Karaoke Forums

Timberlea, I am not a believer in negative personalizations, and I swear I'm not trying to knock you in the least. However, I have to ask:

Does your post above have any meaning at all in regard to the thread? I read it twice, and it just seems like maybe you were tired or something?

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"No Contests, No Divas, Just A Good Time!"

" Disc based and loving it..."

Joe, I got my certification letter as an Original Disc User on Sound Choice letterhead, signed by Kurt Slep, dated May 12, 2011.
So I would have to say Harrington is correct, they have offered this for a while.

Analogy (from Greek ἀναλογία – analogia, "proportion"[1][2]) is a cognitive process of transferring information or meaning from a particular subject (the analogue or source) to another particular subject (the target), and a linguistic expression corresponding to such a process. In a narrower sense, analogy is an inference or an argument from one particular to another particular, as opposed to deduction, induction, and abduction, where at least one of the premises or the conclusion is general.

Hope this helps you understand.

I understand, Jerry. However, the offer made that I am testing only requires a submission of business name and address- nothing else. I believe that is slightly different than you were required.

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"No Contests, No Divas, Just A Good Time!"

" Disc based and loving it..."

I understand the use of an analogy. What I don't understand is what your post was analagous to. To what subject were you referring?

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"No Contests, No Divas, Just A Good Time!"

" Disc based and loving it..."

From your post above, you did not indicate whether they looked through every SC disc you had/have, or if they still decided to give you that letter based on good faith (because someone from SC had already witnessed you operating a disc-based show). Since you posted that you possibly are/were the first disc-based KJ to be listed in the SC website, I checked on their site and saw you listed. Nowhere does it state that you are disc-based. It just indicates that you successfully completed the VOLUNTARY audit.

Now I took Joe C.'s request a step further. Not only did I ask Mr. Harrington for that letter he offered (which Joe C. has quoted several times), but I also requested to be listed in SC's website as a Certified Operator (like you). I indicated (in my request) that I realize neither his Law Firm (or PI's hired by him) nor Kurt have been to any of my shows to witness that I am disc-based as well. I got back a different response (which Mr. Harrington has posted in this forum as well).

My letter names me as an Original Disc User, and I am listed on the SC site as a certified KJ. I don't know why they don't made that distinction on their site, perhaps because I was the only ODU at that time.
I did request an audit, some time after my venue had been visited by "investigators" and at least one SC employee (from what I am told). I had already been told by SC they knew I used original discs, and no audit was required.
Because of circumstances involving my venue and area, I requested an audit/certification. I talked this over with Sound Choice. Because they'd already been on-site, SC agreed to accept photos of my disc collection and sent me the letter.
I did not know SC would list me as a certified KJ until they did it.

Thank you Jerry, I sit corrected. Our circumstances are extremely similar. I was under the mistaken belief that an audit was required of you, not voluntary. My apologies to all.

On the other hand, I'm not sure that what you experienced would qualify as a program, since you were the first, and I know of no others so far ( Which means only that- there may well be some that I am unaware of.).

Let's see what happens.

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"No Contests, No Divas, Just A Good Time!"

" Disc based and loving it..."

Well, I received a letter today. Upon my original read, I was both livid and disgusted, and was prepared to go on a complete tear.

However, after re-reading HL's originally posted offer, I realize that I have been out-smarted, and it's my own fault.

What I was hoping for was a letter that may have done some small amount of fence-mending. Something to the effect that SC has verified that I am a disc based host, and that they weren't targeting disc based hosts through their actions. Quick and easy, could have been shown to any venue and even may have been helpful. My bad...

What I received was a general letter split into two parts. The first was related to the KJ, the second an explanatory section with instructions on what the venue to look for.

Both sections included falsehoods that not only negate any type of "certification" ( the first section) but also may be potentially damaging to ANY KJ that showed it (second section.

I've never been able to post pics or files from my PC in a post on this forum, but I will be happy to e-mail anyone who PM's me.

Anyway, the two problems:

"The karaoke host or operator identified above has informed us the he/she/it makes use of original SOUND CHOICEtm compact discs when providing karaoke services to customers. We have not verified whether this is accurate. Really?

I quote from post number 9 on this thread from HL:

" Your letter was approved immediately, because we've seen your discs."

So much for any "certification"

However, because of the wording of the offer, ( " a host who uses original Sound Choice-branded discs only is considered by us to be a fully compliant, legal operator")it can be claimed that since they didn't go through each of my ( maybe 35?) Sound Choice discs ( though each and every one of the discs visible in my open binders were originals), they can't be sure. Nice job, and I WAS outsmarted because I didn't digest the phraseology of the offer.

Of course, all I wanted was a verification that I am disc based. They HAVE verified that, per HL's own words, but neglect to mention it in the letter. They are only going after media shifters, remember?

That's another thing. While they note that original disc users are in compliance, they never clearly state that they are only targeting media shifters at this time.

The above negates any real use of the letter for me personally, but there is still a bit of icing on the cake.

