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We rarely get requests to play cd's and no longer provide that service. At private parties we will provide a cd player to play their cd's mainly DJ. If somebody wants to sing something we dont have they put it in zip form on a flash drive. And we  rarely get those.  If it is a regular customer I try to get that song.

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I am going to jump in with the people who bring their own disks.  I always bring orininals with a sleeve and with my name on it. Some of my songs the local kjs do not have and I like to know I will be singing the same version. Most of KJs don't mind at all.  Some computerized shows don't give me that option and I just go with the flow.

Thanks,

Jim-n-TN

so what if the disc people get media savvy and bring things on a usb drive instead? you gonna play them?

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"Be who you are and say what you feel... Because those that matter... Don't mind...And those that mind... Don't matter."

at first I did, but with the danger of virii being attached if they were less than responsible...

nah, I'd rather deal with the discs! !

I prefer them...The chances of getting a virus is minimal. It is a barebones OS with only the programs required installed. The biggest part of a reinstall would be defeating all the background crap again. I have never got a virus via music. Most viruses are spy  
or internet related.

BTW All of my customers including college students are media savvy and if they are not I educate them real quick.

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Ive never encountered this, but I would say that I could find a way to make it work. Ive never had anyone really get upset over my not being able play there disk. there is just not enough demand for playing customers disks to be worth the hassle of setting up a player.

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the voices arent real, but they have some good ideas

I actually had someone bring in their flash drive 2 times (different people) asking if I could play their files, first time I did not have a computer, second time my program didn't take the file (oddly enough it was their own format - this has since been updated & fixed).  I believe I am ready if someone else brings one in.  I have done some basic testing of my own & everything works as it should.

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I was at a Pub in December, and they really had a good sound system. I was enjoying the atmosphere untill I took a disk up to be played,  the hostess took it, and when my name came up she told me she couldnt use it because it was a " bootleg" disk. so she played the sound choice version of the song. This particular song the chartbuster is hands above it better. I sang the song, but I left when I finished. I will not return to that venue, even if it does have the best system in town.

If she had put it a different way, I might not have been offended. But she has bought into the Sound Choice License Bs.

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Don't understand why she took it in the first place if she knew she wouldn't play it?  Didn't she look at it or look at it through the show up until your turn, and if so she could have brought it back out to you & explained they don't do the burned thing?  I look at every disc a customer hands me in front of them so I can point out any flaws in the disc.

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the more I think about it and read I'll stand by decision NOT to play customer cdgs.  
BUT>>>>>  I never thought to ask them to bring in their "special" needs on a flash drive ...That I can handle  !!   These people all have dups and burns so I can assume they have some sort of either mp3+g or bin files that they can create mp3+g's.   1 guy that comes in dowloads all his musics from a p2p site so I KNOW he has mp3+g's ....interesting alternative to customer discs. hmmmm

I think it would be a lot easier for singers tooo--_Why carry around a book with your discs in it ---stick 1 or 2 flash drives in your pocket instead

If I go to another town I take a flash drive if needed.. I no longer pack around cd's If the host cant play it no biggie I can sing any song in the book literally. And most singers in this area have the same attitude and talent.

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that is the exact reason I don't play customers CDGs anymore, plus my laptops cd player can't read em.  So that is my excuse.


If someone brought one in on a flash drive I say NO also.  I have no virus protection on my laptop so I am not gonna risk a crash of my system.

No I do make every effort to get songs for customers if they are a somewhat regular customer, and I don't have the songs they have on their CDG(s)

I do a lot of wedding receptions and people always ask if I can play their CDs/MP3s.    I say I will only play Original CDs, and no MP3s.  One time a bride & groom were to bring a ORIGINAL cd with the song for their first dance, but they brought it on a burnt cd in MP3 format at the last moment.  I had no time to test the song, and of course it was ripped at 92Kbps and sounded like crap.  Made me look like crap.  So now, no customers CDGs and only ORIGINAL cds for receptions.

To me this is another superfoulus issue which has nothing to do with running a good show. If people are so dependent upon their cd's and can not find something in our selection that they can sing then I am not doing my job. I repeat if it is a regular I will get that song. If they want to come back then I will have that song..

On a scale of 1-10 this issue ranks about .33...

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But to some singers it is of great importance.  I am not going to go out to purchase a disc that duplicates everything in my library to satisfy their needs either, but if they are comfortable singing a particular version then so be it, let them be happy is the way I look at it.  I get customers bringing in their discs all the time as they may not like a version I have or it's something that can't be got anymore or they are just comfortable with it & aren't experienced enough singers to go with other brands other than one they know.
I agree with you as far as going someplace else as a singer, I can generally sing anything I find in the book - not a big issue for me either.  But to other singers this may play high importance to be able to use their own.

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Now that I have some experience under my belt, I can go and use about any version. And my range has gotten good enough that when the host fails to  make my key change (all too frequent a problem, to my mind) I can usually cope.

