Need Help!

[Reda Lou]

I'm looking at all of these programs on this site and would love to buy a laptop computer and karaoke and karaoke hosting system but my mind is spinning after looking at all the laptops and all the hosting programs. I found this laptop that has everything and I guess I'm wondering if everyone else did all their research before buying this system and why you decided to go this way?
Then the subject of music comes up. Where did you buy your music?

[ddouglass]

Reda Lou,
I personally don't use a laptop for running my KJ shows, but MTU has a couple that are supposed to be good and takes all the guess work out of selecting. The video , soud, cd drive, and hard drive have all been picked as best for running a show.

I use custom built (by me) computers that are in small cases similar to the shuttle case but much cheaper. But then I have been working in the computer field for well over 20 years. I have seen too many problems with laptops both on the job and within these forums to feel comfortable running my shows with one. If you want to go this route then MTU lists minimum requirements for running Hoster.

As to the music, if you are already doing shows with cdg player and discs, these can be imported into Hoster. The best way to be sure you are getting legitimate music is to buy the CDGs and import them. There are several good sources on line to purchase CDG discs. EBay is one of those but be careful who you deal with as I have ended up with a couple of copies instead of the originals. You can also Google for Karaoke Music and will come up with many sources.

Good Luck.

[horseshoe]

I feel the opposite about the computer. I ran desktop shuttle computers for a few years, but have completely switched to laptops because of ease of use, and not having extra keyboards and monitors with the associated wiring to deal with. I run three of them and have had zero problems from them in over three years now.

[bryant]

As in any case, there are pros and cons. I also use laptops for my shows. Always take two of them (one for backup). Problems have occured on both, even when they were brand new. they usually have to be sent away; takes 5 days for ell co., then you're stuck with one and no backup fro a show or two. Really scary but I take those chances and deal with it.

[gpayne]

I believe that there are pro's and con's as the previous post said. I used a tower type computer for a while but it was also my home computer and there was the issue of how to bring it to the show without it or the monitor ect. being damaged. I could not let anyone help setup or teardown because I was worried they would drop the computer or monitor. I used an LCD type High Definition monitor that was very expensive and was terrified if someone got close to it. Also, every time I loaded software or got a new update I had to test the hoster software thoroughly to make sure everything worked the same as it did before so I could do a restore if it did not. I do not like using a laptop as you pretty much have to use an external drive to store your karaoke/music files. I do not believe external drives are that good. I have lost data on both of my external drives at some time or another. They may be safe enough if you use them for backup only and do not leave the drives on all the time. I am sure you will find other people who have had no problems, but I have.
I built a rackmount pc for my shows. I have 3 200gb maxtor drives. I use one for a system drive, 1 for my karaoke files and 1 for my music files. My Karaoke and music files are backed up on the external 200 gb Maxtor hard drive that is only turned on when I need to update my backup. I also use my tower type machine for a backup and all my files are stored there on seperate drives as well. I use the same number of hard drives etc. I use an internal sound card and an external sound card and run the output of each to to my Behringer stereo mixer. I have the mixer case stacked on top of my amp rack case with all the wires connected internally except for the mouse, the keyboard, the monitor, 2 mike cables, video out(singers monitor) and the speaker cables. I run a seperate amp for the singers monitors(speakers) so there are two more speaker cables coming out of the box as well. This amounts to about ten cables. Because my rack cases are stacked, I can move them easily (I use a ratcheting strap to hold them together during transportation) using a 2 wheel dolly. My bottom rack case has wheels so after I get the rack cases about where I want them with the dolly, I just let them down and roll them. I don't think the space for extra pieces with a regular computer monitor/keyboard etc. vs laptop is really valid. You have to have a place to set your laptop unless you have a some sort of tray that comes out of your rack. However I do believe that what ever takes the least amount of time to set up and tear down is paramount. I don't think I could get much better than what I have for my circumstances. I hope this gives you some food for thought. This is an example of someone who uses a different pc case style. I hope this helps.

gpayne

[Reda Lou]

Thank you everyone for your advice. I'm not one to make these kind of business decisions fast, so now I have some food for thought.

Another quick question! Does anyone know if there is a way to copy your music from your cavs player to your computer so that I could use that music as well as the cd's I have. That would really make things nice. I decided to go with a laptop over another cav's player for my second system because there are so many problems with the cav's player and so much expense involved when you have a problem. We buy off of a company in Cleveland and the cav's player comes loaded with the music already. Another question that I probably already know the answer to...is it actually legal to do that?

[gpayne]

Originally Posted by Reda Lou

Thank you everyone for your advice. I'm not one to make these kind of business decisions fast, so now I have some food for thought.

Another quick question! Does anyone know if there is a way to copy your music from your cavs player to your computer so that I could use that music as well as the cd's I have. That would really make things nice. I decided to go with a laptop over another cav's player for my second system because there are so many problems with the cav's player and so much expense involved when you have a problem. We buy off of a company in Cleveland and the cav's player comes loaded with the music already. Another question that I probably already know the answer to...is it actually legal to do that?

