Our mSoftPlayer has had a lot of new features developed for it in the last year. Besides from now being "cross-media" and able to automatically sense & play both audio and video media, it will now let you audition music against picture within the mSoftPlayer itself. You can pick a start location in the video's time code and then select a start location within the audio track and sync the two to play together at any point. Not only that, but it will allow a separate dialogue track to play as well, and offers separate volume controls for both the dialog and music tracks - all within the mSoftPlayer. As always, this is a free upgrade for any mSoft customers under support that are licensed to use the mSoftPlayer - just call us and ask for the upgrade and we will email it to you.

VisionClip 2.0 was a huge success at NAB 2006 and no wonder - when you price other video digital asset management server systems you'll spend as much as 10 times the price for VisionClip's features. Any video footage can be aggregated for online search via a standard browser interface, replacing archived DVDs, film, tape, etc. Searchable metadata can be ingested from many standard file formats, or even be created via speech to text technology or capturing of close captioning.

Content can either be "mastered" from DVD or any other digital format though the "ProMaster" software tools from any computer on the server's network, or automatically though video capture cards on a group of dedicated Video Capture Computers (VCC). Any common metadata file format (Excel, Filemaker Pro, etc.) can be imported to describe the video content.

The metadata of the video content can be automatically created while the high and lower resolution files are created. After the files have been published, they are searchable for any user on the system that has been granted rights to that content. The thumbnail images the system creates of these files will automatically be captioned by what is being spoken at the start of the file with this option.

Any existing mSoft ServerSound or MusicCue audio server system user can upgrade their system to add the VisionClip video management, to give you an all in one "library of congress style asset management - please contact us if you'd like a quote or to see an online demo.

Many of you met some of our "booth buddy" music libraries for the first time at NAB 2006, and some were returning friends. This year's list of participating music libraries included Amygdala Music , Manpower Music, MasterSource, MusicBox, North Star Media, Position Music, and Sensory Overload Music - here's some pictures from our margaritas and banana daiquiri cocktail parties, as well as the classic Las Vegas cigarette girls that were serving all of you ;-)

Last month's winner was Ivett Chicas, Account Executive at Network Music, Inc. - OK, it stands to reason that a music expert would know this stuff, but that's why you love to call her for music, right?

Here are the questions AND correct answers - they're pretty interesting trivia for parties (as long as you don't use too much, then you just get annoying):

1. Who did the original version of 'I Love Rock 'n Roll'?
   A: Alan Merrill sang it. It was released on RAK records in the UK in 1975. The version was by his band The Arrows, produced by Mickie Most.
2. What was the former profession of Andrea True who sang the disco hit "More, More, More"?
   A: She was a porn star!
3. Before his career took off, Jackson Browne joined what unlikely band for two weeks?
   A: Blue Oyster Cult
4. What do the bands Triumph, BTO and The Guess Who all have in common?
   A: Randy Bachman was the guitarist in all three bands.
5. Who sang backup on Carly Simon's hit 'You're So Vain'?
   A: Mick Jagger
6. How much did the guy make who did the duck voice on 'Disco Duck'?
   A: Only 50 dollars! He was in a lawsuit in the late 70's to recover some of the royalties.
7. Who was the only female solo artist to have a #1 hit single without releasing an album?
   A: Lisa Loeb. She had a #1 hit with the song "Stay". "Stay"landed on her debut album "Tails" in 1995
8. Which two members of *N SYNC were "mouseketeers" on the NEW Mickey Mouse Club?
   A: Justin Timberlake and JC Chasez

OK - here's this month's trivia contest:

This month Sound Ideas is sponsoring a SFX give-away, offering a free set of the Sound Ideas XV series SFX library for the first person to answer all of the following three "music in video advertising" questions. Ready - swimmers, take you mark - go:

1. What Go-Gos tune was used to sell Papa John's Pizza?
   1. Head Over Heels
   2. We Got The Beat
   3. Get Up And Go
2. What product did Kraft use the song "Some Kind Of Wonderful" to promote?
   1. Whipped Cream
   2. Cheese
   3. Mayonnaise
   4. Salad Dressing
3. What major electronics store used the song "Just What I Needed" by the cars in one of their ads?
   1. Best Buy
   2. Fry's
   3. Radio Shack
   4. Circuit City