stogie @ Tue May 12, 2009 2:40 am wrote:
cstaley, I was trying to answer the original poster's question. They asked if there was another program they could switch to that wasn't terribly expensive since they had already spent money on Siglos and it wasn't working for them. Not everyone can afford Compuhost or Hoster. I know I can't. You don't have to be a jerk about it.
My comment about the stone age meant that eventually there will be stable, feature rich programs for a reasonable amount of money available to just about anyone. In the scheme of things computerized Karaoke hasn't been around for very long. As more work and thought and development goes into Karaoke programs they will get more refined, more stable and less expensive. Just like everything else.
Then ask your original poster how much they're willing to spend on music.
My point is that there is "stable, feature rich programs for a reasonable amount of money available to just about anyone" and even if software is $500 it's still a deal if you're going to do this job professionally and charge $150/night. How many nights would it take to pay back the cost for a "decent" program to use? TWO? Is that "too expensive?"
How much did you spend on your music? More than $500.00?
Nothin' personal Stogie, but I get REALLY pissed off when all I hear these days is how much a KJ wants to get for "free" or next to free or "almost free" and all the time I'm forced to compete with downloaders that want "really cheap player software" so they can go into a club and charge barely enough to cover their gasoline to get there in the first place.
I'm no longer catering to or assisting the "hobbyist attitude" that they can simply drive the prices lower by getting everything they can for nothing or next to nothing and then of course because they have no experience (or talent in many cases) they lowball each other into clubs... What does this do for the rest of us that take this business seriously? It simply teaches the club owners that they CAN get a karaoke night for $100 or LESS.
So I get club owners asking me to haul in $7,000 in sound system and another $20,000 (yes, that's TWENTY THOUSAND) dollars in music into their club for $100 per night because some Joe Schmoe (with a radio shack system and downloaded music) will do it for that price... or cheaper.
And just to set the record straight, "computerized karaoke" has been around for a minimum of SEVEN YEARS.