I don't know about copying your cavs music from the cavs player as I am not familiar with loaded cavs players. I have successfully ripped the songs from my cavs disks (2). You can check this out at roxbox.net. I believe it is legal to shift the music from one format to another as long as you own the originals. I believe that MTU believes the whole format is not legal because they never paid the royalties to begin with. At this time I do not believe MTU supports any way to convert them to .kma. I don't see how your loaded cavs karaoke player can be legal unless the licenses for the karaoke songs are included some how. I do download non-karaoke music files from Wal-Mart.com and MusicMatch. These files are downloaded as licensed .wma files and as such, I believe they are legal and I have receipts for them. I now have all of my cavs karaoke songs on my hard drive and imported into hoster. I do not like the cavs player and wish I had never gotten it. I did not buy it anyway. My brother who owns half of our equipment bought it. I had to pay the price by swapping cavs disks during shows and loosing valuable time because of it as I do all the work. I just could not throw away 2,400 songs because I did not like the player. Hoster is much easier and faster. You need two cavs units if you want to be able to keep the show going quickly and if you suddenly have a bad disk, your out 1,200 songs until you can get it replaced. Needless to say, all our songs are on our hard drive now and I love it.

gpayne

[ddouglass]

Originally Posted by Reda Lou

Thank you everyone for your advice. I'm not one to make these kind of business decisions fast, so now I have some food for thought.

Another quick question! Does anyone know if there is a way to copy your music from your cavs player to your computer so that I could use that music as well as the cd's I have. That would really make things nice. I decided to go with a laptop over another cav's player for my second system because there are so many problems with the cav's player and so much expense involved when you have a problem. We buy off of a company in Cleveland and the cav's player comes loaded with the music already. Another question that I probably already know the answer to...is it actually legal to do that?

I believe that CAVS has an mcdg decoder that is supposed to be able to convert those files, but I think I have also heard that it doesn't work correctly. That has been a while so they may have something that will work by now.
I agree with you that the cavs players and their Jukebox players are really poor quality. I have 2 that have become boat anchors, because I refuse to deal with those people anymore.

GPayne, that discussion was a while back and things have and are changing. By the way there is another program out that will convert those SCDGs and you don't have to by a whole bundle to get it. It is called CDGFix and I have converted my 2,300 songs. I have only added select ones to Hoster though because over the past year we have been replacing the songs we needed with CDG disc version.

[mindonstrike]

Originally Posted by anitadenny

Our karaoke CDG source is the best we have ever found. It can be found at [deleted] - she charges $1 per song and puts 15 songs on a CD. No matter how many CD's you order at one time, there is a shipping charge of about $6. We love to build our own CD's. For example, we will put all Beatles music on one CD, all Reba McEntire songs on another CD, all songs we could play at a Mardi Gras show on one CD... you get the idea. This is the best one we have found and she is very accurate and we've had very few problems with her CDs.

This is a PIRATE site we've discussed on here before. Purchase at your own risk.
When the government finally starts cracking down on pirates, you'll be out of work and possibly have all your equipment confiscated and possibly looking at hefty fines in the tens of thousands of dollars.

Good luck

[Reda Lou]

I buy all my music from CAV's pretty much. I know its safe and it comes right to my email and I don't have to worry about piracy issues. I was just hoping to take all the music I have already purchased somehow from the CAV's player and put it into my laptop so I can keep the cav's player as backup only. The new music coming in is no problem putting into the laptop its the stuff that is already there and no longer available in my email I can't figure out. You only have 48 hours to take it from your email and being new to the computer thing we put it right into cav's instead of saving it on a file in our computer.
Also is it legal for these big stores to sell you the CAV's player with all the music already in it? That was how we originally bought our player and I was informed it was completely legal. Thanks for all the dj/kj advice by the way.

[ddouglass]

Originally Posted by Reda Lou

I buy all my music from CAV's pretty much. I know its safe and it comes right to my email and I don't have to worry about piracy issues. I was just hoping to take all the music I have already purchased somehow from the CAV's player and put it into my laptop so I can keep the cav's player as backup only. The new music coming in is no problem putting into the laptop its the stuff that is already there and no longer available in my email I can't figure out. You only have 48 hours to take it from your email and being new to the computer thing we put it right into cav's instead of saving it on a file in our computer.
Also is it legal for these big stores to sell you the CAV's player with all the music already in it? That was how we originally bought our player and I was informed it was completely legal. Thanks for all the dj/kj advice by the way.

The music you get with the CAVS player is legal for playing on that player.

[Karaokeman41]

I have been purchasing online from Doowop.com located in Louisville, Ky. for about 5 years now. Not one problem. Free shipping and Doowop does not inflate Cd price to cover shipping.