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21 Dec 20 - 10:22 AM (#4084450) Subject: Tech: Blocking Unwanted Sound in Stores. From: saulgoldie The other day, I was rudely reminded of how invasive I find the "In Store Audio Network" to be as I tried to concentrate on my shopping. The managers tell me that they are instructed from headquarters to play it. I don't know about the volume. But I'd hate to have to tell them to turn it down each and every time I go shopping. I have several options. One is to just go to stores that don't play music, or pay it in such a way that it is relatively unobtrusive. Trader Joe's is such. Safeway and Giant are unmovable at this time. Another is to go full on nuclear, and send out letters to the management of the offending stores, and make posts like this everywhere it is acceptable, maybe even lobby for laws. Another approach is to get a set of headphones that eliminates or sufficiently blocks the sound to the point where it is no longer affecting my thinking process. This would obviously cost $$. I don't know if it is worth it, partly because I don't even know if the right headset exists. But it would be good guerilla theater. So, does anyone have any helpful suggestions? I would definitely appreciate recommendations for an effective headset. Or just weigh in with your own sentiments. Don't bother calling me nuts. I already know that. But the sound really does make it challenging for me to concentrate on what I am doing there which is, after all, to spend money! Thanks! And may Krampus be gentle with you. Saul |
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21 Dec 20 - 11:51 AM (#4084458) Subject: RE: Tech: Blocking Unwanted Sound in Stores. From: Manitas_at_home My problem with this sort of thing is when I come to deal with staff and I can't hear them over the music. Headphones won't be of any use there. |
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21 Dec 20 - 12:09 PM (#4084464) Subject: RE: Tech: Blocking Unwanted Sound in Stores. From: punkfolkrocker Get an old 1980s battery powered Ghetto Blaster and play tapes of folk music very loud in every shop you visit.. Make sure videos of the ensuing chaos are uploaded to social media.. It may be picked up by National News Channels, if the footage is outrageously hilarious and violent enough... |
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21 Dec 20 - 12:13 PM (#4084465) Subject: RE: Tech: Blocking Unwanted Sound in Stores. From: Bonzo3legs Great minds think alike!! |
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21 Dec 20 - 12:33 PM (#4084469) Subject: RE: Tech: Blocking Unwanted Sound in Stores. From: saulgoldie Thanks, Bonzo and Punk! I like it! Yeah, post it on social media! This could be yuge! |
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21 Dec 20 - 12:37 PM (#4084470) Subject: RE: Tech: Blocking Unwanted Sound in Stores. From: FreddyHeadey Some stores in the UK were trialling a quiet hour last year. It'd be worth asking. https://corporate.asda.com/article/inclusive-hour-store-list (Tuesdays 10-11am) The Asda page particularly mentions autism and dementia but they don't exclude the rest of us. https://corporate.asda.com/blog/2019/02/05/were-extending-our-dementia-and-autism-friendly-inclusive-hour-trial-to-more-stores "I suffered for many years with anxiety. I used to absolutely hate going into busy stores. There are a lot of people out there who have mental health issues. There are many people who don’t talk about it. "We have a lot of disabled customers and we want to make the shop better for them." Simon is amazed at the reaction to his idea. He said: "I've had customers from all over the country ring me to say they think it's a great idea, as well as managers from other businesses who are planning to do the same thing. To think all of this came from a one-minute chat with a customer and a Facebook post! It’s fantastic." |
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21 Dec 20 - 12:40 PM (#4084471) Subject: RE: Tech: Blocking Unwanted Sound in Stores. From: EBarnacle Think like a techie. Carry a device that sets up an interfering signal. Perhaps static or Kate Smith's God Bless America. Even if it's hard wired, every time you go near one of the wires it should work. It will drive them nuts. |
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21 Dec 20 - 12:45 PM (#4084472) Subject: RE: Tech: Blocking Unwanted Sound in Stores. From: Jos Why only an hour? Why not two or three hours a day? Or a whole day? It wouldn't inconvenience people who don't mind the music - they could still do their shopping, and might find they prefer doing it in peace. |
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21 Dec 20 - 02:44 PM (#4084486) Subject: RE: Tech: Blocking Unwanted Sound in Stores. From: leeneia I am convinced that the playing of ugly music is a factor in the downfall of retail shopping. Restaurants seem to favor particularly ugly music, but they usually turn it down when asked. Have you even been around industrial waste? If rock music were a substance, it would be industrial waste. |
