AEI PARAGON Model

BEFORE I GET HIT WITH INFRINGEMENT POLICY, THE MUSIC BEING PLAYED HERE IS NOT FOR THE CONTENT BUT RATHER TO DEMONSTRATE THE USE OF THIS PLAYER!!!
Here's another item not often seen today...old technology for sure! This is a "foreground" music system as opposed to a "background" music system. It was piped through stores and restaurants for the patrons to listen to. This system is based on the Muntz 4-track tape system but rather than utilizing 2+2 tracks for stereo and having to manually switch between those tracks, this system was monaural utilizing all 4 tracks individually changed electronically so that it could operate on its own without anybody having to change the music tracks manually. The nice thing is that there was lots of licensed music available on tapes from the 40's through the 90's for establishments before this system was eventually dropped in favor of other background music systems. Essentially, this is another piece of Americana history.
I'm selling the PARAGON player AND the 6 cassettes to go with it for $175 + shipping. If you have an interest you can e-mail me or leave a message on the YT messaging system for me.
I hope you've enjoyed seeing another great piece of our past history!

[@Musicradio77Network]

I've never seen this one before. This one is extremely rare, and it can be found in restaurants including pizza joints including Pizza Hut as well as fast food joints such as McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's, KFC, and just to name few. They also can be used in supermarkets, department stores like Macy's, Sears, Kmart and several others. This was way before iTunes, Pandora, Spotify and Music Choice channels hit the scene. This was better than listening to music on any radio station which was too boring to play the same song over and over again. I was at my job where they played music on my supervisor's Pandora, but after one of them left, it keeps playing the same music. How many times do I hear Journey's "Separate Ways", Bee Gees' "Stayin' Alive", any Elvis song or any current song over and over and over again every single day with a exception of the Dell-Vikings' "Come Go With Me"? Just a billion times to hear the same song at my job, and that was annoying and frustrating. As for AEI Foreground tape system, anything goes. It has a good variety of music from the 70's, 80's from different genres like pop, rock, R&B and country. And there's one tape that are also included in the series which has a collection of golden oldies from the 50's and 60's like Bill Haley & the Comets, Dion, Roy Orbison, Johnny Mathis, Ray Charles, the Rascals, Lesley Gore, the 5th Dimension, Engelbert Humperdinck, Tom Jones, Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry and several doo-wop groups like the Drifters, the Five Satins, the Dell-Vikings, the Crests, and more. Plus, there was another tape that has a collection of Motown favorites like Smokey Robinson & the Miracles, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, the Temptations, the Four Tops, Mary Wells, the Marvelettes, Martha & the Vandellas, Gladys Knights & the Pips, the Commodores, Lionel Richie, Rick James, Teena Marie, Jr. Walker & the All-Stars, Diana Ross, the Supremes, and the lists goes on and on. These tapes are part of the AEI tape collection.

[@Robbie66dj]

Hi Glen, Yes this was a commercial player, and the tapes were distributed to the clients on a subscription basis. When the end user paid the subscription fee monthly, that took care of all of the ascap / bmi licensing fees, but only for that particular location. Theoretically, the old tapes were supposed to be returned to the provider every six months or so. This way, the music was always kept "fresh", or, up to date.By the way, the difference between background and foreground music, was that foreground was always current, original artist music, meant to be played at a louder volume, to actually be heard, to help create an atmosphere, whereas background was usually orchestral "cover" arrangements of familiar tunes, meant to be played at a lower volume, to "blend" into the background, to enhance an existing atmosphere. Several companies made these decks and tapes, all using the Muntz (actually NAB) 4-track mono format. 3M, AEI, Yesco, EMS-Music, Muzak, Seeburg, Music Springs / TapeAthon and GBM were the major providers at the time. By the mid to late 90's, most providers abandoned the tape format, and went to either c.d's, or satellite delivery. And yes, I worked in the "Business Music" (as it was referred to) for 30 years. Hope this explains things!

[@seeburgsrock]

Rob Anthony Explained PERFECTLY, thank you! And thank you for all the info on background/foreground music. There'll be others interested in that explanation as well!

[@mycosys]

You wouldnt happen to know what tape speed these were using? Standard fidelipak speeds or the lower speeds of the similar unit Techmoan recently displayed?

[@Robbie66dj]

@@mycosys 3&3/4 ips.

[@tylerbrink9594]

Hi glen I like old music things

[@RCALivingStereo]

I Have a seeburg encore, they called that foreground music.

[@Musicradio77Network]

I hope “Techmoan” would love to see this one in the future.

[@desoto1961]

Just amazing! I am surprised it had real songs on the tapes not the Muzak versions. And all mono. Very cool!

[@seeburgsrock]

desoto1961 Just as surprising to me! I had an interested party from the UK that was just as enamored with this package and bought it from me just this week. How's the Muntz player? Need work? Got a cache of 30 4-track tapes in yesterday's mail!

