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From what I've heard, I think SC is better at COUNTRY too.  I would rate Chartbuster as a very close second when it comes to country.

I really can't think of too many country songs that I can honestly say are better on CB than on SC.  "I Cross My Heart" - George Strait is one that comes to mind and it is the best version I've heard so far.  "455 Rocket" - Kathy Mattea is another one that I can think of, this is not one of SC's better renditions.  

One thing I will point out is that SC usually does the shortest versions of songs that they can find (usually the "radio edit") and CB on occasion does the album versions.  "Last Dollar (Fly Away)" by Tim McGraw is a good example where SC has the "radio version" and CB has the longer "album version".  This is true even with CB's pop/rock line as their version of Nelly Furtado's "Turn Off The Light" is the longer version whereas SC did the "radio edit".  And I LOVE the CB 7 minute COMPLETE version of "Blinded By The Light" - Manfred Mann's Earth Band.  I haven't sung SC's "radio edit" version (SC8188) since the venue where I karaoke got the CB version.

Sound Choice is the best quality karaoke brand overall BY FAR but is not perfect and their renditions are not ALWAYS the best.  Most of my personal CDG collection is comprised of SC - there's an obvious reason for that.

   First, SGB:   As stated, he's just starting out.  With the entire SGB set available for $100, it's a small investment to get a feel for what will be popular in his venues, what will rarely be used, and what won't be.  Also as stated, SGB has some tracks that are very hard, if not impossible to find.  I have had customers return with friends because I had a track they liked to sing.  I certainly won't claim all are top quality- most aren't, though some exceed even SCs standards.  I DO have singers singing off the Weird Al disc, as well as the South Park, and Jazz discs.  Yes, after all these years and collection upgrades, this collection is still in my book.  Best TINY investment I ever made.

  I disagree about SCs pricing in regard to bang for the buck. Though I have seen SOME of the pricing you describe online, I have NEVER seen it a the various retailers I visit. Also the amount paid for their collections gives you the LEAST diversity for the money spent. If you can get more of the same or better quality from Zoom, Priddis, or others for less, why buy SC?  I will rescind the "WAY overpriced" part of my statement because they have come more into line, but they are still costlier than other mfrs. Also, I state unequivocally that if you bought SC over 2 yars ago, you CERTAINLY overpaid for product.  

  SCs quality IS usually pretty good. However, if you remove the Country genre, where Chartbuster is almost ALWAYS superior, and add in the stinkers they DO have ( which is more than most realize), you have a mfr. that has about the same batting average as SuperCore, a good mfr. at a terrific price...Why would a beginner, trying to keep investment down until the money starts coming in, need to pay more without really knowing what he needs yet?

 Also, though some mfrs. have gone out of business, their discs are still out there.  For example:  I would highly recommend Music Maestro for Oldies, as their tracks in this genre are usually more true to the orginals than SC  ( music, tempo, AND lyrics).

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

" Disc based and loving it..."

Gees, yeah that's pretty intelligent.  Years ago you spent too much.  Zoom came out a few years ago in the states & their prices were around $25 per disc - or least some of the online retailers were selling at that price.  I remember when Music Maestro got into cdg's they were almost $30 PER disc, way overpriced for the crap, but at THAT time, NO other manu had what they were putting out, so you accepted.  Hell Pioneer lasers I first paid $150 PER disc before they eventually went down to $60.  I was using the 'NOW' reference, you keep saying they are overpriced, they aren't - yes years ago (as did many other products as well that have fallin' in price since then, but we don't have time machines & these people are asking about NOW!  

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  First, the the brands you mentioned were only expensive in the beginning of CD karaoke- as YOU stated: "years ago". Sound choice only started to come into line VERY recently.  When Zoom first came out, SC was-and still is- still more expensive.


  All that aside, you're missing my point. I AM NOT anti-Sound Choice.  This thread was in regard to a beginner STARTING a collection. He should watch his investment until he knows his crowd and can do some song weeding. Spending the money on SC only to have a bunch of EXPENSIVE unused songs and a smaller collection of titles just doesn't make good business sense.  

  START by buying more for less, then upgrade your collection as the money AND knowledge of what's popular for you starts coming in...

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

" Disc based and loving it..."

At the risk of showing my lack of knowledge, who is DK Karaoke?

Zoom was mentioned as being of high quality and less expensive than Soundchoice, but I searched and Zoom is no way less expensive. Around $18 per disk a the internet stores I looked at.

If there are some good internet retailers selling some of these better quality+less expensive brands please share the information about who they are here in this thread or if that's not allowed in this forum, please send me a PM. I just can't afford to build my collection for $18 per disk. I need to pay half that or less. I think I'm going to end up with Chartbusters before I spend the big money for Soundchoice.

Daiichai Kosho=DK.  One of the (if not the first) first in cdg karaoke.  So many consider them the best even though they had an irratating pan flute melody guide & often was recorded in a different key.  But it's just like any company you get used to when you listen & get comfortable with.  



No they aren't less expensive, they never have been.



That's about the avg. price for quality discs.  Now you can find some sites & even ebay that you can some discontinued Sound Choice for about $5-10 each & is a good way to fill in some holes once you get a good core in place.

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LIKE Lonman on Facebook - Lonman Productions Karaoke & my main site via my profile!

Thanks Lonman.

Another question.

Sing It Now - Are they the same as another manufacturer?

Someone mentioned that Legends is Sunfly, I was wondering if Sing It Now is another company under the Sing it Now name.

