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I just checked my rarely used yahoo email and saw that Mobile Beat HAD a special for the Sound Choice Gem series but it expired yesterday 3/31/18.

You could lease the 6,000 song Gem Series for $2,500 as a one time payment and after 3 years would pay $33 a year to continue the lease.

Not a bad deal if you needed or wanted it. Who knows, they would likely extend the offer if asked.

I'm certainly not a cheerleader for SC's past tactics, but rather a long time investor/fan of the former product. A lot has been replaced by Zoom though to be honest, as well as, other manus, and i "own" them.

Anyways..thought i'd share if anyone wants the excellent product at a decent price (leased not owned) but nevertheless a peace-of-mind purchase for some folks.

A user on facebook claims to have paid PEP for a second set and was told he was being sent a flashdrive. When he demanded discs, they told him they were "keeping them for him" and when he pressed the issue even more, and unnamed person at PEP revealed that the don't send discs.... because they don't have any more...

Not surprising.

Oh Luuucy!!! You in trouble now!!!

Tell me it ain't so

Can't they just PRESS MORE????

Didn't they get away with it last time...and the time before???

This is an absolute lie. No one at Phoenix would make such a statement, because it's objectively false. Every new license is backed by its own set of discs that is stored in the Phoenix warehouse in an individually numbered bin, labeled with the licensee's information.

We started the Disc Safekeeping program because we lost several sets of previously licensed GEM discs when the licensees destroyed them or lost them. Per the terms of the license agreement, those discs remain PEP's property. Phoenix determined that the best way to protect its property was to store the discs on behalf of the licensee. Here is the relevant language from the agreement:



The ONLY difference between the original system and this system is that the place where the discs are stored is PEP's warehouse, rather than the operator's closet, storage space, or wherever.

It's genuinely sad, though not unexpected, that Mr. Staley would resort to making up or repeating lies in his continuing effort to damage Phoenix.

I believe the sale is ongoing. If you want that deal, just call the main number (704-588-7778), hit 0, and talk to Brian.

It's not.



No, the sets that FSC Mediaplas pressed back in 2010 are the last ever. When they're gone, they're gone.

Well then, I guess that settles that!

It should.

c. staley
JimHarrington
So, eventually, there won’t be any more discs, assuming you haven’t already run out as you didn’t mention how many were made and how many were LEASED, in order to determine how many are available.

Based on the lack of information, one could choose to believe there are NO MORE discs.

mrmarog
So, NO, that doesn't settle that.

I also saw this post on the Facebook group page so no, Chip is not making this statement up.

Also isn't what PEP is doing, putting the material from the discs onto a flash drive, a form of "media shifting"???

_________________
Music speaks to the heart in ways words cannot express.

Chip didn't make anything up, he quoted a post from elsewhere that I myself had already seen.

The original poster (on another forum) was and remains a long-time and happy Sound Choice customer, so in this case is unlikely to be making up anything against PEP. He was already a GEM licensee, getting a second set, but was unaware of the recent change and was surprised to get the new set on a memory card instead of discs, so he phoned PEP.

No one has to be lying in this case. Could the customer have misunderstood what the PEP employee said on the phone? Sure. Could the PEP employee have misunderstood what the customer was asking? Sure. Or been a new or temporary employee who answered incorrectly? Sure. Those things happen all the time.

The number of available sets is confidential business information that doesn't have any place on a public forum. I can confirm that there are sets available to be licensed, enough to meet the present demand. When there are no more sets available, the GEM series will no longer be offered--at least until there are more sets that come off-license. As surprising as it may sound, there are actually some people who return the discs instead of paying the very small renewal fee.

You could "choose to believe" that there are no more discs, just as you could "choose to believe" that the moon landings were faked. But the facts are otherwise.

No one gives a rat's patootie how many sets are "available." At one point you were offering them up free remember? Not much value left when they're free. The question was how many were delivered from Fermata who pressed them. (Not even how many were "licensed" because we know that was a crock too.)
"Present demand" could be zero. Words mean things remember? Besides, who cares what you "can confirm?" You're on your way out the door right? And you've never been obligated to be honest with anyone here anyway. (Pointing to the "Advance Program")
No one likes to stare at an expensive mistake.

You could also "choose to believe" the attorney who has a vested interest in claiming that no willful infringement is happening while he wraps up his employment at PEP and dumps being an "officer" is the truth too. Of course, if it weren't true then being mixed up with willful infringement with a shady ethics background is a path to permanent disbarment.

For someone who doesn't read/respond to/care about my posts, he certainly jumped on this one pretty quick.... And wasted no time calling me liar.... again....

In the meantime, he is still lying today: The discs were not "pressed by FSC Mediaplas back in 2010" in the U.K. They were pressed by Fermata in the Czech Republic. (Why hasn't his pants caught fire?)

Rent free.... in his head...

JimHarrington wrote:

So, as a Lawyer you make statements based on facts. Then, in the same vein chastise me for pointing out the FACT that you don't have any facts. Your WORDS are NOT FACTS.

Not going to work this time or any other time you spout off BS.

No one, including myself, EVER said you needed to disclose ANY aspect of YOUR business.

But, without PROVABLE FACTS, your words will only get a nice Participation Trophy from me.

Thanks for playing.

The irony of all this is that here is PEP... suing people for using their computers to playback the discs they purchased while they protect their investment of original discs in storage...

In the meantime, PEP stops shipping discs and ships instead, "mediashifts" the content to a flashdrive so they can "protect their investment" by storing the original discs in a warehouse?

The nice thing about facts is that they're true whether you believe them or not.

Consider these facts: Phoenix is well known to the people who would be harmed if it sent out unlicensed material. These people have shown very little restraint in suing Phoenix and its predecessor even when they had no case at all. The Disc Safekeeping program is prominently identified on Phoenix's website--it's right there on the GEM series main page, along with a full explanation of what it is and how it works.

Given all of those facts, what do you estimate are the chances that Phoenix would do something so stupid as to send out more GEM series than are backed by fully licensed discs, much less to make a statement to an outside person that it was doing so?

Phoenix has now put out a statement on this issue.

https://pep.rocks/discs

Jim, one thing I don't understand is PEP's statement on their website. It says:

"With that in mind, we revised the GEM series program in a couple of different ways. First, we reduced the initial license term to 3 years and required an annual renewal after that. That way, we maintain closer contact with our licensees."

So now because some people did not follow the terms of the lease, PEP is punishing the ones that did follow along with any new Gem Licensees. PEP can just add that every lessee must contact PEP whether through email, letter, or phone call annually to update their status and to confirm they are abiding by the agreement. It seems like these people provided PEP the opportunity to make "more" money off their Gem sets. The statement goes on to say:

"This solves the problem of accidental loss, theft, damage, or unauthorized sale or transfer, and it relieves our licensees of the need to store and protect our property".

If this solves the problem, why doesn't PEP leave the length of the lease to five years because PEP is holding the physical discs? I'm sure the people who violated the lease agreement had to pay for the discs whether it was destroyed, lost, or stolen. Some things PEP does just rattles my mind. I'm not a PEP basher, nor do I condone how PEP is going about its business "fighting" piracy. But when I think about it, PEP is only in it for the money. Sorry Jim, but I have to believe it's all about the money and not because PEP wants to protect the lessee since they claim that the amount of Gems available are dwindling.