- New site coming soon

COVERSTORY
setting the
digital industry
on fire
Rowe International describes its
global digital initiative as about
to change the jukebox business
and experience.
here is perhaps no other name
more revered in the jukebox industry than Rowe Ami, whose product
innovations span nearly a century.
A pioneer in the design and
manufacture of jukeboxes,
vending machines, and money handling devices, Rowe has played a historical role in all segments of the
coin-op industry since 1909. Today, a
revitalized Rowe is no longer satisfied
with being a part of history, but is
poised to set the industry ablaze
under a new identity, AMi Entertainment(tm), a newly created business
unit of Rowe exclusively dedicated to
digital entertainment.
Rowe’s new logo is seen for the
first time on the cover of this magazine. But the changes at Rowe are
deeper than colorful new graphics.
The new look is representative of
Rowe’s fresh ideas. Central to AMi
Entertainment’s business are the
world’s most advanced digital jukeboxes, which can operate in standalone or Internet-connected formats,
and Rowe’s robust client/server software system, designed to administer
jukebox content. As a truly global
company, Rowe has developed the
most flexible product with the capability of tailoring it to meet the needs
of differing markets.
Rowe had always been a successful
company. It held the industry’s largest
distribution network and enjoyed a
loyal operator base. But the company
needed a new business direction to
maintain its leadership position in a
changing marketplace and to overcome financial difficulties created by
a leveraged buyout more than a
decade ago.
So the jukebox manufacturer charted an ambitious reorganization course
about one year ago, with the objective of creating a worldwide digital
entertainment initiative. To realize its
new business direction, and create a
favorable environment to meet its
goals, Rowe made several dramatic
moves, including the divestiture of its
vending business and seeking a new
ownership structure.
In November 2003, St. Louisbased Harbour Group, a private equity firm acquired the company. Harbour and its related companies are
engaged in the manufacture and distribution of industrial products. Rowe
became part of the firm’s new entertainment group, which was launched
with Harbour’s December 2 002
acquisition of Merit Industries Inc.,
the coin-op industry’s leading manufacturer of countertop touch screen
video games.
“AMi Entertainment is the crown
jewel in the new Rowe organization,”
said Rowe Chairman and Chief Executive J. Douglas Johnson, who spearheaded the restructuring of the venerable jukebox maker. “It blends Rowe
AMi’s deeply rooted history with
today’s information technology and
the future’s possibilities. Rowe has
emerged from a difficult period and
will now move forward and flourish
in the 21st century.”
The company, in fact, has already
positioned itself to take the lead in
digital entertainment, initially concentrating on the international jukebox
market. Rowe’s software and hardware products provide operators,
equipment distributors, and music
suppliers with the freedom to choose
from several methods to distribute
music, working within the legal controls and telecommunication constraints of most markets around the
Key people in charge of the AMi Entertainment
project meet once a week to review action
items, exchange progress reports, and explore
what must be accomplished to meet deadlines.
Here, four Rowe vice-presidents and several
directors participate in a Friday afternoon brainstorming session.
world. This “open” model, Johnson
emphasizes, is critical for the
advancement of the digital jukebox
workflow model, whose acceptance
rate has been slow in the United
States and abroad.
Johnson added, “The revitalized
Rowe is by a long shot the strongest
company in the pay-per-play commercial music sector. Adding to our
strength is the fact that Rowe has
been in the jukebox business since
1927, and our superior product line,
which speaks for itself.”
John Margold, Rowe’s Senior Vice
President of Sales and Marketing,
adds that the Rowe AMi historical
experience, engineering know-how,
and distributorship support will make
AMi Entertainment unique among
the world’s digital jukebox manufacturers and service providers.
“We have been building jukeboxes
for some eight decades and we
understand service issues. We understand operators’ needs and customers’
preferences,” he said. “This knowledge will result in differences in our
products and services which will
greatly impact jukebox performance
for the better.
“We’ve also learned a good deal
COVERSTORY
At a spotlight show at H.A. Franz’s Dallas office,
Franz Sales Representative James Scales proudly shows off Rowe’s StarGlo to his brother
Michael Scales and Chris Kellian of Amusements Over Texas.
