when hold is pushed. They work like the caller ID block: just installing one somewhere on the line works for all phones on that line. I saw one @ Big Lots for $10. And yeah, they sound like shit. ---
**Author:** ![Cabin\_Fever\_1](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cabin_fever_1/32/2908_2.png) [@Cabin\_Fever\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cabin_Fever_1)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2015, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-hold-music-so-crappy-these-days/725156/5 "2015-07-14T18:12:24Z")
This link may explain some of it: [http://blog.moodmedia.com/2014/08/voice-how-cell-phones-have-ruined-on-hold-music/](http://blog.moodmedia.com/2014/08/voice-how-cell-phones-have-ruined-on-hold-music/) ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2015, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-hold-music-so-crappy-these-days/725156/6 "2015-07-14T19:09:58Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > A lot of places are using these cheap ass devices that either have an FM radio receiver or a 12 minute digital loop. They connect right into the phone line and activate when hold is pushed. They work like the caller ID block: just installing one somewhere on the line works for all phones on that line. > > I saw one @ Big Lots for $10. And yeah, they sound like shit. I’ve definitely encountered the ones that repeat after a while. The only thing worse than being stuck on hold listening to crappy music, is being stuck on hold listening to the same crappy music _again_. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2015, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-hold-music-so-crappy-these-days/725156/7 "2015-07-14T19:33:04Z")
> [@Diceman](#): > > I’ve definitely encountered the ones that repeat after a while. The only thing worse than being stuck on hold listening to crappy music, is being stuck on hold listening to the same crappy music _again_. No, far worse than either are the places that keep interrupting the music to announce “Your call is important to us, please stay on the line …”. You can screen out the music fairly well, but every time it suddenly clicks off, you have to pay attention again in case somebody is finally answering, interrupting whatever you are doing while waiting. After a dozen false alarms I’m ready to kill somebody. I’ll take them continually looping “Feelings” played on a kazoo, rather than the constant non-informational breaks. ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2015, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-hold-music-so-crappy-these-days/725156/8 "2015-07-14T19:46:09Z")
> [@Cabin\_Fever](#): > > This link may explain some of it: > [http://blog.moodmedia.com/2014/08/voice-how-cell-phones-have-ruined-on-hold-music/](http://blog.moodmedia.com/2014/08/voice-how-cell-phones-have-ruined-on-hold-music/) Huh. That is interesting. I have no idea if it’s true, but it does sound plausible. The recording on that site sounds a lot like what hold music sounds like to me. I also often hear just a blast of pure static when I’m on hold, even when I’m on hold with a big company that presumably has the money to afford decent hold equipment. If it’s truly an artifact of how cell phones process sound, I guess I’ll have to stop being pissed at the company hosting the music. ---
**Author:** ![Heracles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heracles/32/487_2.png) [@Heracles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heracles)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2015, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-hold-music-so-crappy-these-days/725156/9 "2015-07-14T20:21:56Z")
> [@yabob](#): > > No, far worse than either are the places that keep interrupting the music to announce “Your call is important to us, please stay on the line …”. You can screen out the music fairly well, but every time it suddenly clicks off, you have to pay attention again in case somebody is finally answering, interrupting whatever you are doing while waiting. Worse still: Vidétron, my Internet / phone / cell / cable provider, has a single piece of generic music playing in a loop with a cycle of 2-3 company advertisements, in French (male voice) and then in English (female voice). The whole cycle lasts maybe 3 minutes. So yeah, when the real human answers it takes a while to start paying attention again. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2015, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-hold-music-so-crappy-these-days/725156/10 "2015-07-14T22:34:57Z")
When they finally deign to answer, I usually ask them to - “Please hold,” while I finish the game I was playing while waiting for them. If it takes a long time, and if I am doing well in the game, I say “I’ll be with you in a moment” at intervals. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2015, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-hold-music-so-crappy-these-days/725156/11 "2015-07-15T02:33:48Z")
> [@Cabin\_Fever](#): > > This link may explain some of it: > [http://blog.moodmedia.com/2014/08/voice-how-cell-phones-have-ruined-on-hold-music/](http://blog.moodmedia.com/2014/08/voice-how-cell-phones-have-ruined-on-hold-music/) While the link is pretty much what I’m talking about, I don’t think I can blame it on a cell phone because I hear hold music like that when using my home phone and work phone, both of which are land lines. So I have to think it is more a feature of the system that is providing the hold music. My guess would be that back in the old days they probably just piped in Muzak, but maybe now you have an IVR system with a very poor quality MP3 file that just loops over and over. ---
**Author:** ![glowacks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/glowacks/32/5548_2.png) [@glowacks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glowacks)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2015, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-hold-music-so-crappy-these-days/725156/12 "2015-07-15T02:51:03Z")
The last time I was on hold for a long time, I believe with a medical insurance company, the hold music was something I was familiar with and didn’t find annoying to listen to again and again: “Without You” by The Piano Guys. I was shocked.