Music on Hold Playlists

[danielb2760]

Hey Everyone,

I'm building out a new 3CX system for a client and working on Music On Hold playlists.
I've read a few thread and this small detail about the feature but I can't find a technical explanation of the feature.

I've setup my playlist, but in my testing I'm finding that it seems to be out of order, or midway through playing a file.
My expectation would be that it would start at the top of the playlist for each call.

My intention is to have this order:

1. Music Only File (allows to play Intro from Call Queues)
2. MOH File 2
3. MOH File 3
4. MOH File n
5. Repeat

Is this expected, or is it supposed to be just a running playlist regardless of the call and when the call started?

Thanks.

 

[TheodorosG_3CX]

Check also this forum post for further clarification on your inquiry.

 

[danielb2760]

Not sure that it does.

In the post, they say their problem was using a file for all music on hold for all agents.

If I select a playlist under the Music on hold for queues, this playlist is only played when a call is in the queue, waiting to be picked up by an agent. Once an agent picks up the call, and put the call on hold, then the FIRST file from the Music On Hold settings (Music FILE 0) is played only. I did not find a way to use a Playlist for those calls.

My issue is that when using a Playlist of MOH in a Queue, the caller seems to get the playlist already playing, not the start of the playlist. I'm configuring it so that there's an Intro to the Queue, then there's a specific playlist to be played for those queues.

Since 3CX will play the Music on Hold under the Queue Intro, I'm configuring it so there's just plain music for the start of the playlist and once the intro has finish, the rest of the MOH Playlist will continue.

However, what I'm experiencing at the moment is that, for example, is that the Queue Intro will be playing, and the MOH will be part of the way through MOH File 3.

I'm thinking my only solution at the moment is to have all the files combined into a single audio file and set that as the MOH for the queue, unless there's something that I'm missing.

 

[danielb2760]

I've since tested having a single file for the Music on Hold, but now found that once the Intro has finished it stops playing the music on hold, or when using a playlist with a single file, that file is still playing midway through the audio.

There's something messed up with the way 3CX is handling the MOH feature that isn't consistent.

 

[Fabrice F.]

Hi

Using Playlists, the fact that each call gets the music midway already playing is a real problem.

Only the first call on the very first time playing the Playlist gets the whole file played ; each next call gets the file at a random position in the audio.

Even when adding 2 times the same audio file (two different names) and checking the "Shuffle" box : calls gets the music midway.

How can we make 3CX play a Playlist in the intended order, each time from the beginning?

 

[danielb2760]

Hi

Using Playlists, the fact that each call gets the music midway already playing is a real problem.

Only the first call on the very first time playing the Playlist gets the whole file played ; each next call gets the file at a random position in the audio.

Even when adding 2 times the same audio file (two different names) and checking the "Shuffle" box : calls gets the music midway.

How can we make 3CX play a Playlist in the intended order, each time from the beginning?

Since making this post, I've come to understand that the Playlist is to be treat like a always playing audio list similar to the old days where people would plug a CD Player or Radio into the physical phone system and just have it play on a loop. Callers would just get what was playing at the time they were placed on hold.

As in my response, the only work around was to...

have all the files combined into a single audio file and set that as the MOH for the queue

I know this isn't exactly what you were after, but it's all we have for now.

 

[Fabrice F.]

As in my response, the only work around was to...
have all the files combined into a single audio file and set that as the MOH for the queue
I know this isn't exactly what you were after, but it's all we have for now.

I was afraid to do so.

One client in particular, have 150+ Call queues, and a set of a dozen of Playlists used across thoses Call queues.

Updating the MOH (say with several commercial messages combined) is nearly impossible on this environment, this is where Playlists make sense : I prefer updating a dozen of Playlist rather than re-combining a dozen of audio files and update every Call queue to use the new audio file..

I like the analogy with old fashioned setups with CD Player or Radio (or tape installations), and I'm quite sure the Playlist thing in 3CX is an old feature that's never been updated.

It's 2025 now and competitors include powerful features like cloud based royalty-free MOH library or embedded voice synthesis the user can update itself.