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21 Dec 20 - 02:55 PM (#4084490) Subject: RE: Tech: Blocking Unwanted Sound in Stores. From: punkfolkrocker ..fair enough.. if folk music is home made waste... You clearly would not like "Industrial Music" genre.. Even a lot of punk rockers find that unlistenable..... |
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21 Dec 20 - 04:55 PM (#4084503) Subject: RE: Tech: Blocking Unwanted Sound in Stores. From: JennieG Several years ago Himself heard a radio interview about marketing, and one of the tools discussed was background music in stores. The person being interviewed said "stores aim their music at a particular demographic, so if you don't like the music being played or the volume it's played at - you aren't the customer they want". Based on that, there would be very few stores who want me as a customer. We used to have a women's clothing store here which played really cool jazz (and at which I was known to spend the occasional dollar or two......or three......), but the owner had to sell up and move due to family illness. |
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21 Dec 20 - 06:16 PM (#4084516) Subject: RE: Tech: Blocking Unwanted Sound in Stores. From: GUEST,leeneia I don't believe that stores pick music to match the desired customer. Stores play the music that mid-management, esp. uncultivated mid-management, thinks is cool. One day the DH and I were in a Macy's store, and the whole floor we were on was empty except for us. My husband saw me standing with my hands over my ears and requested that the music be turned off. Of course we were told it could not be turned off, but the manager did turn it down. One of the selections we had to listen to was "Sea Cruise", one of the nastiest pop songs ever. Even when I was a kid I knew that song had a bad smell to it. We left the store and drove along the tree-shaded streets of Johnson County Kansas, among beautiful homes in perfect condition, with manicured grounds. This is chamber music and jazz territory. It was no surprise to me the store was empty. About blocking - sad to say, hearing protection is designed to block machine noise but not voices, so using it makes you hear the ugly singing better than ever. I know because I've tried it. |
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22 Dec 20 - 11:00 AM (#4084594) Subject: RE: Tech: Blocking Unwanted Sound in Stores. From: GUEST,paperback On a similar note It's hard to concentrate on longer posts like yours Mr. Goldie when they are, for example: truncated into three parts by of all things advertisements for Facebook. I hate to mention it but I have a hard enough time getting at what some of you old gits are on about without all the stopping and starting;) And may Krampus be gentle with you also |
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22 Dec 20 - 11:16 AM (#4084597) Subject: RE: Tech: Blocking Unwanted Sound in Stores. From: Stilly River Sage Years ago there was supposedly subliminal stuff built into the store music, along the lines of "I won't shoplift." I don't notice music in the few stores I enter these days, but I don't remember the last time I heard music in a store. The only one, and I like their music, are the stores in the Goodwill thrift store chain. They play very danceable old rock and roll music and I find myself keeping the beat as I move up and down the aisles. There is a whole marketplace of noise-cancelling headphones out there. If that is the remedy start by reading tech reviews. There are high-end ones, but I think you can find the no-name variety to do the job you need without the huge hit to the pocketbook. |
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22 Dec 20 - 01:46 PM (#4084612) Subject: RE: Tech: Blocking Unwanted Sound in Stores. From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch The mother of them all - Muzak died awhile back. My advice, take it or leave it, is... to save yourself from tears, this year, you should give your heart to someone special... or... just crank up the Zappa on ye auld Bluetooths. Spanish Flea: 1 Hour Loop |
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22 Dec 20 - 02:25 PM (#4084616) Subject: RE: Tech: Blocking Unwanted Sound in Stores. From: punkfolkrocker I like old fashioned library music muzak.. But then I'm into the 'exotica' music scene... What I can't tolerate is the bland safe homogenised contemporary music that corporations sanction for playing in coffee shops and retail outlets... |
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23 Dec 20 - 03:11 AM (#4084674) Subject: RE: Tech: Blocking Unwanted Sound in Stores. From: Joe Offer Back in the 1960s, I was a hippie wannabee and listened to folk music and folk rock. I missed out on rock 'n' roll. Now I find I really like 1960s pop music. It's really fun and light, and it makes me feel good. Here and there, I'll go in a store that will be playing that music, and I won't be the only person dancing in the aisles. Our local health food store has "Senior Day" on Wednesdays, and I started shopping there for my wife when I turned 55 (long, long ago). They played music from the 40s and early 1950s, the music my dad used to play on the car radio. I like that stuff, too. Makes me feel young. But sometimes, I go to stores where the music is annoying. Oh, and I love to stop at a local In-N-Out hamburger place on the late night shift, on my way home from singing sessions in Sacramento. No recorded music - the staff members sing, all genres of music. None of them is over 30 years old, but I love the music they make. Sometimes, they sing songs I've sung at a singaround an hour or two before. When I go to a business where the employees sing, I'm in heaven. -Joe- |
