Karaoke Forums

Keep it clean. Agreed, I bought mine used for 220 including shipping from ebay. It has 80 gb, which I won't use to put music on, I had a little 160 gb ext hd that I already have. I have amost 3000 cdg songs on it, nearly 7000 regular songs on it, and it still has 97 gb's freed. It's never frozen or hesitated. I just bought a back up for it--another passport (they work great for me) that holds 500 gb and backed all my music on it. I paid 74 bucks for it. My laptop is a Toshiba Satellite.
By the way, what is the need for an Ipod? I just use Itunes if I want to switch to DJ or use the filler music feature on Compuhost.

I fly to Canada after xmas and hosted 2 shows up there. All I brought was my laptop, hard drive, a few cables and 2 mics. Mixer and speakers were there already. You'll never convince me laptops aren't the way to go.

No doubt, laptop is the way to go... BTW, my 320g Seagate is internal, just need to create 2 partitions, one for the OS and the other for music, so no need for the external drive, I travel lighter than you But nothing wrong with having an external drive, they're not fast for video but not a problem for audio...

BTW, you might want to purchase your harware in Canada, it's often cheaper and with your $ you'll made a great deal

Here's where I get all my stuff when I build my computers, check out their components price list:

http://www.microbytes.com/computer/ordinateur/index.php

Laptop or rackmount, computers are as reliable as any other system made. I use a laptop for portable shows and a rack at my main venue (ease of setup). Use good judgment, like no updates without a good shakedown, and you're golden no matter what happens. I'm sure there are multiple thousands using laptops for shows and hundreds of thousands (maybe millions?) using laptops at home to run music and such. Their reliability isn't as much as issue as perception.

I still strongly advise an external drive for music, mainly for reliability and portability. But this could just be redundancy creeping into my thinking. A 350 GB drive would allows the OS and MP3+Gs I have and I'd use the Ipod for general music.

The storage issue is a spurious argument; if you have a USB port you have unlimited storage space and the reliability troubleshooting bit is silliness unless you're going to have parts strewn across the floor. Considering all the issues your really run into nowadays are software related the whole parts maintenance is silliness.

I think Laptops and digital media is far more reliable than disks or anything else. I totally can lose my laptop in a fire and source disks in a storage facility fire and simply copy my main backup from my server. Couple that with no lose of quality in the copy as well as no scratches or goofiness with disks and you it's a tough debate.

You like what you like, but none of us want to go back to the players and mixers used in the late 80's to do what we want today. Use what's best but don't get stuck in the past.

Convenience I will give you. Reliability, I won't. More moving parts and cable connections don't make systems more reliable.

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[color=#ffff55]Mickey J.[/color]
Alas for those who never sing, but die with all their music in them.
-- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

I guess I'll have to take you at your word. I've been to many a show myself, and only seen 12 computer systems in four years. Doesn't that apply to lappies as well?Who said anything about a rackmount case? I'm talking shuttles and desktops. Replacement Laptop? Even at the $500 you quote, plus another hundred for the larger hard drive, you can easily do half that with a desktop. Even building a super massive PC (24 pin power supply, 2 gb Ram, PCI Express video), you can do the $500 thing. But you don't NEED that for karaoke and DJing. You can use a 20 pin Power Supply, ATX Motherboard/CPU combo and 128MB video and OS software for half that. AND not be shut down completely or have to have dual everything when a problem occurs.

What's the difference with a desktop that has 2 drives More moving parts, more load on the PS??? At least the internal drive spins at 7200rpm, has more cache, it's SataII and don't run the risk of leaving the drive behind...

No, don't see the need of having an external drive except for space issue or for backing up I want my audio files in my laptop with a 7200rpm SataII drive and my backup in my external drive

I'm just looking at failures or potential failures. While you are correct two points of failure don't make it more reliable, you're halving the likelihood of failure. By keeping the primary work on an external drive I can pollute it as I like with music and upgrade it cheaply when I need more space. By keeping the laptop hard drive as my primary OS and software drive and decreasing the amount of work I can reduce the potential failure rate, in theory.