But a year or two ago, when I was a brand-new karaoke singer and not all that confident, it made all the difference in the world to have my version burned in my key. I still prefer it, mostly for the fail-safe key change, but it isn't the show-stopper it once was for me. I am much more seasoned.

It's not about doing your JOB, but what the singer WANTS to sing.

I've been to Lonnie's show a few times, and in a few of those times, I brought in songs HE DID NOT HAVE. Now to be faithfully honest about it, Lon's never made the claim he had them all. In fact, he's gone out of his way to admit it would be a pert near impossibility.

I showed him a couple tracks I thought were REALLY good, and he liked one, but we both admitted the second one had an audio problem where halfway through the song, it climbed in volume!

Now I'm not the kind of person that won't go see a friend IF he can't play songs, but my fiance' will freely admit that she's used to certain versions of songs. So our compilation discs are a MUST have.

And if you're a local show, that's a make or break point for us. You better be able to play our discs, or we ain't coming! We'll go spend our money at a venue that WILL.

There are many valid points for both sides of this issue.  The following might help.

When I bring up just one disc to the KJ, I tell the KJ if it won't play, go onto my alternative song from their book (if I have one), or lust go onto the next singer.  
If my disc causes a problem in the middle of playing, I tell the KJ to stop it, I apologize and leave the stage.

Maybe KJ's need to have a set policy about singers' discs that won't load up, that don't show the graphics (clearly), that are scratched, etc., instead of responding to each problem casually and as an isolated incident.   And, of course, if there is a policy the KJ should let the singers know what that policy is (regarding singers' discs that don't work)

Singers, IMO, need to be made more responsible for any problems their discs cause.  Singers with their own discs need to be informed that just because their discs play "down the street" doesn't mean it'll play on your equipment!

And singers need to to educated that if there's a problem playing a "homemade" disc it is with the disc, not the equipment playing it!

Bring me a disc that doesn't look like you play hockey with it and no to flash drives.  Don't know where it's been or you may have a KJ buddy that wants to sabotage my show.   You just never know.

I would love to be able to take along a flash drive, so much easier to fit into my purse than cd's, but my local KJ only plays discs  :(  I can also see how viruses would be a concern.

I'm not trying to be facetious here, but what do you consider to be unreasonable???

I also bring in my own burns. I also keep them in plastic sleeves. All of my burns are in excellent condition, and I keep them clean and free of fingerprints. They were all made from my originals at home. I burned 10 discs with over 100 songs compiled (which I bring with me). They are versions that I know. Also, some of the selections are obscure, or, just not the type of music that most KJs stock up on (such as 2 of my Broadway Discs). I will attempt to sing from a KJ's book, but if they don't have Manu codes listed, I won't even look at their books. I find that it becomes too distracting and tiresome to have to keep walking up every few minutes to ask the KJ if he/she knows what version this song is. As for a PC operated show, most of the ones that I have been to, the KJ couldn't tell me what version they had loaded (a lot of them never bothered to do a cross-ref when they loaded their hard drives). Also, some (not most) of them said that they could not play CDGs on their PC operated system. At those shows, if I could find a few songs that I felt like singing, and they played OK on their system (don't be surprised... there have been many complaints about KJs who operate off of a PC poorly.... and yes, I know... on the other side of the coin, there are KJs that know how to do it right), then I stayed for the night, and would even return in the future.

As for my CDGs not playing in other CDG Players, I've only had that happen to me once (and it was weird).  This particular player was an all-in-one TV/CDG Player (some no-name brand).  All of my discs were burned at a 4X speed. One disc would play fine, and then one disc would start to play, and when the word-swipes were ready to appear for the next screen, they wouldn't, or a ghost would appear from the previous screen, and then cause the rest of the screens to garble the words. This only happened to me once (at his show), and he went out of his way to point out that I had handed him a burned disc. Then he went on further, by stating that some people hand him up bad burns and poor discs (and I knew that there was nothing wrong with my disc). He went on with that for about 3 minutes. A week later, someone had handed him a burned disc that was horrendous. Not only was her disc in poor condition (it really was), but the label on her disc had loosed and caused her disc to get stuck in his machine. Fortunately, he  had a 2nd player with him (and an A/B switch). He never said a word about it at his show. I got P.O.'d at this KJ when he didn't admonish this woman the way he had me the week before. When I sent him an e-mail telling him how upset I was, he said I was being too sensative.


As an ocassional KJ, I always accept personal CDGs from others. I don't care if they are originals or burns. I will give them the once over inspection, and even clean the disc (if I think it needs it). After doing so, if the disc looks visibly bad, I will give it back to the person and explain that I don't believe it will play in my player. I have never had any problems with people understanding that. If someone hands me a disc, and I happen to know that I have that disc in my library, I will return their disc and use mine (I know... some of you would use theirs, and say that it's less wear and tear on your disc... not a biggie to me).