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23 Dec 20 - 06:54 AM (#4084682) Subject: RE: Tech: Blocking Unwanted Sound in Stores. From: fat B****rd Yesterday in Tesco "Cool Jerk" by The Capitols came on !! Just thioutht I'd put me twopennorth in :-) Merry Christmas all fB Charlie |
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23 Dec 20 - 07:08 AM (#4084685) Subject: RE: Tech: Blocking Unwanted Sound in Stores. From: Jos This time of year supermarkets tend to play what I can only describe as "Xmas music" - things like White Christmas sounding like a 45 rpm record played at 33 rpm. It's so-o-o depressing. |
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23 Dec 20 - 08:14 AM (#4084691) Subject: RE: Tech: Blocking Unwanted Sound in Stores. From: GUEST,JHW This era I've mostly shopped in 'Farm Shops' as they seem to be trying to cater for lockdown rulings. No music in any. Pricey but overall the year has saved me money. Would like to remove unwanted music from BBC radio programmes. |
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23 Dec 20 - 08:22 AM (#4084694) Subject: RE: Tech: Blocking Unwanted Sound in Stores. From: Jos Both unwanted music, or 'musical' notes and sounds, as well as unwanted and often seemingly irrelevant 'noises'. |
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26 Dec 20 - 03:09 AM (#4085027) Subject: RE: Tech: Blocking Unwanted Sound in Stores. From: punkfolkrocker 8 hours of vintage department store Christmas music Nostalgia freaks may feel brave enough to further explore this channel dedicated to vintage Kmart instore muzak... |
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26 Dec 20 - 04:57 AM (#4085035) Subject: RE: Tech: Blocking Unwanted Sound in Stores. From: Tattie Bogle Durung lockdown in the UK, and maybe beyond, pubs were forbidden from playing background music on the premise that this would make people shout at each other so as to be heard ove the music, and shouting increases virus transmission. Shouldn't this rule also apply to our stores? (Of course, now most of the pubs are shut as the country moves back into stricter lockdown again!) |
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26 Dec 20 - 05:03 AM (#4085036) Subject: RE: Tech: Blocking Unwanted Sound in Stores. From: Tattie Bogle P.s. Those of us who wear hearing aids can just turn them off, when they will act as fairly efficient ear-plugs! |
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26 Dec 20 - 06:29 AM (#4085042) Subject: RE: Tech: Blocking Unwanted Sound in Stores. From: GUEST,JHW what? |
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26 Dec 20 - 03:58 PM (#4085086) Subject: RE: Tech: Blocking Unwanted Sound in Stores. From: Tattie Bogle Pardon? |
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28 Dec 20 - 03:12 PM (#4085363) Subject: RE: Tech: Blocking Unwanted Sound in Stores. From: mayomick Whistling does the job , I find |
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28 Dec 20 - 04:16 PM (#4085374) Subject: RE: Tech: Blocking Unwanted Sound in Stores. From: Richard Mellish I thought I had posted here but either I got sidetracked or my post has evaporated. I have just renewed my subscription to Pipedown. |
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28 Dec 20 - 04:31 PM (#4085377) Subject: RE: Tech: Blocking Unwanted Sound in Stores. From: saulgoldie Wow! Thanks, Richard! We are not alone! And there is a chapter started in the US, too! Thanks so much! Saul |
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29 Dec 20 - 04:04 AM (#4085443) Subject: RE: Tech: Blocking Unwanted Sound in Stores. From: Jos Thank you Richard. I will most certainly join. |
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29 Dec 20 - 10:47 AM (#4085495) Subject: RE: Tech: Blocking Unwanted Sound in Stores. From: Jack Campin Carry a ghetto blaster inside an unidentifiable crate with Petula Clark's "Downtown" playing LOUD. |
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29 Dec 20 - 11:06 AM (#4085501) Subject: RE: Tech: Blocking Unwanted Sound in Stores. From: Jos Not really fair to the other people who might be trying to shop, Jack. |
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29 Dec 20 - 12:26 PM (#4085518) Subject: RE: Tech: Blocking Unwanted Sound in Stores. From: punkfolkrocker What I relish about this kind of thread, is just how much members of a supposed music lovers forum are actually so grumpily hostile to music... Case in Point: "Downtown" being a classic song and recording, and Petula Clark a well respected singer, by most other reasonable standards.. Oh, but not worthy enough for the stringent puritanical dour tastes of miserable old folkies...!!! It's a good job the rest of the music world is more tolerant of them odd folk music weirdos... |
