Karaoke Forums

I was wondering if anyone out there has or is using Elec Songbook program. I will starting at the beginning of the new year..it will be alot easier and wont have to worry about beer soaked books..ect. Check out their website

www.songfinder.dkusa.com

I tried it once. nobody bit. Nobody asked me to help them learn how to do it or anything. It just sat there unused while they either used my book or asked me if I had such and such a song. My bar I can actually get away without a book because they all come up to me to ask for their songs. That said I like the idea of it becuase it is ecologically friendly.

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

Not for me. Nice concept, but not practical for me. I contemplated doing it & took a poll of my customers a couple years ago & it was unanimously turned down with the excuse they want to be able to sit & peruse a book for new songs rather than to have to be on the spot and more than likely just sing the same songs they normally do because they can remember the title off hand.
I may add one in the future but don't expect it will take over the books by any means.

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This is what I hear from a few that have used the kisoks, that most singers end up just asking the kj and not using it.

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

I actually think this is a good idea from a singers point of view. Just like using the song search at a music store. It's a lit screen so in a dark lounge or bar, us oldsters will be able to read it better than a book. Won't have to deal with missing pages or misprinted pages either. The request can go directly to the KJs computer and be fed into the proper rotation spot. The song browser is better than having to page through a book and faster. Wow, I'm actually liking one of Gemini's ideas.

I am actually one that would prefer sitting at a table & looking at a book. I enjoy doing so. With one of the elctronic song stations, you are either telling me you'd rather have me sit in front of the station all night as I would a songbook to read/search through it or chances are you wouldn't want me doing that & that tells me you'd rather have me go someplaces else.

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[shadow=deepskyblue]I'm impressed, I've never met such a small mind inside such a big head before.[/shadow]

I want to sit comfortably at my table, have my drink, have my snack, have my hunny and browse a book front to back. Preferable a book that has both by artist and by song title. I have NO INTEREST in standing at YET ANOTHER COMPUTER terminal, like its an ATM, on my feet going through THOUSANDS of songs looking for what I might be interested. Reading a songbook----like reading a magazine. Its interesting and enjoyable. Standing at a terminal with screen glare, at the wrong height, with a strange mouse or keyboard---NO THANK YOU!!

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"You know that I sing the Blues and I do not suffer fools. When I'm on that silver mic, it's gonna cut ya, just like a knife"-The SWINGCAT

With some of the crowds we get, we'd need about 20. People enjoy relaxing and perusing the books. At a kiosk with people behind them, waiting, they could feel rushed. Further it doesn't say I can import my current books from excel, acess, or other program. I spent a lot of time correcting mistakes and getting things right. I think people like the feel of the written word in their hands, whether karaoke, novels, newspapers or magazines. There is a feeling of intimacy about it.

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You can be strange but not a stranger

EXACTLY!!

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"You know that I sing the Blues and I do not suffer fools. When I'm on that silver mic, it's gonna cut ya, just like a knife"-The SWINGCAT

I watched it in operation at the Living Room Lounge. It certainly was easy, and people seemed used to it. In the first twenty minutes, people used two touchscreen terminals to get the rotation up to 14 people, and several put in more than one song. (I sat at the table next to it because I was interested.)

I could easily do a web-based program to accomplish the same thing, but the touchscreen is darn nice.

It worked so well that if I do get a cargo van (which is the way I am leaning now) I might just buy a touchscreen and that software and put it up if I ever play a venue large enough to handle it. But with our crowd and CompuHost, we have so many regulars it is kind of ridiculous to do it that way. They just come up and say "Suds" or "Rockin Robin" and they are going in three seconds.

I would definitely do it as a differentiator if I played at a bigger place with a young hi-tech crowd. They would love that.

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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.

DISCLAIMER:
First of all, I have a very biased opinion since I am the programmer so keep that in mind. AND, I'm not out to sell anything in this forum, don't want to be accused of any kind of "spam marketing" in any way shape or form.

So with that said, I will only post my observations regarding electronic songbooks --that is what I see and have seen-- and that's it.
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When we first started with kiosks, we had the same resistance that DannyG mentioned; excuses from the older folks about not knowing how to use a computer, the "gee, I want to browse" complaints and so on.

We found that if we gave them the option of using the kiosk OR share smaller number of books, they eventually went to the computer. Slowly, we made the books disappear one-by-one. Sure, you'll get a number of people that will walk up and say "put this in for me" but I'm sure you get that now anyway... I know I did when I just used books, you'll always get those that are too lazy, forgot their glasses, or think you are their personal secretary.

Within a month (2 at the latest), even the oldsters were using it... did I still have the "lazys & whiners?" yep... I don't think you can ever get rid of those unless you refuse to be their slave... diplomatically.

While many of the "new" people to the club that had never seen a kiosk for karaoke, they're main comment was that they liked "to browse." They could, they just didn't read the screen instructions to show them how. Once it was pointed out, they went at it.

Before we get too far in this direction, let me say this: I had a fear at the beginning that there would be some HUGE line all patiently waiting to put in their song at one computer station... I could picture it, was sure it was going to happen and fully expected to see something more insidious like someone spill drinks on it or some joker trying to reformat the hard drive. None of this has happened.... well to be honest, almost none... I did lose one of two $25 IBM Thinkpads to a Miller Lite. But, It was only $25 so it was no big deal... think of it as someone spilling a beer inside a book.... same thing because I had an extra. But I'm sure that no one has EVER spilled a drink on your songbook have they? What are the plastic sheet protectors for I wonder? We all have a learning curve and that was mine.

