Question about upcoming release....

[mrwizard]

Will Hoster 3.02 be a free upgrade for folks who recently purchased Hoster 3.00?

Also, is the release still on schedule for next week? I'm really looking forward to being able to add MP3 Zips to the playlist and songbook.

[Beavis]

it will be free !

probably up to 4.0

[MTUSUPPORT]

Mrwizard,
Here is what will be in this next version, it will be free to customers who own 3.0, http://www.mtu.com/support/hoster-versions.htm

It will not allow for support of MP3+G or .zip files in the database yet, this will be next on the list to get finished.

[mrwizard]

Bryan,

Thanks for the heads up. I look forward to this release and to the upcoming one that will let us add MP3+G to the database. In the mean time, do you or anyone know what program (if any) to use to look up a song by artist or title that is stored on my hard drive? Is there something that will work with Hoster? Thanks!

[admin]

Originally Posted by mrwizard

Bryan,

Thanks for the heads up. I look forward to this release and to the upcoming one that will let us add MP3+G to the database. In the mean time, do you or anyone know what program (if any) to use to look up a song by artist or title that is stored on my hard drive? Is there something that will work with Hoster? Thanks!

Currently we are not aware of anything that can do this job.

Let me ask you to do something for us.

Look at your MP3+G files. There are 5 data fields that Hoster requires to be identified before it can add a song to our Songs Database. These are:

1-Brand/Mfgr
2-DiscID
3-Track#
4-Song name
5-Artist name

How many of these are identified in ALL your MP3+G songs, and are these fields all in the same format (1-2-3-4-5), or do they vary (4-2-5-1-3, etc.)?

After having spent tens of hours studying and trying various schemes to add MP3+G and ZIP files into our Songs Database, and never have problems that users could create accidentally, we have made a decision.

We will format-shift MP3+G and ZIP files into our KMA format. That way, they perfectly fit into our structure, can be edited as to the fields above, and are not going to get disasterously changed by you or a program you may run.

When you open your MP3+G and ZIP files in the Import Screen, you must identify where Hoster can find the 5 fields and the order they are in. For example, are they in the Filename, or in an ID3 header?

Once identified, we will then "import" them into our KMA format and add them into the Songs Database. Then they can appear in the Song Book, the Search dialog, and added to the Playlist by BookID or Brand.

It is too dangerous to try to directly use the native MP3+G and ZIP files. We realize that some users will object to this probably forever, but it is too risky for us to add these any other way.

Please do not assume I am accusing you of having illegal files, I DO NOT mean to imply that in any way.

There are MANY users who have obtained free MP3+G and ZIP files from various sources and/or conversion programs and they are in various formats we cannot support, neither can any other "off the shelf" product. You want to search your songs on your hard drive, say by song name. So... where does the program look for the song name? If you have files from different sources or converted from various programs, they will likely have the song name in different locations, not consistantly the same in every song. That's part of the delima.

Hoster is a very robust product. We plan to keep it that way without spending a small fortune trying to support all varieties and ways MP3+G and ZIP files were created and fields identified.

We have created, processed and played audio files on computers since 1968. We are the first in the world to develop and ship a Digital Audio Workstation. Mix Magazine put that in print in the "Audio Industry: 20 years" special issue in September 1997.

Our KMA format was created from careful engineering, and from our 37 years of audio and computer experience and knowledge.

Hoster will remain robust, while allowing you to add your songs into our database.

In case you are wondering, we will still allow you to play your MP3+G and ZIP files just as you can now. However, to add them to the Songs Database will require shifting them to our KMA format.

[mrwizard]

Bryan,

We puchased a plextor 716a drive that's not supported YET so the only way for us to use hoster right now was to rip everyone of our discs, 180 of them, to mp3+G using another company's software. I then used MP3 Tag Studio to create ID3 tags for all of them, since the ripping software didn't give me the option to create ID3 tags . It was a tedious task, but i FINALLY got all of them ripped. I would have no problem converting them to KMA at all. I just had a show coming up on Feb 5th and had to have them stored on the computer since Hoster doesn't support the 716a yet. All of my files are named based on Artist - Title. The ID3 tag has the rest of the information, like Brand/Mfr, Disk ID, and Track number, as well as the artist and title. I'd really like to be able to look up my songs with hoster, and would be more than willing to convert them to KMA files. I'm game for anything at this point. Please help!! I guess when i purchased hoster i assumed it would support ANY plextor drive. I should have looked for an earlier drive. But what's done is done, and at least i know i have the newest drive. So far, i'm pleased with how hoster runs, although i've not ran my first show with it yet. Any way i'd be able to convert those files any time soon? hehe. Thanks for your help, I look forward to using the software. I just don't want to go back and RE-RIP all those discs when hoster does support the drive.

[Beavis]

it would have been alot less headache to go buy a supported cd-rom. they are cheap !

[mrwizard]

Nah.....Really???

[gotrich]

where do you get mp3 karaoke tracks? How is this different than a CDG?

[mrwizard]

I ripped my own from CDG's. I puchased 2 sets of cdg's and used another company's software to rip them from the cd to mp3+g format. I would have ripped to KMA but hoster currently does not support the plextor 716a drive, they will in Feb. though. So i had to use a 3rd party's software to rip the discs to mp3+g.