Fact is I have 375 GB of songs (need to start culling dupes) and 400 GB of music making a lapto only solution unworkable so that colors my setup. Even in the rackmount I have I use an 80 GB drive as OS and software and a 1.5TB drive as the karaoke/music/data drive. It's for ease as well, I only have to yank that drive and replace, update or do whatever and not the entire system. Drive speed is a bit of a misnomer. The 5400 speed large drives have as good or better throughput than faster spinning drives due to cache and throughput. Get an external SAT port and big fast SATA II drive enclosure and it's faster than the laptop drives

I might consider a laptop only solution if there were 1TB laptop drives but I'm uncertain. Like I say regularly; Your Mileage May Vary

Who said anything about a rackmount case? I'm talking shuttles and desktops. Replacement Laptop? Even at the $500 you quote, plus another hundred for the larger hard drive, you can easily do half that with a desktop. Even building a super massive PC (24 pin power supply, 2 gb Ram, PCI Express video), you can do the $500 thing. But you don't NEED that for karaoke and DJing. You can use a 20 pin Power Supply, ATX Motherboard/CPU combo and 128MB video and OS software for half that. AND not be shut down completely or have to have dual everything when a problem occurs.

If someone spends 500 bucks on a laptop, they should have tons of space on the internal hard drive and not need to buy an external. Plus unless you have 100,000 songs, you won't need to spend a hundred bucks on an external hard drive, they can be had for much less.
Since I'm new to the scene, I'm unfamiliar with the more traditional set up. I can call up sound bites, video bites, filler music, all from my compuhost screen. I feel like I am in complete control, I know who's next, what they are singing, all the way to the last person I have had a request from. My dongle, 5" by 3" by .5" hard drive and laptop are all the first thing I pack, they all have a home in my laptop case. This set up suits me just fine, I can't see any other set up being more convenient and easy.

Gryf, you missed my point about the possibility of upgrading a laptop drive Most laptop will come with a 160 to 250g drive who spins at 5400rpm but it is possible to upgrade using the latest Seagate Sata II 320g, 7200rpm - 16 meg cache, now, that's way better than the "stuck" drive found on most laptop and it will compete with most desktop drive Space is the issue, in your case it wouldn't work

I have been to 200 different shows in a lot of places just in the past 3.5 years. Computers are now everywhere.

I don't know what you mean. I said I would not try to fix the laptop, I would use a spare.


Shuttles are not cheap at all. Desktops are, but are bulky to and actually more fragile than laptops which are designed to be transported.


The $500.00 includes a 160G hard drive, plenty large. No extra hundred.


I don't know why you say that. Are you carrying spares? Which ones?

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[color=#ffff55]Mickey J.[/color]
Alas for those who never sing, but die with all their music in them.
-- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

I have a rackmount PC in my road case and just roll everything except the speakers and stands around in it (mixer, amp, PC display, keyboard, mouse, cable lockers) and just plug it in and boot things up. When I ran with a laptop I had to make connections and all that happy horseplay, now I don't need to bother. No different than a shuttle machine or small desktop in the case except it's more sturdily mounted. With the cost of equipment now you can overbuild for not much more and know you can use it for years to come.

I used to have everything separate (Laptop, mixer, amp, cordless mics, bags of cables) and assemble on site. Using the all in one solutions I have now cuts 15-30 minutes off of setup and breakdown. There is nothing more convenient than rolling the case out of storage, plugging it up and setting up speakers while the PC boots. This is all afforded me as my venue has a very secure storage place and I can just roll things in and out easily. When I have an off-site gig it's a bit of hassle loading the truck but if you're traveling it's never gonna be easy.

Micky: Didn't miss the upgrade laptop point. Just don't see the need for it. For me the money is better spent on a lower cost, higher capacity external solution ($160 for 1.5tb including fancy enclosure) than a pricey ($180 for 500 GB) internal drive. Personally I don't like to muck with a case until the warranty has expired. I see your points, I just have a different philosophy <shrug>.

