Here Is The Muze: Every Radio Presenter's Essential Companion!

Introduction.

There's no doubt that more and more blind people are preparing programmes for radio, especially on the internet. The number of people who have our JAWS scripts for StationPlaylist Studio tell us that. But people need access to information about music. Who recorded a specific song? When was it released? Which position on the chart did it reach?

You can now easily obtain this information, and you do not need to own the StationPlaylist product in order to do so.

The Muze is a set of JAWS scripts which gives you a gateway to a wide range of music sources in order that you can gather the information you need quickly. You can check on artist biographies, statistical information and much more. All the information is publicly available, however we know that many people are not tapping into these resources so as to give them a thorough and accurate overview of the music they enjoy or wish to play. The Muze can be used either as a standalone product or it easily can coexist with our J-Say, Leasey or StationPlaylist scripts.

How It Works.

All functions of The Muze can be accessed from a convenient List Box or through dedicated shortcut keys so you can refer to your favourite sources quickly. When within each source, a wizard guides you through a series of questions so the Muze can gather the information needed so as to deliver the correct results. All shortcut keys are global, meaning that they can be accessed from within any application.

In The Muze, you can check the following sources:

Every Hit. This is a very comprehensive search tool requiring special explanation. The Every Hit web site allows you to access the UK singles, albums, E P's and sheet music releases from 1947 to 2013. Our special interface allows you to retrieve a top 40 for the week, but it goes much further. You can search for song title, artist, specify the start date for the search, the peak chart position, whether the search should start with an individual letter, and more. All this can be achieved by not working with the web site. Best of all, the results page stays open while you make notes on the retrieved records.

Other sources include:

• The Official Charts Company, for retrieving the most accurate chart information in the UK.
• Billboard Magazine, for retrieving the most accurate chart information in the US.
• Ultimate Chart Database, for comparing UK and US chart data. This includes the UK singles and albums chart from 1952 to the present and the US singles and albums chart from 1940 to the present.
• Last.FM, for artist biographical information and to preview songs on YouTube.
• iTunes, for previewing songs or listening to them on Apple Music. Use this source also to retrieve new release information of singles, albums, audio books, TV shows and movies.
• Genius Lyrics, for checking lyrics of a song to ensure they are suitable for broadcast and obtaining other useful music facts and artist biographies.
• Wikipedia, for researching song and artist information.
• Discogs, for obtaining release information of singles, albums and those all important 78's.
• 45Cat, for obtaining release information of singles, albums and those all important 78's.

Some of the representations are plain text summaries in order to make understanding of the data much easier. In such summaries, you can press a keystroke to hear the focused track on YouTube if a sample exists, or another keystroke to copy the artist and title to the clipboard so as to use it with another of our sources. List Boxes of results may also be returned to ensure you locate the item you really want.

Examples of Facts You Can Quickly Learn.

• How many number 1 hits did Elvis Presley have between 1960 and 1962 in the UK?
• In which year did Margaret Whiting record "Moonlight in Vermont", on which record label was it released and who produced the arrangement?
• List all songs by Phil Colins with UK and US chart peak positions.
• Give me the top 75 singles, including positions for this week and last, for 28 April 2004, either for the UK or US.
• How many singles did Dion Warwick have on the Billboard chart? We can tell you she has recorded 56 Hot 100 Songs. Includes 2 number 1 hits and 12 top 10 hits .
• List the songs containing artists starting with the letter F from 1 September 1972.
• Tell me the record label on which "Love Me Do" was released, together with the chart positions week by week.

We're just scratching the surface here, but there is much more information you can find and learn about.

Training.

In order that you can gain the most from these powerful tools, it is likely that you will need some training on the various techniques associated with them. Every chart source has its strengths and weaknesses and it is important to let you know what they are in order that you can use the one which suits a particular situation. Your purchase of this product includes the audio archive of a webinar which took place demonstrating many of the product's functions.

While there is some documentation provided, the questions in each dialog box are easy enough to understand what is required. The way in which you will get to know when to use each source and the features contained within it is through the training. Most importantly, you need to be taught how to get the information quickly.

Pricing.

The cost of The Muze and its training is £50 which is approximately 62 US dollars.

Please enter your JAWS or Fusion serial number here.

Conclusion.

Having used these sources of finding music every day, we can say how useful they are for retrieving music facts and statistics for your radio shows, pleasure or to answer questions in the pub quiz! Learn about the music and tell the world about it too!