J. Douglas Johnson, Rowe Chairman and Chief
Executive Officer, is leading the new strategic
direction of the 100-year-old Rowe/AMi organization. An important part of the industry’s past,
Rowe is now positioned to make history once
again with AMi Entertainment, a new business
division dedicated digital music and amusement
products and technology.
Rowe takes the distributor open house circuit
seriously. Here are Betson’s Kevin Fritz with
Coastal Vending’s Joan Frye and Mark Balint
posing on the left of Rowe’s NetStar. At the right
are Betson’s Larry Wilner and Rowe’s John Margold. Coastal has had great success with digital
jukeboxes and continues to convert its route to
the newest technology.
about digital jukebox hardware and, therefore, AMi
Entertainment operators will benefit
from our experience,” Margold continued. “We can build better products.
And, since we are involved in developing all aspects of a digital jukebox
system—hardware, software, and content—we will be able to provide a
quality system that can sell at attractive prices.
“Additionally, Rowe’s distribution
and service network is by far the
industry’s best. Our top distributors
are service-oriented companies that
pride themselves on maintaining fully
stocked parts departments and welltrained technical staffs to provide
frontline support to the operators who
purchase Rowe digital jukeboxes.”
OVER THERE (AND HERE)
To date, Rowe’s digital jukeboxes
and technology solutions are gaining
rapid acceptance in Australia, New
Zealand, Finland, Spain, Greece,
Canada, and the United Kingdom.
Operators in these countries can manage their music by using onsite data
transfers through an AMi Entertainment jukebox’s onboard CD-ROM
drive.
Rowe and its distributors in these
countries are working closely with different performing rights organizations
to obtain musical content on a subscription basis. In England, Diamond
Time Ltd., a specialist in licenses and
music clearances for public locations,
is providing programming material.
In Australia and New Zealand,
music is supplied by SBA Music, a
producer and distributor of audio and
music video programming. Music
video content is popular in Australia
and New Zealand and AMi Entertainment’s jukeboxes have proven ideal
vehicles for providing this additional
service. Rowe’s flexible business and
technology models enable operators
in these countries to add online capabilities to their jukeboxes.
Domestically, Rowe’s digital juke-
box business has so far been
limited to a hardware role,
with the company’s NetStar(r)
floor and StarLink(r) wall jukebox models supporting Ecast’s
broadband music service.
In Mexico, where AMi Entertainment digital systems have been in
operation for more than two years,
Rowe and its distributor, Guadalajarabased Rincon Musical, have formed
an entertainment partnership to
obtain music licenses and manage
jukebox programming for public performances throughout the country.
Music rights for the FiestaNets(tm),
a customized NetStar for the Latin
American market, have been secured
through Somexfon, a new producers’
rights association that monitors and
collects performing rights for copyrighted music distributed throughout
Mexico.
“Rowe recognizes the challenges of
bringing jukeboxes online in different
countries and the need to provide different solutions for operators,” Johnson said. “The server must be able to
communicate with client jukeboxes
through different connectivity options,
including such broadband services as
DSL, cable, and satellite, as well as
dial-up modems.
“But in cases where online services
are not available, the jukebox also
must support onsite management
alternatives. Despite the advances in
global Internet services, we believe
it’s necessary to provide operators
with both local and remote administrative capabilities to ensure a failsafe
digital music distribution system.”
The best demonstration of AMi
Entertainment’s flexibility in technology and music distribution can be seen
in Canada and Greece, new digital
service areas where two different
approaches are being applied. An
onsite model bringing licensed music
to jukebox locations throughout Canada is already in place. A complete
client/server marketing model, powering custom-branded StarLinks, will
soon change the way music lovers in
Greece experience the jukebox.
Last year, Rowe signed an agreement with Hip Coin Inc naming Hip
the exclusive distributor for Rowe
AMi Entertainment jukeboxes and the
chief administrator of its jukebox platform. Hip Coin is the coin-op entertainment division of Hip Interactive, a
leading North American provider of
electronic entertainment products,
including PC games, video games,
and movies.
