Our cell phones are millions of times more powerful than all of NASA’s combined computing power in 1969. They can capture beautiful photos, tune guitars, provide navigation, and process payments. It’s simply remarkable…and something we can easily take for granted.
Corporate cost-cutting and new technology have resulted in the advent of automated systems that can make the on-hold experience even more frustrating. It can feel near-impossible to get a human on the phone these days, which a national survey conducted by Consumer Reports found to be Americans' second-greatest annoyance, after hidden fees but beating out inaccurate weather reports and dog poop. Green observes that often people call as a last resort, because something on the website wasn't clear, perhaps, and they really need an answer quickly. So callers are captive listeners, a state often associated with the gridlock of waiting, whether in line at a Starbucks, in a dentist's chair, or in the proverbial elevator making its slow way up.

Solo guitar and piano music can also be decent choices provided you avoid songs with extremes of high and low volumes and pitch. Most phone systems come with default tracks that, coincidentally, fall squarely into these categories. If you’d like something a bit different then you can find plenty royalty-free tunes available to purchase online (they’re not all that terrible), but remember you'll need to pay for a PRS license if you want to make use of tracks by a recording artist.
Easy On Hold Founder Tim Brown says that the new scheduling mechanism is what makes the Easy On Hold streaming message unique. "The traditional four-minute on-hold loop, where several paragraphs are edited over one piece of music, is an outdated approach," he says. "Our service puts together a library of individual spots that can be told when to play and how often. You can schedule start and stop dates, too, so old content is never heard."