That's 1 time in 3 years. Since then, I now have a junker desktop on a microwave cart... spill all you want, the most damage you can do is to a $5 keyboard or a $3 mouse.


There are many that will argue a kiosk is more expensive than books... they can be if you're not careful... There are kiosk programs that run on almost ANY computer or operating system... That's what we use. A local company upgraded their office network and literally had 20 computers to toss out. Nothing really wrong with them except that they were outdated and had very little memory and only a 3gb hard drive. Other than that, they functioned just fine. We got them literally for nothing. Just hauling them away was payment enough for them and they function so well that in most of our clubs, we just leave them parked in a corner till karaoke night next week. No need to move them at all. I don't recommend this for the average company, because you have to purchase the software more than once or just carry a software key (dongle) in your pocket, attach it at the beginning of a show and take it with you at the end.

You can use the $20 computer at a garage sale it doesn't matter.

All in all, the kiosk system works just fine for us and we'll never use books in a regular club job again. This doesn't mean that we don't own books at all, we do. And we use them primarily at private engagements. They always look nice because compared to club books, they're hardly used and it's just too difficult and useless to teach people to use the kiosk for a single 4 hour engagement. Besides, we get a lot more people asking; "do you have..." at a private party.

We've recently dispensed with the keyboard and mouse and now use a touchscreen kiosk. It's truly a "plug-n-play" type of machine and singers like it. That doesn't mean that they automatically know how to use it, they have the same learning curve that is around when they learned to use the internet jukebox. But there's a tradeoff with a touchscreen kiosk: the cost of the monitor is MUCH higher than a regular CRT and it isn't like it makes the KJ any more money...

But it does have a certain "coolness factor" to it and most singers see it as more of a portal to what they want and not an obstruction.

And yes, it's been 3 years and we still get the whiners.... but I'm sure you still get the "I don't have my glasses" excuse even with books.

There are a couple of distinct advantages to a kiosk;

(1) you can keep the lights in the club lower. No more "turn up the lights so they can read the books" or carrying a bunch of teensy flashlights for drunk folks to destroy.

(2) No giant binder/book sitting in the middle of their table... with pencils that get lost (and tossed), or request slips to manage and shuffle all night long.

(3) When the party is done and you don't want anymore requests, turn off the kiosk. End of story, no negotiation and you're practically packed up ready to go.

Feel free to post your concerns and I'll be happy to give you my observations.

A fair amount of the time, the person cannot read or is so dyslexic they have trouble copying the number. I am *awful* at reading the wrong line, and I *hate* number-only IDs, so I am one of the people who bug you if you use that &##!!@ stupid arbitrary ID number.

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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.

You can.

THANKS FOR YOUR INPUT!! as i said i have the program and plan to use it by the beginning of the new year. When I put a demo out for singers to see it...i got alot of good feed back ...like how soon.....and i cant wait..so all in all im excited about it..i would also like to know when is the double song remove going to be up and running??

Myself I like to browse books while waiting for my next turn.
I can see a couple of problems with a kiosk
1. If someone can't make up their mind what they want to sing or are new to that particular venue and they don't know what the KJ has and doesn't have they may feel inclined not to sing.

2. If you don't have books what do you do if the kiosk computer craps out in the middle of a show?

Lone Wolf

How about a compromise --1 electronic songbook and some odl fashioned books
Some people just don't like computers

1. Contrary to popular belief, you can actually "browse" the list of titles and artists on a kiosk. And it's actually faster than turning the pages in a book. (and no, we've never ended up with somone browsing for 20 mins.)

2. Keep a single book in your vehicle... chances are you'll never need it.



That works too.

In the 3 years that we've run them, we've never (knock on wood) had a kiosk die in mid-show. And I'll be the first to say that I've not treated them with kid gloves: they get rolled across parking lots, dragged up and down the ramp in the truck, bounced around on the lovely Michigan highways, boiled in the summer and frozen in the winter.... By all accounts, I should've killed one or two by now, but they just keep chugging along.


Ever have an amp blow out in the middle of a gig?

Once, good thing about have a tri amped system, you can always reconfigure on the spot.

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C. Staley, i thought your original post was excellent, well thought out, and very informative. You have a real talent at communicating with a keyboard!

I believe it would be an excellent idea to use BOTH- a computer and just a couple of books.

Although i personally like to sit down and review a book before choosing a song (or to ignore the person i'm sitting with, ), having a book gives me the option of changing my song if the crowd changes directions. Sometimes the mood is sinatra then changes to bon jovi.

That would be hard to change a request if there were a line at the kiosk....no?

I have lots of 20-somethings at my show and i see how they HOG the "leftover books" i put out when they come storming in, so i would think they would BUM RUSH the computer and all heck might break loose- literally.

I think you've been lucky thusfar that you haven't encountered the crazy young drunk selfish ones that have to be unfortunately reminded (usually at our expense) to respect others, the kj, and our expensive equipment.

Once again, i enjoyed reading your post and replies to this subject. Aloha!

I could submit songs under 20 different aliases and have the whole rotation to myself!

What if this also had the lyrics stored, so you could search for a song title by lyrics, kind of like google, or what if it were connected to the internet so you could google songs. That might be kind of neat.

I like browsing through books too, just flipping through them at random ("Yikes, it's almost my turn, I need to find a song!").