The company, which trades on
The Toronto Stock Exchange (“HP”),
distributes first-party hardware and
software for Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo, as well as third-party licensed
video game software. It also markets
proprietary games, branded as Hip
Games, and gaming accessories,
known as Hip Gear.
With an eye on the future, Hip
Coin selected Rowe’s AMi Entertainment products, which address the
complexities of the Canadian jukebox
market. Hip Coin has developed its
own digital music subscription service
that places Rowe jukeboxes on location with up to 2,000 preloaded
songs, and delivers updates on a
monthly basis.
For content, Hip Coin partnered
with Request It, a leading background
music provider specializing in highfidelity PC-based music programming,
which now provides jukebox music
that is licensed by the Audio-Video
Licensing Agency, a Canadian copyright collective society for master
recordings, and the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers
of Canada (SOCAN), a performing
rights organization.
According to Joe Khoury, Hip
Coin’s General Manager, Rowe AMi’s
product suite provided the framework
to help launch Hip’s new digital jukebox service. “Because the downloading of music to jukeboxes is still illegal
in Canada,” Khoury explains, “we
needed a CD-loading version of the
digital model. And, the process of
updating music on Rowe digital jukebox is simple: the operator inserts a
CD-ROM into a jukebox’s CD ROM
drive and the loading is automatic.”
In Greece, Hellenic Interactive will
take full advantage of AMi Entertainment’s digital jukebox solutions. The
company plans to begin deployment
of a branded version of StarLink
phonographs, the Arion Jukebox,
throughout the country in the third
quarter of 2004, before the Summer
Olympic Games open in Athens. The
jukeboxes, which will operate under a
division called Arion Interactive S.A.,
will be administered by AMi Entertainment’s client/server system.
“We contemplated building our
own network and platform for jukebox audio services,” said Niko Drakoulis, Hellenic Interactive’s Chief
Executive, “but we looked at the AMi
Entertainment system and thought we
couldn’t do better. Why reinvent
what’s perfect? We’ll do what we’re
good at: licensing and programming
music.”
(It’s worth noting that Hellenic
Interactive certainly could have built
its own digital jukebox system. The
company—an outgrowth of Hellenic
Radio, founded in 1970 as the first
Greek broadcasting company outside
Greece—specializes in the development of broadcasting and digital
media distribution technologies for
the home, commercial, and mobile
markets.)
According to Drakoulis, AMi
Entertainment’s technology will provide a seamless solution for Arion
Interactive’s forthcoming digital jukebox rollout. “The technology is scalable and features skins, which allows
us to change the size and appearance
of the interface without hindering the
jukebox’s functionality.” The two companies also plan to develop a micropayment system for the Arion Jukebox to support cashless payment
methods using prepaid cards and cell
phones.
The Hellenic Interactive Chief
Rowe’s Director of Technical Services Gordy
Anderson has helped build the company’s reputation as a factory that listens to and helps operators. With the launch of AMi Entertainment,
Gordy is increasing the size of his technical support staff. The staff expansion will enable Rowe
to offer immediate customer response. Rowe
understands that when an operator calls from a
location with a question, he cannot be placed on
hold for a long period of time. Rowe is ready to
handle the call load from the field.
Rowe engineering is incorporating proven, wellliked technologies in its next wall digital jukebox. Here, skilled electrical engineer Rich
VanDyke shows off a new box featuring an LED
illumination system, which was first used in the
StarGlo CD-100 Model K. Operators say they
love the long life of LEDs and Rowe listened.
Rich, who has been with Rowe since 1975, has
developed a board that will allow operators to
program several different light patterns, including the popular “flash with the beat of the
music” mode.
Regional Sales Manager Vaughn Williamson
presides over a recent Rowe service school held
at Lieberman Music in Minneapolis, where some
30 operators attended. With the rollout of several new digital products, Rowe’s experienced
marketing and technical personnel will be working closely with jukebox operators at distributorships and on location.
COVERSTORY
Executive anticipates strong
demand for the Arion
Jukeboxes, which will find
homes in Greece’s cafes,
restaurants, casinos, health
clubs, and the tourist-packed
cabanas along the Mediterranean
beaches. The jukeboxes and central
server will be programmed to play
everything from local Greek music to
popular dance club songs. They’ll also
be used to distribute customized
background music to locations, which
will be offered on a fee basis.
