How many unique songs in your songbook.

[bryant]

I agree, I was the first one to state that education cannot replace experience. Will stick to that, too.

Remember, It's all good.

[horseshoe]

I see no reason for personal insults.

I too have many singers who want only Sound Choice or Music Maestro music. One of them is a 'Boy Singer' for a big band and only sings certain versions of certain songs. He is absolutely great and I try to please him, since he is one of my most popular singers and people flock in to hear him. He wants the very best rendition he can find of the original, and listens to all of them before finally settling on a version he wants to sing from then on. I give him a few seconds of all my versions to listen to on headphones until he finds the best one for him. Then I keep a copy of his request, and also give him the song number and company to keep until the next time he sings.

Several singers have their own CDs and want that version only. Since I no longer use CDs or have any way to play them with my laptop, I try to have their version on my computer if they are regular customers. That means I buy a new CD that I don't really want quite often just to satisfy my customers. Then they request only that version once I have it.

I suppose some folks are just superior in their minds and want to show all of us how dumb the rest of us really are.

[kilith]

Originally Posted by horseshoe

I see no reason for personal insults.

I too have many singers who want only Sound Choice or Music Maestro music. One of them is a 'Boy Singer' for a big band and only sings certain versions of certain songs. He is absolutely great and I try to please him, since he is one of my most popular singers and people flock in to hear him. He wants the very best rendition he can find of the original, and listens to all of them before finally settling on a version he wants to sing from then on. I give him a few seconds of all my versions to listen to on headphones until he finds the best one for him. Then I keep a copy of his request, and also give him the song number and company to keep until the next time he sings.

Several singers have their own CDs and want that version only. Since I no longer use CDs or have any way to play them with my laptop, I try to have their version on my computer if they are regular customers. That means I buy a new CD that I don't really want quite often just to satisfy my customers. Then they request only that version once I have it.

I suppose some folks are just superior in their minds and want to show all of us how dumb the rest of us really are.

How are you unable to play their CD's off your laptop? If you are running Hoster you can do that and it is very easy. Also once you have their one song in Hoster ready to go you can give them their CD back. Once the song is played and they sing it the song is deleted from your computer.

The way you do this is right next to the video box or right under help there is add track. There are many buttons there. KMA CDG AUDIO MP3G and VIDEO. Click on CDG, imput the track number, and type in the song name (just so you know what song it is when it comes up) Hit add track and it will look like it is importing it but it is not. It is only making a temp file and then once it is played it goes bye bye. You do need to import between songs and it only takes about 15 seconds. This way you do not have to go out and spend money on CDG's you do not need to please that one person.

[bryant]

Originally Posted by horseshoe

I try to have their version on my computer if they are regular customers. That means I buy a new CD that I don't really want quite often just to satisfy my customers. Then they request only that version once I have it.

I do that as well for the regulars. And once in a while I put up a request sheet and guarantee to purchase any song available by request. It gets expensive but keeps
ppl coming back. I just gotta learn to charge more, I guess.

[horseshoe]

Killith, I don't use Hoster in my business. I use every other product MTU makes, but have has such good luck and service with a competitive product that I haven't changed.

I may someday change to Hoster because I read all the forums about it and feel it is a great product. However, I drive only Fords because I have had such great service from them, while I haven't experienced that degree of liability from other brands. This is the way I feel about my hosting program. As long as they supply what I want and need, I will not throw them under the train.

As much as I love Microstudio, I almost didn't buy it this time. I posted several times last year about the inability to use it on my AMD64 dual core computer. If you search the forum you will find those posts. I was told I would get a free upgrade when it came out to make up for the fact I purchased it and it would not work on my system. When the new version came out I never received anything telling me I would get the upgrade at no charge, so I decided to bite the bullet and buy Microstudio 4.0 anyway. It works great and I am happy with it. However, when I ran into a problem with my 'other brand' hosting system, they called me on the phone to try to resolve my problem and when they had fixed the problem in a new version, they send me a free upgrade along with a nice thank you letter. Those things are hard to forget.

I know this is off topic and am sorry for it. It is not a flame at MTU in any way. However, since you tried to help me, I though I should be honest with you. By the way, I can play CDs, but my karaoke ladies are kind of hard to train and get frustrated with something new, so I don't let them know all the things we can do.

[Lonman]

Originally Posted by horseshoe

By the way, I can play CDs, but my karaoke ladies are kind of hard to train and get frustrated with something new, so I don't let them know all the things we can do.

Then they need to be trained better until they can do it! If my host can't do something, they don't work until they can.

[horseshoe]

You are totally missing my point.

They are trained well, and are the best in the area. However, I choose not to confuse them with stuff they don't need to learn.

I choose not to use CDs in my shows. I keep them at home and use a computer. I also choose to buy a CD whenever I don't have that version on my computer. I don't want to load it, then erase it every show. That to me is a very amateur way to run a show. The audience loves the extra care they get and the fact they don't have to carry a book full of CDs when they go out to sing. After the first night with us, they never bring their CDs again, unless they buy something new and want me to buy a copy for my show. I want to eliminate all that extra work and have them interact with the audience and put on a great show.

It sets us apart from our competition and we are told that nightly. Many thank us for doing it our way. They say they don't worry about getting their CDs scratched or damaged from beer being spilled on the table, etc. Almost to a person, they have a small karaoke system at home to practice with and feel special when they don't have to bring their music along with them.

I hope I have explained it will enough without sounding like an idiot, or being stuck up or something. Unless you do it my way, you will never get the satisfaction of seeing the smiles on their faces when I tell them that I now have their music and they don't have to bring it to me anymore to get their version of the songs they have been practicing for a week to sing.

[Lonman]

Amatuer way to run a show? Hmm, that may open up a can of worms.
I don't understand how you figure it's amatuer way to load up a customers disc - that takes no more time than loading & basically clicking the track while the current song is playing? It loads & Is put in the playlist, then you can hand the disc back to the customer without even a hiccup in the show - meaning not having to stop to load all the while having time to still mingle. Seems more amatuerish to me to NOT be able to play a customer disc on the fly. Some of the discs I have there is no way you could possibly find an original - & I know you don't just copy your customer discs as you stated you go out & purchase them the next day whether you like the version or not.