Just cause it works for me doesn't make it best, just makes it mine. I only share this because I run both a laptop for small gigs and a full system for my home venue so the pros and cons are known and any new avenues of thought well received as it might make my life easier

again, I said I'd take your word on it, dude! [/quote]
My point exactly. I wouldn't have to spend twice the amount... just what was needed for the spare part that might go bad. I disagree. I don't find desktop units fragile at ALL. And a point I made a while back which was passed over, yes, desktops ARE designed to be transported... i.e. easily stolen! I was talking about the 320 GB hard drive... I have over a Terrabyte in my desktop, and I spent $100 on each drive to get there. This is what I meant by the "extreme" storage I mentioned earlier.What I mean is yes, I do carry spares. And if I have to replace something (reorder), I don't have to order a $500 laptop, but instead, say a $35 video card, or a $25 power supply, or a $90 motherboard/CPU combo, or even a $100 hard drive. And I always have a spare USB hard drive of my karaoke/mp3 songs.

I am carrying a spare -- the entire laptop, guaranteed to work. No problem for me, as I have an extra anyway. The spare is my work laptop with that 320G drive and a pretty recent version of my karaoke music on it as a backup. I don't always keep it completely up to date as I don't use it -- never have had to.

Bottom line is, there is more than one way to skin a cat. Laptops are reliable and are in use all over the country with extremely minimal failure rates.

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[color=#ffff55]Mickey J.[/color]
Alas for those who never sing, but die with all their music in them.
-- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

Yeah, but they look bad. I see a laptop and I'm thinking pirated music and usually I'm right. You have a backup of all your music but did you pay for a second copy? Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum!

It is true that if you throw enough money at a problem it will go away. In this case however there is no need to throw money. As you said mckyj57 "...there is more than one way to skin a cat." in this case the cat is almost thirty years old (CD+G) so all you really need to skin it with is old technology.

Build a box to fit in your rack and put in fans front and back. Dig two old computers out of some dumpster and steal a working mother board, power supply, video cards and harddrive(s) out of them and mount them in your box. A good sound card is necessary but they have been building those for years. Now you need software but none of the modern stuff will run on this old machine so use old software. You now have a rack mount karaoke computer for the price of an afternoon's work and another cat is eviserated and stretched on the tanning rack.

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Okay, who took my pants?

If you get a Laptop,ensure the power supply lead only has 2 pins where the lead meets the transformer,otherwise you will pick up ground interference thru your amp. A friend of mine had this problem and it took us ages to find out what it was. We rectified it by fitting a Ground Earth Isolater

Dell would be the option as they now only have 2 pins

Never said they weren't reliable. But I prefer to treat the symptom rather than throwing away the patient and replacing it with a full brand new system!

As you said, there are more ways to a solution. I just find the mouse on a laptop hard to manipulate, where the mouse on a desktop is far easier to use. I like having the monitor to a desktop placed where it's easily accessible, rather than hunching over a table to see it, especially smaller viewscreens like many laptops have.

To each their own. I'm just pointing out the OTHER side of computer karaoke!

While I liked the ability to fix my rackmount computer (which I no longer have), I have to use a laptop due to weight restrictions that my bad shoulder causes me to have. The heaviest piece of equipment I have is my rack with a one space Power amp, 3 space mixer, wireless mikes and power conditioner. Much lighter than also having a rackmounted computer in it as well. It also is nice for when I leave the gig since I only have to pull my laptop and hard drive and go. The rack stays at the venue.

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The Line Array Experiment is over. Nothing to see here. Move along.

Baloney! If it's NOT in USE, it's a computer backup!

For years ans years I lugged around a rack with a 2 unit rack mount in it. I had 2 or 3 mother boards in it. Scoffed at laptops with their Codecs and such. Since I have put the comp in a tower and converted about 4 or 4 laptops for digital karoke DJ. I now have 2 laptopsI can do shows with. Also use one for video aquisition and movie editing.

I like to have 2 s-video converters and audio adapters on hand for spare in case one gets lost. The main thing is to have spare hard drives esp external USB. I have 2 backups of my karaoke and DJ library. I did have trouble with the rack mount but during 8 years lost only one show. I was in the middle of nowhere doing a outside boat show and booted up with the dual video brd halfway out.

I have done several shows with laptops and never had any major problems. I even did and hour and half on battery one time. When I get a DVD player that is CDG compatible I will shift fully to laptop.

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