CLIENT SERVER/SERVER
CLIENT
The backbone of AMi Entertainment will be Rowe’s client/server
technology, which will first be applied
to administrate jukebox operations.
The versatile management software
system, which will enable operators to
manage jukeboxes over a secure network, was developed for regions outside of the United States, where
Rowe’s open architecture digital jukeboxes are already running with the
company’s proprietary music system
software, which is known as the
“client.”
Sierra Vista Group, LLC, of
Waltham, Mass., a leading developer
of Web-based applications and e-Business solutions, developed the “server”
component of Rowe’s AMi Entertainment system. SVG’s founder, Shawn
Becker Ph.D., is a noted software
designer and mechanical engineer
whose doctoral research on computer
graphics and computer vision at the
MIT Media Lab was influential in
developing a standard for digital television. Dr. Becker and the SVG software engineering team have created a
server application that seamlessly
integrates with Rowe’s client-side software.
Like other state-of-the-art
client/server models managing content, Rowe’s system will employ a
user-friendly Web management tool.
Operating with encrypted communi-
cation, the server will be able to
archive and manage several million
audio and video files in various formats, along with jukebox system programming data, in a secure environment. Its management user interface
is browser-based. This interface has
been designed to be simple to learn
and easy to use. Common features
are used on almost all Web pages,
and these appear in a consistent manner.
AMi Entertainment’s client/server
technology, Rowe’s Johnson emphasizes, is the next step for the company’s global digital entertainment business, which is already gaining
momentum in the international markets it serves. Rowe’s digital product
suite is far-reaching, he explained,
offering everything from hardware
and sound systems to software and
content. The client/server technology
completes the digital solution.
“Rowe’s client/server system
boasts the latest internationalization
technology,” Johnson added, referring
to the process of implementing products and services that can easily be
adapted to local languages and cultures. “This capability was critical for
Hip Coin in Canada and Hellenic
Interactive in Greece.”
The internationalization process is
sometimes known as translation or
localization enablement. Enablement
includes such features as space in
user interfaces (help pages, online
menus, etc.) for translation into typescripts that require more characters;
and data space permitting translation
from languages with single-byte character codes, such as English, into languages requiring multiple-byte character codes, such as Greek.
THE JUKEBOXES/THE
CLIENT/THE FIELD
Rowe’s NetStar and StarLink floor
and wall-mounting Internet-access
jukebox lines employ touch-enabled
Engineering Vice President Jim Collins and
Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing
John Margold review the final graphics choices
for Rowe’s new Flame digital jukebox. Flame,
which will be powered by the new AMi Entertainment operating system, has a smaller footprint
than Rowe’s full-sized jukebox models and a
smaller price, too. Jim has been with Rowe for
more than 25 years. John has been in coin -op
for nearly 30 years, serving with several leading
manufacturers and distributors. His career
began at Rowe in 1975.
customer interfaces to create
enhanced point-of-sale environments.
They feature broadband Internet support; core computers with large
capacity hard drives that hold up to
300 albums and cover artwork; uninterruptible power supplies; and credit
card and currency acceptance.
In the United States, Rowe’s Internet jukeboxes feature a standard
1,000-watt digital amplifier (500watts per channel); a second 1,000watt amplifier is optional. The amplifiers on both systems support such
advanced features as Rowe’s “Studio
Sound” package with “Cool Audio,”
which can drive up to 60 external
speakers. In many international markets, these jukeboxes are sold with a
standard 250-watt sound system; a
1,000-watt amplifier is offered as an
option.
Rowe’s digital jukebox was initially
designed to support the rollout of
Ecast’s entertainment network, which
uses a broadband administration
model to manage and sell musical
content. Not long after Rowe International, the largest maker of conventional disc-playing jukeboxes, surprised the industry with the
Rowe/Ecast-branded jukebox, it quietly introduced its own music platform, designed for international markets. The first version ran on a Windows 2000 Professional operating
system.
