Karaoke Forums

I have a quite a few Party Tyme disks I have picked up here and there, mostly at Wal-mart when I needed a song really quickly and they had it, and surprisingly, sometimes Party Tyme is my favorite version of a song. My husband likes PT's Butterfly by Crazytown, and every time I play a different version of it for him, he has a coronary. When I play the disks in a player, they play fine. They are not scratched or damaged. On my last computer, they played fine. When I upgraded, I upgraded memory, sound cards, everything. My computer is a powerhorse. (My husband builds them for a living and he likes nice things.) Anyway, when I play Party Tyme songs on my computer now, they want to "skip" sort of , or lag, I don't know. But I know you can't sing with this issue. My "God Fearin' Women" does it and Johnny B. Goode, and those are my favorite versions. It is particularly bad during the instrumental breaks, but they mostly play fine during the lyrics. Has anyone had this problem? Every song doesn't do it, but a lot do so I'm afraid to play any of them. I'm noticing it on Karaoke Bay also. Is this common? I have searched online forever and can't find this problem addressed anywhere. I do find these brands plentiful at Wal-Mart; are they cheaply made? I never buy them anymore. Any suggestions?

I wonder whether it is some copy protection. Does the disk say it has any? The ones I have bought (not from Walmart, though) have not had any trouble.

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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.

Some of them had copyright protection, but I just had to rip them by segments. You know, like those forty-some odd SC disks. But the thing that confuses me is that I used to use a laptop that didn't have half the power of my desktop now, and it played them fine. Also, when I am doing work at home on the karaoke computer, they play fine. When I get to the bar, they don't play. There are other weird things going on, now that I'm thinking about it, that may be related. I know the wiring in our bar is crappy. The place is old, and badly needs upgraded. I remember once I had a problem with my computer not wanting to boot. They had acquired a new neon light, and when we unplugged it, my computer booted fine. I think, and maybe this will sound crazy to someone who knows more about electricity, that I wasn't getting enough power from the outlet. We've already got a 6-plug expansion plugged in that's full, and I have a power strip attached to that to power my stuff. I don't have these problems at home. I can also read disks at home, but lately, when I get to the bar, the computer won't read any files on the disk. It shows that a disk is in, but won't read any of the files. It's not really a problem for me though, because hardly anyone ever brings me their own disk. Would power have anything to do with it? And if so, I'm not the owner, so I don't see how I could do anything about it.

I would think that if the tracks play on one PC and don't play on another PC, it is not a problem with the tracks but a problem with the PC. A track is either good or bad. It's the same digital information. If the track plays at home and it doesn't play on the road, while using the same computer, then it would most likely be the power source.

You said "rip", but it sounded to me like you're playing them directly from the disk?

What ripping software are you using?

When you upgraded, did you upgrade your disk drive as well? Some disk drives are not good for karaoke playing/ ripping.

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Good music, good friends, howling good times!

I have played them from disks just to check them. They play fine from disk. As far as the drives, I have updated them. That's what I don't understand. If you have better components, they should play even better. That's not the case on my system. For ripping, I am using CDR Win. When I went to my new computer, however, I simply copied the files over. I didn't re-rip them, so I wouldn't think anything should be different with the files themselves. I don't know...

This is a fire just waiting to happen!
The fact that you've got 6 things running off one plug is bad enough on its own, but to then add a power strip to run your stuff on top of that? You're giving me a coronary!
I'm willing to bet that the closer you get to the wall outlet, the hotter the wires are. Just go touch it yourself and see! I'm willing to bet it's blazing hot at the wall! A good rule of thumb is that if it's hot at the outlet or anywhere in between, it's not safe.
My brother is an electrician so I do know about this kind of thing. The building is old.... it's obvious that the wiring is just as old or you would have blown a breaker long before now. The fact that you haven't says either that there are none (the more likely scenario), or that they aren't working properly. Get on your own circuit breaker to run your stuff. For starters, you're less likely to burn the building down and you may just find that your disc problems magically disappear. Your whole system is probably fighting just to get enough "juice" to stay on, never mind running anything taxing.

I know you are right.... it's awful. I want to add lights to my show, but in this bar, we could either have music or lights. Not a tough choice.

Bruce is right in his trouble-shooting. If the disc plays fine on one player, and not on another, the problem is not the media, it is a problem with the problem player.

No, just because something is newer, doesn't mean it is better. Your new DVD or CD drive may not be great with cd+g's. New doesn't mean same capabilities. Sometimes an upgrade is a downgrade.

Felix the KJ

I agree a file is a file. It's a computer issue. I've had files that have played on one machine & not another - simply because of a new version (I beta test for a company). May not even be the program but a simple setting in the computer itself. If it plays on one computer, it's not the manu.

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Thanks everyone...I'm sure it's my computer for some reason. I just have no idea which component of the whole thing would be causing it. Count on me to have the one problem that seems to have happened to no one else... I've never heard of it before either.