The rest of the letter is general instruction for the venues, with some SC advertising thrown in. The other problem shows up in this area:

"CDs with paper "stick-on" labels, "burned" CDs, computer hard drives, and the like are not original.....

FALSE: FAS/Media-Plas in the UK who were subcontracted by Sound Choice to manufacture discs for them produced CDs with paper "stick-on" labels.

However, if a KJ has these discs ( lucky for me, these were later product made after I stopped buying SC ;-}) and the venue sees them, they will assume that they are counterfeit.

To be fair, I have no idea whether this was deliberate or simply an oversight, but there it is.


BTW:
" If you are 100% original disc-based, email me your business name and mailing address, and I will arrange for a letter to be sent to you on SC letterhead or my firm's letterhead......."

No need to be 100% disc-based. This letter could be sent to anyone, including a media-shifter. If they aren't disc based, the letter simply wouldn't be referring to them, and they wouldn't show it. If someone IS disc based, it still doesn't certify anything, and the information about the labels could be potentially damaging, making it inadvisable to show it anyway. I know that I certainly have no reason to do so.

Now for the next step: If and HOW they list my company on their Certified Host web site. Keep in mind that the offer states that I should " ...be treated exactly the same as a Sound Choice Certified KJ".

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"No Contests, No Divas, Just A Good Time!"

" Disc based and loving it..."

PM our benefactor Mr. Hill and he can walk you through it.

It really is dirt simple.

Thanks, Bazza. Actually, I do know how to do it, but am unable to do so. When I try to click on the "Manage File" button, it depresses, but nothing happens. Could well be nothing more than incompatible software... I couldn't do it on the OKJT forum either, though it works on other forums.

The only pics ( the letter is scanned to an image file) I can post are for my avatar.

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"No Contests, No Divas, Just A Good Time!"

" Disc based and loving it..."

I really wish you had taken it up with me rather than airing your grievances in public, but no matter.

While we've seen your discs (not all that recently), we haven't verified that you play only from discs.

It was not my intention to "outsmart" you--that would be a tall order--nor to provide you with anything less than what I said we would provide. I don't think we've done either of those things. The letter we provide is intended to say, yes, if this guy plays from original discs only, he's legit, and you don't have to worry about getting sued if you hire him. We've made that letter available for a long time.

I believe that your statement about the Mediaplas discs is incorrect. Anyone who compares them to discs that were released earlier will be able to tell the difference, but they are not "stick-on paper label" discs. We use that terminology in a lot of contexts and I have never been corrected on it (despite asking about it specifically), but I have asked the question again and will get back to you.



You won't be listed as a Sound Choice Certified KJ without some additional steps. As soon as the materials on that are ready for release, I will make sure you have them. There will be no charge for certification as a disc-based host.

That did not take long.

No bona fide SC product has a stick-on label. Mediaplas discs are screen printed in-factory, and stickered with a unique hologram safety sticker. If you have an SC product with a stick-on label, it is not an original disc.

Can you identify the unique hologram safety sticker? I have 2 Mediaplas discs that were bought from a local retailer. I don't recall seeing a hologram of anykind a few days ago when I pulled all my SC disks out for a photo.

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My statements, opinions and conclusions are based on my own personal experiences, observations, research and/or just my own $.02. I'm not a "cheerleader", but that doesn't make me a Pirate.

Go to http://www.tinypic.com and upload the file. It will give you a ready-made IMG tag string you can paste into a message.
This will work with any graphic file and bypasses the forum software.

Once again, my apologies for reply-within-post. I don't like them, but have to work with what I get.

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"No Contests, No Divas, Just A Good Time!"

" Disc based and loving it..."

None of the mediaplas discs I bought have any holographic stickers, just printing on a white disc.

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Paradigm Karaoke, The New Standard.......Shift Happens

Yup, most were like that. I've seen two with the holograms though. May have been added later to offset the cheaper look...

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"No Contests, No Divas, Just A Good Time!"

" Disc based and loving it..."

Just to clarify...the Mediaplas discs are screen printed directly onto the disc, not onto a stick-on label. I misread, somewhat, Kurt's response to my inquiry. The holographic stickers are more recent--and if I understand correctly, applied only to the GEM discs. They are there not to offset a "cheaper look" but to provide traceability.

I don't mind doing this in public, but I think we could have avoided some misunderstandings by at least having a discussion first.

I think that if you examine the original post, you'll see that I was referring the VENUE treating you "exactly the same as a SCCKJ." I'm sorry if that was unclear. And that is our view on that question--a VENUE should treat an original disc-based ("ODB") host exactly the same as a SCCKJ. However, since it is apparently hard for venues to think of more than one thing at a time, we've decided to roll out a formal certification program for ODB hosts so that they can benefit from our efforts to educate and certify.

Tentatively, the proposal is for the steps to be:

1) Go to a web page and register as an ODB host.
2) Obtain from our site and print out a QR code that is unique to you.
3) Photograph your SC discs, putting the QR code in the photo. You should be able to photograph multiples in one photo.
4) Upload the photo to the website.

We're working out the technical and legal details. Once that's done, we'll launch.