As part of the introduction of AMi
Entertainment, Rowe will unveil its
latest jukebox platform, which was
COVERSTORY
developed with the Windows XP
Embedded operating system. XP
Embedded offers several advantages
over the previous system, including
the ability for developers to pick and
choose from 10,000 components to
power a device such as a jukebox.
The new operating system enabled
Rowe’s engineers to develop an
enhanced, customized system—requiring fewer resources—at a lower cost.
The AMi Entertainment jukebox
interface itself manages content in
encrypted MP3, MPEG 1, MPEG 2
file formats and displays music by
album, song titles, artists, categories,
popularity, and new releases. Local
content, music stored on a jukebox’s
hard drive, is indexed and searchable.
The intuitive graphic user interface
allows patrons to search, select, and
purchase music by using the jukebox’s
high-resolution, touch-enabled display.
For the operator, the AMi Entertainment software supports both
onsite and remote administration.
Music content and software updates
can be installed using an external
USB device or an onboard CD-ROM
drive, transferring new data stored on
a disc to a jukebox’s hard drive. And,
menu-driven service screens provide
complete programmability of system
settings and options. AMi Entertainment’s music software will support
advanced remote management capabilities following the activation of
Rowe’s server. Content additions and
deletions, along with system updates,
can be controlled from an operator’s
computer.
Rowe’s jukebox hardware and software are the first products under the
AMi Entertainment umbrella. And,
while they represent the present and
future, they’re also steeped in tradition, benefiting from 80 years of jukebox know-how. Rowe points out that
any jukebox, digital or not, must meet
critical expectations in the locations
they serve. And the acoustical
requirements, Rowe emphasizes, differ from country to country and from
location to location.
“To tackle these incongruities,”
Rowe’s Margold explains, “different
computer control boards are used for
various regions. In all, Rowe makes
about eight different Internet jukebox
models for the worldwide marketplace it serves.”
THE PATENTS
In developing its digital music
products, Rowe has always recognized the importance of intellectual
property. To protect its business, and
the business of its operators, the company last year acquired what is
regarded as the strongest and oldest
patents covering digital downloading
jukeboxes. In October, Rowe and
Arachnid Inc. signed a licensing
agreement that grants Rowe exclusive
rights to Arachnid patents and patent
applications relating to a digital downloading jukebox in which music and
software are updated by a server.
U.S. Patent Nos. 6,381,575 and
6,397,189, which relate to a central
management system that handles a
plurality of computer jukeboxes
through a transmission link, were
granted to Arachnid in 2002.
These patents, claiming prior art to
19 92, have undergone several
improvements. Arachnid, a leading
maker of electronic darting equipment and software, updated its earlier
patents based on discovery of prior
art presented during earlier litigation;
re-filed the patent applications in
2000; and was issued those new
patents to reflect the discovery of
prior art.
According to Rowe, the new
Arachnid patents are much “tighter,”
adding strength and authority to AMi
Entertainment. “What lends colossal
validity to these new patents is the
fact that they were issued after a
patent examiner closely investigated
prior art,” noted Chief Executive
Johnson. “And, the patent claims are
far-reaching, covering many things
relating to the manufacture and
administration of digital downloading
jukeboxes.”
He added that the Rowe patent
license gives it the right to challenge
unauthorized parties “making, using,
or offering for sale” the technology
covered by the Arachnid patents. In
all, there are seven patents included
in Rowe’s license, which cover other
functions of a digital downloading
jukebox, including downloading
advertising images transferred and
displayed on a digital jukebox’s monitor.
CONCLUSION
Not long ago the jukebox dominated the music and games industry. Pinball machines, pool tables, and other
coin-operated amusement devices
were adjuncts to the jukebox business
and they were placed in jukebox locations. It was not uncommon—and still
is not—for jukebox operators to call
themselves Rowe operators. Today,
being a Rowe operator is going to
take on a whole new meaning!
“Rowe has developed a complete
digital music and entertainment system that will provide jukebox operators with greater administrative abilities to deploy customized and secure
digital music systems in just about
any market,” Johnson said. “International operators who are already
enjoying the benefits of AMi Entertainment’s touch screen digital jukeboxes in unconnected environments
can look forward to bringing these
systems online in the immediate
future. ▲