Archive for June 2011
Advantages and Disadvantages of VOIP business phone systems
If you have not heard or used the cloud based VOIP business phone systems, then it is time to gather some information about this path-breaking technology. Cloud or hosted business phone systems have the capability to use the advancement of Internet and connect them to the phone lines. This is a far cry from the traditional PBX systems. The cloud PBX systems are hosted at a central location and have the ability to provide high quality communication services to many different businesses all at the same time. With the latest cloud based PBX systems, business owners will not have to invest a large sum of money to buy sophisticated equipment and then maintain them. There are many advantages of the hosted PBX and cloud PBX but as a business owner, you would want to learn both the advantages and disadvantages of these services before subscribing to one.
Advantages:
•Cost Efficiency: Cloud based PBX systems are cost effective. If your business makes a lot of long distance calls then you can truly recognize the worth of these cloud PBX systems. Many cloud based business phone systems include an option with unlimited calling to North America. In terms of the traditional phone systems, you will have to pay per minute for long distance and the rates go up based on the distance of the call. These hosted PBX systems are easier to install and add to the existing setup.
•Variety of features: In terms of the traditional phone systems you have to pay extra for every phone line installation. If you use some extra features such as voicemail accounts and extra users, then you will have to pay extra charges. Other features such as call forwarding and caller ID will also cost you some extra money with traditional phone systems. However these extra features traditionally come for free with the cloud PBX. Call forwarding is an especially useful option for professionals spending a lot of time on the road. With the VOIP business phone system , such professionals can stay connected at all times.
•Flexibility: When businesses grow, the business owner has to pay a lot of money for the traditional phone system. With the cloud PBX system you can add users or extra voicemail accounts without any extra costs by using the administration section. An easy to use interface created by the cloud PBX service providers makes it simple for the business owners to manage their accounts.
Disadvantages:
•High Speed Internet Access: If your area does not have good quality high speed Internet connectivity then you would not be able to use the hosted VOIP business phone system. As more and more areas are getting access to high speed Internet, this is not typically a concern.
•Sound Quality: Some businesses have felt that the sound quality of a hosted PBX system is not as clear as the traditional phone system but those issues have been eradicated with the advancement of these systems.
•Dependent on Electricity and Internet: Traditional phone lines work fine when the electricity or Internet connection is out but the hosted PBX system shut down if either of these two services is interrupted. When measuring the advantages against the disadvantages it can be said that VOIP business phone systems are much ahead of the traditional phones and they are suitable for all types of business.
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The Debate Over The Legality of DRM Removal
Digital Rights Management or DRM has helped digital publishing companies to a large extent. Earlier, the fear of digital piracy kept a number of companies producing different kinds of content from using the Internet to publish their content. Most of the music and entertainment content was available only on tapes, CDs and DVDs. Today, much of this kind of content is available for download on the Internet for a certain fee. Companies are now able to use DRM to protect their content from being illegally copied.
While the technology has helped publishing companies a lot, many consumers feel let down by the restrictions placed upon them. For instance, when buyers purchases a song file from a digital library like the iTunes store which is protected by DRM, they might want to play the song on a number of devices like their iPod or even a Windows PC. But unfortunately, DRM would prevent them from doing so. In effect, users would not be able to listen to the song in the playback device of their choice, even though they had paid for downloading it. This has become a contentious issue and rightly so.
Some people are of the opinion that as long as a person has paid for the content, they have the right to remove the DRM from the content. In other words, they feel that owners of a particular content are justified in DRM removal. They argue that it constitutes fair use, which in a way is true. If you had paid for listening to a song, then you must have the right to listen to that song in a player of your choice. DRM removal seems justified in this case. In fact, most people did this even before the advent of the digital era. Back in the old days of the cassette player, people used to record songs from their gramophone record and listen to them on their cassette player without any problem. As far as we know, there were probably no legal restrictions for doing so.
However, without proper DRM removal software, such issues debates would be pointless. However, there are a number of efficient DRM removal software available today, which make it possible to efficiently remove DRM from digital files. So the debate is very much on as to whether or not DRM removal is legal, even if it was used by people who had paid for the content.
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