Ranger Computers

Qubit: All the Official Music Catalogue available at a touch!

In an exclusive arrangement between Ranger Computers Ltd and The Official UK Charts Company (OCC)
a new product enquiry and ordering system, Qubit, is being deployed to retailers and others trading in
recorded music.

Qubit is an online system which allows users to search The Official UK Music Catalogue
and build multiple orders for anyone who supplies recorded music.

This is the first time that OCC has made its definitive catalogue of UK music product available online.
Qualifying subscribers, including retailers and other trade users of music information, can now search
the entire catalogue of more than 640,000 recordings using only a web browser.

Search the Official UK Music Catalogue by typing the artist and or part of the title. Results are
presented alphabetically, in release date order or even ranked by price!

The master catalogue is hosted on web servers at Ranger’s ‘Chartretailer’ site, where it is kept up to date with
new releases, product amendments and dealer price changes on a daily basis.

Items can be chosen from the catalogue, allowing users to build up multiple purchase orders for trade suppliers.
Even better, these orders can be emailed at the touch of a button!

The Official Music Catalogue is compiled for OCC by market researchers Millward Brown (part of Kantar, the
research arm of WPP) and has been used for many years in Ranger’s Oscar EPOS system. However, Qubit
represents the first time that the information has been available to users over the Internet.

To add an item to an order, just touch the item and then the supplier's icon. That's it!

The Official Music Catalogue is both the most complete and most timely database of music available for sale in
the UK because it is the same information that is used to compile the UK record charts. The catalogue contains
information feeds from more 100 distributors, including all the majors, ensuring that the latest information is
always available to users. It contains crucial information on the official distributor for each item, the dealer price,
and availability as advised by the distributor.

This means that Qubit can be used to build purchase orders simply by picking and dropping selected items into
the appropriate shopping basket. Unlike conventional Internet shopping sites that can only build a single order,
Qubit supports unlimited simultaneous orders and allows items to be moved between orders as well!
Using a proven email technology that is widely deployed in Ranger’s Oscar system, orders can be sent
electronically directly to most major distributors. (Printed copy is also available for those suppliers who do not
support email). Orders are not restricted to official suppliers – items can be directed to any third party distributor
as required.

Qubit keeps a complete audit trail of every order placed through the system and allows the user to review past
orders at any stage. This means that incoming goods can be checked against actual orders and current orders
compared with previous ones.

Touch Screen

Qubit is supplied complete with a touch screen monitor for use in sales or front desk applications. Touch screen
technology allows users to interrogate the Official Music Catalogue and select products without having to turn
away to operate a separate mouse or keyboard. Existing orders can be opened just by touching their screen
icon! Once opened, orders can be amended, edited, closed and sent to suppliers all at a touch.

Send to Oscar

Users of Ranger’s widely used Oscar EPOS system, who already have access to the Official Music Catalogue
on their systems, can now benefit from Qubit’s advanced search flexibility.

Items can be selected in Qubit and sent to an associated Oscar system at a single touch for incorporation into
customer special orders or other processes. Qubit’s revolutionary design allows it to present bibliographic data
from a wide variety of sources in addition to music information. This will allow EPOS users to benefit from
immediate access to catalogues of other types of merchandise and further announcements on this subject are
expected soon.

Why ‘Qubit’?

A ‘Qubit’ is defined as a ‘quantum bit’, the equivalent in the new world of quantum computing to the traditional
binary bit in today’s computers. A ‘bit’, of course, is the smallest and most precise unit of information upon
which all computer information is built. Ranger’s Qubit provides users with music industry information in the
finest form available – a direct feed from the Official UK Chart Company’s own database. Thus Qubit can
provide unequalled product search and order placement information. And because Qubit is a Web application it
might one day be powered by a quantum computer!

Phoenix

Qubit is based on technology developed for Phoenix, the UK’s new record chart reporting system for
independent retailers.

Phoenix ‘went live’ in February 2007 and is now used by over 100 retailers. It uses a tiny module to connect
barcode scans directly to the Phoenix web server without the use of computers at the retail location. Both
retailers and OCC can see sales as they happen, in real time, for the first time anywhere in the world.
Qubit complements Phoenix naturally and so the growing pool of Phoenix users is expected to be amongst the
first to adopt the new Qubit as well.

Stop Press

London Calling

Qubit’s public debut will be at the  London Calling show on 28-29th June at Earls Court, London. Ranger are
exhibiting in the Entertainment Retailer’s Association (ERA) pavilion.

Hope to see you there!