Also the Philips BMS3000 CD-i BGM player was based on CD-i technology: it was built by Shinano-Kenshi who co-developed BGM (Background Music) together with Philips

 

Our article about the AEI BGM CD-i player resulted in nice memories from CD-i members, including CD-i member Andy AVAV Systems who showed us again the Philips BMS3000 CD-i BGM player, based on CD-i technology. Jorg Kennis adds some interesting info: "On the back of the AEI BGM player you see a sticker with 'Plextor' on it. Plextor is a brand by Shinano-Kenshi, the Japanese firm who co-developed CD-BGM with Philips. The Philips BMS3000 was also built by Shinano-Kenshi." 

 

Andy AVAV Systems continues:"Philips BMS3000 CDi BGM Player - CDi Audio Discs in Caddy. Built in 100v Amp & Mic Input With matching Philips LGC4200 Cassette Deck, for dropping in Adverts, Jungles etc. Mic Input for Manual Messaging. I remember meeting with Philips & they were amazed to find we still added Title Screen & broke down the individual Tracks within the Bands. It was part of Green Book spec. AEI Rediffusion etc didnt & that REALLY annoyed Philips Standards People Put any TSC Disc in & you get OSD. We had multiple “normal” CDi Players from Philips. They dished them out to us as Test Players. We used them in the Studio to test the OSD on the Discs - Title info etc, as the BMS 3000 - and the later Plextor - didn’t have Video out. But we still titled the discs."

 

Jac Goudsmit remembers: "BGM discs are basically CD-i formatted discs with a few extra limitations: the audio always has to be ADPCM-C (or was it B), the multiplexed audio file had to start at a certain sector of the disc, and the track list (which was in a certain text format) also had to be in a specific sector location. This was so that the relatively dumb BMG players could play the discs: they didn't actually run the CD-i application (they didn't have video so they didn't need to), they would just read the track list from a specific sector location, and they would play the compressed audio from a specific location too. The BGM disc format specified that CD-i players would also have to be able to play the music in some way, and the format left plenty of space to put a CD-i application on the disc. By the way we had a BMG3000 player, it looked like a CD player with a caddy instead of a tray, and with a couple of extra buttons so you could not only change to the next and previous tune but also to different tracks of the same disc.

I think Philips BMS was competed out of the market by Muzak. Muzak may even have bought BMS from Philips, I don't remember."