[@rick420buzz]

Love that first song that played. RIP Tom Petty

[@LRogersPhoto]

I'd be interested in seeing a catalog that had the track listings you could choose from, not sure if that existed.

[@DandyDon1]

It's the large Fidelipac tape cart. Using a modified cart machine system by Viking/Telex or another manufacturer.

[@DandyDon1]

Obviously this was long before AEI Satellite Music ;)

[@HelloKittyFanMan.]

Wow, those tapes are even bigger than those RCA Sound Tapes that you showed us, which I said were even bigger than the Elcaset! These remind me of radio carts or as if they were extra-big versions of -- or similar to -- the 8-track cartridges some of us were familiar with. So I guess this has the big wheel in the middle that spooled tape back around the outside. is that right? This makes me wonder: back before the digital age (CDs or files), what kind of machine was used by amusement park rides that had audio-track music that would play while the ride was running (I don't mean carousel organs, etc.)?

[@HelloKittyFanMan.]

OH, I just saw one of Databits' videos, and they *are* like the radio cartridge players except that they have different cartridge sizes and that they play more slowly. It makes me wonder why they didn't make them able to play at a faster speed like the radio cart speed. It reminds me of the partial compatibilities between professional Beta (Betacam) videotapes vs. home Beta, in that you can load a home Beta tape into a pro. machine and it will fit and run but not play right. And I think you could record a pro Beta signal over onto a home Beta tape and then it would work. That's similar to the differences between full-sized DVCPro vs. the smaller ones vs. MiniDV tapes that are somewhat form-factor compatible.

[@esroberto1]

Yours is the only other AEI VI-B I've ever seen. Identical to the one I have. I also have about 45 carts for it, all the same size and graphics layout as the smaller ones you have here. I didn't know there had ever been larger carts for this machine. I'm assuming they contained more content?

[@seeburgsrock]

+Robert Wright The same, just more content yes!

[@RediffusionMusic]

Hey Robert, you got any of the Contemporary Instrumentals carts? Loved the music that was contained on them.

[@shadowshop1]

hi to all out there. i got some info the smaller cart. they are 32min the next size up was 1 hr tape 3 3/4 tape speed. they are very hard to find. i pick some up of ebay they cost alot of money. you can record on them. all you have to is put a play/record head all in one job. there's back ground players out there that can be fixed up so they can be used as 4 channel recorders

[@Musicradio77Network]

BTW, I see a label on the side that says "Godfather's Pizza", but you've said "Goodfellas Pizza" by mistake, it's Godfather's Pizza. They're still around, and it is still located in Highland, NY which is a half hour south from here. The website is: www.godfathers.com And I was also looked up Google that the company Audio Environments Inc. is still around today, but thanks to new technology. First there was the tape system, and now they got computers where they got the music being digitized and it is also called the AEI Music Service.

[@ronhauther6034]

I have a Paragon VI model. Been working on it. Can't get sound from the screws on the back or the rca jack under the cover on top. Real frustrated...

[@2574mcu]

At work they had one of those players. They only had one tape. I worked 11 to 12 hrs a day, 6 days a week. I still am sick of those songs when I hear them. That was back in the early 80s.

[@RediffusionMusic]

Hey man. You got anything in the way of AEI Propac cassettes? Looking for some US ones to add to the collection :D

[@RediffusionMusic]

Most 2000-ish built/refurbished retail outlets had AEI speakers, and most still do! Previously in the UK most of these systems were AEI Rediffusion Music, I've got a rather rare Rediffusion Music RM2 unit, and I'll be doing a quick unboxing of it soon! I also have the original Rediffusion Music Star Sound speakers. All great products... and most of it (even the RM2 units!!) are still being used in the UK as the amps for most paging systems! :)

[@david-z4j6d]

yes" i have a AEI player. But' it plays cassettes 4 track only. it says AEI Pro pack 4+.

[@atco21117]

Interesting Glen - Yeah, definitely not use for home use, but interesting. I wonder whether you can now play your music into a restaurant without the license. Could the AEI already take care of that? -- Atco

[@seeburgsrock]

atco21117 That's a good question Atco. Not being a lawyer, I don't have a clue as to what the laws are regarding playing that music in a commercial setting. I know for a fact MUSAK had tapes just like this as well as a player to match and that music was licensed too. I purposely kept the music here to a minimum to avoid having a strike against me on YT. There's certainly no reason why you CAN'T play this as home use! The music is good AND continuous albeit in mono. You certainly wouldn't have to get up & change the tunes any too often!!

[@esroberto1]

+seeburgsrock AEI would've had a licensing agreement with the record labels that owned these recordings. The vendor would have a subscription with AEI, who would've rented the playback gear AND the tapes.

[@shadowshop1]

hi funny thing i pick up spare heads for this from ebay.com just was very lucky

[@douro20]

As these were based on the Fidelipac broadcast cart system but used a different tape speed, heads are quite common for these.

[@jerickzane]

Arby's had one. same tapes

[@torg0]

Did it ever sell?

[@seeburgsrock]

Mike Newell Sold quite some time ago...sorry.