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29 Dec 20 - 12:31 PM (#4085521) Subject: RE: Tech: Blocking Unwanted Sound in Stores. From: punkfolkrocker .. is it worth mentioning just how much folk music is actually bland MOR easy listening muzak...??? Background music for trendy middle class overpriced fashion and coffee shops... |
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29 Dec 20 - 01:06 PM (#4085527) Subject: RE: Tech: Blocking Unwanted Sound in Stores. From: Jos I always disliked Petula Clark's voice - not because it isn't folkie but because it's too nasal. I still wouldn't like it if she was singing folk songs. And I don't like ALL folk music, either, especially the bland, easy-listening kind. |
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29 Dec 20 - 01:22 PM (#4085532) Subject: RE: Tech: Blocking Unwanted Sound in Stores. From: punkfolkrocker Well.. if we can't laugh at ourselves... The name and persona "punkfolkrocker" would never have existed if it wasn't for that bunch of online old intolerant acoustic folkie miseries I encountered when I first discovered mudcat... |
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29 Dec 20 - 01:37 PM (#4085533) Subject: RE: Tech: Blocking Unwanted Sound in Stores. From: GUEST PFR, I believe the remark about 'Downtown' is a somewhat off colour reference to the recent Nashville bombing |
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29 Dec 20 - 04:19 PM (#4085560) Subject: RE: Tech: Blocking Unwanted Sound in Stores. From: Jack Campin Nobody seemed to get what I was alluding to with "Downtown"... Since last weekend, the perfect number for cranked-up-to-11 car stereos with the windows open. |
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29 Dec 20 - 04:45 PM (#4085562) Subject: RE: Tech: Blocking Unwanted Sound in Stores. From: punkfolkrocker Well, now I'm clued in on the gag.. I'm not one to tut tut about bleak transgressive humour.. Soon to be expecting a flood of dark metal band covers of Downtown...??? At least "Petula Clark told me to do it", is a refreshing change from deranged terror1sts compelled by god or satan... |
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29 Dec 20 - 07:56 PM (#4085589) Subject: RE: Tech: Blocking Unwanted Sound in Stores. From: Amergin I pair my bluetooth enabled hearing aids with my phone and use that...then, I pause it when I'm at the register so I can hear the clerk. Those things are the best earbuds I've ever had...of course they're a little on the spendy side. |
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30 Dec 20 - 01:38 AM (#4085623) Subject: RE: Tech: Blocking Unwanted Sound in Stores. From: Jack Campin Interesting history of this kind of music: Elevator Music |
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30 Dec 20 - 08:35 AM (#4085670) Subject: RE: Tech: Blocking Unwanted Sound in Stores. From: Richard Mellish PFR: "What I relish about this kind of thread, is just how much members of a supposed music lovers forum are actually so grumpily hostile to music..." There is music and there is music (and there is what some of us may think doesn't qualify for the name at all). A few of us may like all kinds, but most of us have some kinds that we like and resent having other kinds inflicted on us. Some of us object on principle to having any kind of music inflicted on us, even if it's a kind that we choose to listen to when it suits us. And anyway the kinds that Mudcatters tend to like are seldom the kinds played in shops etc. |
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30 Dec 20 - 03:40 PM (#4085731) Subject: RE: Tech: Blocking Unwanted Sound in Stores. From: PHJim I recall (but can't seem to find) a cartoon of Kenny G getting out of an elevator and saying, "Man, Is that ever cool music." |
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31 Dec 20 - 07:29 AM (#4085822) Subject: RE: Tech: Blocking Unwanted Sound in Stores. From: Tattie Bogle The worst sound in a supermarket on our last trip was not music, but one of those rattly, clattery, bangy multi=storey trolleys that the shelf-packers use. I wouldn't have been able to hear any music against the noise it made: had to cover my ears, while husband was trying to shout over it, "Do we need any more xxxx?" |
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31 Dec 20 - 07:34 AM (#4085825) Subject: RE: Tech: Blocking Unwanted Sound in Stores. From: punkfolkrocker .. the really wost noise in supermarkets is uncontrollable screeching spoilt kids and their stressed out shouting mothers... |
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31 Dec 20 - 10:56 AM (#4085860) Subject: RE: Tech: Blocking Unwanted Sound in Stores. From: Tattie Bogle That too, PFR! Clap 'em in sound-absorbing facemasks, done up VERY tightly! |
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31 Dec 20 - 04:29 PM (#4085917) Subject: RE: Tech: Blocking Unwanted Sound in Stores. From: GUEST,JHW I went away remembering "Downtown" and the voice but that reminded me of 'Uptown, uptempo woman, Downtown downbeat guy' Randy Edelman which I've just played, alas with a sad ending I'd forgotten. |