Karaoke Forums

I defy anybody here to provide a pic of their cd's I have taken a pic of my closet and posted it., I provided proof can you?

_________________
Join The Karaokle Singers Social Network. Upload Your Music!!

Just go to my photo gallery on here and you will see it all. Tech is good but people rely on on it too much and so do I in some cases. How many here would be completely lost if they lost their cell phone?

_________________
You can be strange but not a stranger

I get a senior plan with full roadside assistance. I would not be lost without it but I would miss it.

_________________
Join The Karaokle Singers Social Network. Upload Your Music!!

I agree with SOOO many here... you MUST have a back-up plan at all times, HOWEVER... saying a LEGAL KJ would just go grab their CD+Gs and be up and running is just being a pompous @SS!!!

Most KJs who have migrated to digital do not take their CD+Gs with, and although it is a good idea to have a CD+G unit with you should someone walk in with a disc, many do not have one at all times due to space / weight constraints.

Ok... imagine you are doing a show 30 min or 1 hr from home, are you going to run home and get the CD+G player and discs then drive back??? I Think NOT!!!!

NOW... on the flip side... a spare external HDD with ALL your music on it as a back-up, AND a spare IDENTICAL laptop kept with an EXACT clone of the laptop HDD is the best way to go (In my humble opinion)... and here is why:

If your music HDD goes south... Grab the spare and you are up.

If the Computer HDD dies... swap the one out of the spare computer, back up in less time than it takes to play "Rapper's Delight".

Whole computer dies (i.e. Drunk IDIOT'S BEER*) go grab the spare and up in 10.

* to avoid this issue, use a military grade laptop such as a Panasonic ToughBook, a GoBook, or a Dell Latitude XFR series... you can pick it up, dump it out, BEAT THEM WITH IT, and keep going with the show!

My cell phone is my life line. people who want hire me call me on this number I do not understand the reticense here to publish business numbers unless you have something to hide I am at 970-371-8695. This is Cabaret karaoke my name is Ollie.I do hide on this forum. I am in Greeley. I paid for my music and I run an honest business.

_________________
Join The Karaokle Singers Social Network. Upload Your Music!!

"I agree with SOOO many here... you MUST have a back-up plan at all times, HOWEVER... saying a LEGAL KJ would just go grab their CD+Gs and be up and running is just being a pompous @SS!!!

Most KJs who have migrated to digital do not take their CD+Gs with, and although it is a good idea to have a CD+G unit with you should someone walk in with a disc, many do not have one at all times due to space / weight constraints.

Ok... imagine you are doing a show 30 min or 1 hr from home, are you going to run home and get the CD+G player and discs then drive back??? I Think NOT!!!!"


The original poster stated that his laptop crapped out on Friday MORNING....NOT in the MIDDLE of a show. The POSSIBILITY of running his shows with his discs was never mentioned. Hmmmmmmm IF HE HAD ANY KARAOKE DISCS, he would have been able to easily do his scheduled Friday night show and his NEW Sunday gig as well. Some scenarios just send up red flags and some of those red flags are adorned with a Skull & Cross Bones.

If this topic was started by Lonnie or Tim, it would have been titled: Laptop Died. Had to break out the discs and go Old School. It wouldn't have been a whine about how they couldn't do a show until they found another PC.

Although I don't carry a spare Lappy, I can always call hubby if I had to and he could deliver it. I DO have a spare hard drive that I take with me to shows that is ONLY used as a backup. My show drive and my backup generally reside in my vehicle. I also have another that I keep at home as added insurance. The one at home is also only ever used as a backup. I only ever use my ONE hard drive at any given time. The only time all 3 are ever together and used at the same time is when I'm updating. Had a hard drive die once with NO backup. Was NOT a good thing!.Also had a hard drive die after I got my second drive/backup but didn't have the third. The whole time I was using the backup, I kept thinking, "what if this one dies on me?" I keep the third only for my peace of mind if I ever have to use the backup again. By the way, the hard drives that died were cheap ones that I can't remember the brand names of. I will NEVER buy anything buy a Western Digital MyBook again. The one I currently use as my main show drive I've had for well over 4 years now and I've dropped it several times (NOT recommended!) but like a timex, it's still going strong. Both my backups are also MyBooks.

Now Bruce, as I've said, even given a couple of hours, or a whole day, there is NO WAY I could print books in time to do a show that night and I daresay I probably would not be ready by Sunday either. All my discs are currently packed away in storage as our house is for sale and we must keep it staged for showings. No way would I be able to just drive down to the storage unit on a moment's notice, much less even find the box the discs are in, then pull them all out, organize them, and them print books with the correct disc numbers. That would probably involve emptying out the storage unit completely just to get to the right box and that is a day's job in itself.
It's simply not as easy as you say.

A karaoke notebook is $600 and hard drives are $120 a TB now.

I cant understand why anyone would not carry 2 if not 3 of Each?!??! I know I do.

I remember 11 years ago when I have to pay $2000+ to get a decent notebook for karaoke and $400 for a 80 gig extenal HD, and I still had two then.

People should carry 2 of everything.

OMG...Bruce, hasn't it been enough already? We had a huge, long thread about piracy. I was going to say it, but Diafel took care of it. I can't get my show up and running on my CDs in a cinch either. My problem is not numbering anymore. But more than that, I don't have a CDG player anymore. My computer has been doing it for me for a long time. The one I had kept needing the reader cleaned, and I got sick of it!!

