[mindonstrike]

Sam from JOLT here.

Originally Posted by Harryoke

Long story short, some time back I got a PC from MTU with Hoster, and had problems with it...getting it to do what it was supposed to do, so I eventually gave up on it. Some time later, I switched to laptop to DJ from, and attempted to use Compuhost to run my karaoke shows from the laptop. While I love that product, I cannot find time to re-rip all my discs to the proper format. 85-90% of my discs are already ripped to KMA format on the old Hoster machine.

My laptop has Vista...and in an attempt to thwart having to rerip my discs, I am considering coming back to MTU. I know a couple of users who are having no problems, so I am assuming maybe my issues were unique to me, and starting over may result in different results.

Currently I have Hoster 3.31 installed. Here are my questions:

1. If I am going to use a Vista installed laptop (Toshiba Satellite A135-s4727... Pentium Dual Core T2080 / 1.73 GHz - RAM : 2 GB - HD : 160 GB - DVD/R) what is the best version of Hoster for me to consider?4.04 is the one currently shipping which also come bundled with 3.4 (3.4 works well with Vista, has the same look and feel as 3.1, and very few people have had problems with it.) Some folks with Vista are having problems with 4.xx so 3.4 is just a click away if something arises.

2. What kind of cash outlay is it going to cost to upgrade? I think the upgrade is $170

3. Is it going to be a hassle to put the new version on a laptop if the old version is on the desktop I got from MTU? (Mini cube).Your original license was good for 2 computers. There shouldn't be a problem for your laptop. If you reformatted the desktop at some point and reinstalled Hoster, MTU might think it's already on 2, but otherwise shouldn't be an issue

4a. If I decide to upgrade my laptop anytime soon, how hard is it to move Hoster to my new laptop from the old one? Is that a big deal? Starting with 4.xx you can un-instal online and free up that license to use on another machine.
After upgrading the cube you could un-install and put it on your laptop or whatever.

4b. Is it possible to cheaply license a second laptop as a backup? I carry a backup PC generally, but it wont do me any good if I cant play the karaoke files on it, LOL. I am seriously considering a new laptop for this project and using the old laptop as a backup.As noted above the license you already have is for 2 machines (one show - one backup), and as long as you have internet access you can change 'em around or back and forth.


5. Are there any obstacles in this thought that I am not seeing?

Thanks in advance for the info and advice and direction.

Sam