Tricerasoft and the other $1 a song companies are looking better and better to me.
Why by a collection of disks, or multi song disks when a lot or even most of the songs are not anything I'm interested in? I can see for hosting that it's good to have a huge collection, but maybe for me in the beginning, picking and choosing individual songs is starting to look better and better.

I wasn't one of the ones mentioning, but I do know that if you are buying individual tracks to bolster your collection, you can get Zoom tracks for $1.00 apiece (with the 100 pack at Tricerasoft) where you the best you can find for Soundchoice is $3.50 or so.


I don't know if this will continue, but in the past karaoke.com has featured most of the DK Applause, Premiere, and Prestige series for anywhere from 2.00 to $5.00 per disk. Also, the Pop Hits collections (older than a year or so) were available for that price. I bought every one over time, and these form the bulk of my collection. I have purchased about 60 Soundchoice  and Chartbuster disks, and about 20 Legends artist collections. I now have:

           1575 DK songs
             820 Pop Hits
             640 SGB (I have removed a lot of these, actually there are 1100 or so)
             520 Chartbuster
             390 Supercore
             355 SC
             347 Legends
             
There are also a smattering of other things like the Dangerous set, and a bunch of off-brand stuff that virtually never gets sung. I also download songs individually now to add requests and a few newer hits I hear sung at other shows.

It is a reasonable collection that seems to have something for everyone. Not everything, of course, but for an amateur not bad.

I do wish I had the SoundChoice Foundation at times, but I see a lot of waste there for my crowds. If I could download their songs individually for $2.00 apiece, I would spend a thousand bucks tomorrow.  If they cost $1.00 apiece, I would spend two thousand.

  Before SC came up with what ended up being a great marketing strategy, DK was THE name in karaoke. As a matter of fact, if you have the original DK-01 thru DK99 discs, you are still holding gold in your hands....

  And, not to drive Lon nuts  ( VERY knowledeable guy that I generally agree with) I'll just say that in MY area, and the websites that I  have visited, Zoom is at least slightly less expensive than SC.  

  You also might take a bit of caution regarding your purchases.  Any sets like Dangerous, KJ Tools  ( under that label), and SGB that you buy as NEW, at this time, are probably unlicensed copies.  Many discontinued discs from SC were discontinued due to licensing problems as well  ( wish I could replace SC8438..ah, well...)  I'm not making any judgements, just passing on the info....

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

" Disc based and loving it..."

Ok, KJ Tools is another brand I see on ebay. Are they the same as another brand just renamed? I don't want the same versions that I already have from All Hits, Supercore and SGB just called something else. I don't mind duplication when it's from different manufacturers because it gives people a choice between different versions of the same song. I just don't want the same version of the same song but it's called by another manufacturer's name now.

One more thing for your benefit, SGDRILL:


   As you can see, there are many different opinions as to what is the "best" version of a song.  It is my opinion that the only "best" versions are the ones that YOUR customers like most.

 Example:  My PERSONAL opinion is that Chartbuster makes most of the best versions of country music.  However, MANY of my customers prefer some Top Hits versions. In this case Top Hits are the "best".  None of us "experts" can predict what your customers will prefer, though we have gained a lot of knowledge through our experiences.

 If you have a song that many like to sing, but on which you also get a lot of complaints, it's time to "upgrade" to a better ( or different) version. If everyone likes what you are using, then it's "the best" - for your show (s).

 I have 7 very different venues, so I kind of average my "bests", but keep all versions in my book.

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

" Disc based and loving it..."

  Yes, The KJ Tools set is now part of the SuperCore collection. KJ Tools is a 12 disc set, SuperCore is up around 50 discs now..

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

" Disc based and loving it..."

Sing It Now is the same as Pop Hits Monthly (Stellar Records).  PHM's latest songs even say "Sing It Now" on the title screen.

KJToolz is from Nutech

 Um, no.  I don't know about a KJTOOLZ, but KJ Tools was never associated with Nutech ( makers of the "sav" series) They were self-owned for a while before they became SuperCore. However, they are a compilation company that licensed music from other mfrs., and Nutech may well have been one of them, but I don't recall seeing ANY Nutech versions on KJ Tools

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

" Disc based and loving it..."

Actually the makers of the SAV series was orignally Nikkodo/BMB & they did buy the NuTech series.  I have several discs made under the label Nikkodo/NuTech or BMB/NuTech.

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LIKE Lonman on Facebook - Lonman Productions Karaoke & my main site via my profile!

  Absolutely correct, but he was sayng that the KJ Tools label was owned by them as well- not the case.  KJ Tools was mixed, recorded, and produced in Pawtucket, R.I.

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

" Disc based and loving it..."

For me I really like DK and then Sound Choice guess Im just partial to them good ol DK disc. I also have some of the Lost Classics series most are pretty good a few misses Music Maestro have been mostly misses for myself Legends are mediocre Top Hits Monthly not too bad if you are looking for newer stuff. I also have qite a few All Hits that sound pretty dang good. But like the old saying goes you get what you pay for. A cheap disc is probably a cheap disc.

  OOPS.  Thanks for the reminder:  Lost Classics generally does a bang up job with Oldies, but used to be much harder to find  ( retail ).  Now available on line at good prices...

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

" Disc based and loving it..."

One thing I would like to point out here is that there is a BIG difference between the ORIGINAL All Hits (AH8001-8023, AH7051, AH8421, AH9821 & AH1701) which is a decent product and All Hits 2000 which is crap.  If I'm not mistaken, All Hits 2000 and SGB are the same thing.  Be aware that All Hits 2000 used SOME songs from the original All Hits, so these songs are pretty good (you can tell by the logo at the beginning of the song).