Koyote, I'm so glad things worked out for you. I run a desktop also. They are so much easier to get back up and running. If the video card goes out, you switch it out. If memory goes out, you switch it out. My husband works on computers for a living, and the most common problem he has with laptops is the power supply. When it goes out, no power. No power= BIG PROBLEM!!! The only way to fix it is to souder (I don't know how to spell it) one of the wires. the only way to guarantee that it will work is to send it to the manufacturer and have it micro-souldered. He does fix them, but can't guarantee that it will work. Desktops, 10 minutes to switch out the power supply. You're right, Koyote, they don't have the heat problems. They sound better, perform better, and are more reliable.

And I like Lonnie, but just because we don't do everything just the way he does, does not make us pirates...

Which is why I continue to require numbers in the books. There may be that one time when you will need them & if the computer goes down I can be up & running on discs within seconds without anyone even knowing I had a glitch!

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

MOST DIGITAL KJS MAKE 2 COPIES OF THEIR LIBRARY
1 FOR THE SHOW AND 1 BACK UP ---IT' S THAT BACK UP THAT MAKES US ALL PIRATES AND LAW BREAKERS

And Bruce... just one added bit of food for thought.... How many KJs went digital as a result of "Old Faithful" going belly up and no longer HAVE a CD+G unit???? What are they going to do, go down to WalMart and get a SingMachine to run off for the night?!?!? Come On!!!!!

I'll admit, I missed the fact his laptop died Friday morning, but you still need to get your mentality out of the stone age... Most digital KJs do not have an issue presenting their discs, the issue is not being anal enough to be show ready with them at the drop of a hat! (and I admit fully that I am among those guilty of it)

As has already been said... either you quit numbering the discs, took numbers out of the books, changed to a new numbering system to match your CAVS unit, or you never replaced your CD+G unit when it died... the fact remains, there is no way most digital KJs (Legal Or Not) can revert back to discs at a moments notice.

I guess I should have been clearer about the cell phone. Most people program their cells with the phone numbers they use. I doubt many write them down on pen and paper. No cell, no numbers as most of us don't memorize them.

_________________
You can be strange but not a stranger

And I can be up and running again at the drop of a hat as well.
I DO have a spare lappy available as I stated above. That, and my backup hard drive would have me up and running in far less time than it takes to dig out the discs (assuming they aren't in storage).
The issue was whether I could easily revert back to discs, which I cannot.

guilty!

Badda bing... thank you diafel for pointing out what I thought was obvious. I haven't organized my disks or printed books with disk numbers in over a year. I can barely afford to print the books as is, much less duplicates. I don't want disk numbers in the books because it would be confusing for many tracks that have no discs like the ones from SBI, Tricerasoft, karaoke version, and so forth... which have become significant over the last year, whereby I've been downloading on demand for quite some time. This is how I've beat the pirates. Why try to have every discs when, for the most part I can just get the tracks that are requested... who needs a 100,000 song hard drive?? If that's upsetting to you, well you know what you can kiss.

The prospect of running off of discs quite frankly is completely stupid. The amount of labor and expense required to get the show ready to run off of disc right now equals or exceeds the cost of getting show back up and running off another computer... how much sense does that make?

You want to run your business that way, rock on... I choose not to. I'm an honest KJ whose gone through quite a bit of time and expense to get my collection to where it is today. I don't have to prove anything to you inane pompous, a-hole, mooks.

I joined this forum to share experiences and hopefully add to others, thereby enriching the shows of all of us... however, this forum has quickly denigrated into a bunch of paranoid, whiny, babies who see pirates every time they hear the letter "R"... and I'm about sick of it. I had a stressful weekend because of this, but none of my shows suffered because of it... I even started a new one. I posted here to vent, and all of a sudden I'm attacked because I said my laptop crashed???? Are you frickin' kidding me?

I've got six packed shows a week. How many of you other that Lonman can say that? I went full time in this business in the middle of a recession and I made it work... and I've got pirates all around me. So for all of you who think pirates are the cause of all your woes, I suggest you look inward, and stop your crying and whining... I for one am sick of it. RUN YOUR BUSINESS or look for another one!

_________________
Good music, good friends, howling good times!

I addition to venting a little, I did intend to add something by pointing out the laptop/ tower comparison since now I've had experience with both. A refurbed tower is easy to acquire. I got mine for $140. Granted, I had to get a new monitor and video card... but now, if the tower goes out I can just switch it out easily with another one.

As soon as I recover from this expense, I'm going to buy another tower and keep in handy just in case.....

_________________
Good music, good friends, howling good times!

It appears your stressful weekend hasn't ended yet.

C'mon, what did you expect from your posting. People are going to say what's on their mind. Hence the title "FORUM".

Your point was well taken. You had a problem, you solved it, and business went on as usual. From a retired military perspective this is the working environment I dealt with daily. Of course for me it was sortie production, but stress is the same across the board regardless of the mission. You had a mission to complete, and you did just that; that's what I took from your post.

_________________
EveningStar Entertainment & Events
JR & Michele LaPorte
Peoria, AZ

Glad to hear it all worked out for you. The only things I don't have discs for is a couple of Jonathan Coulton songs, but that's because they were a special purchase for a custie. I like to have discs for everything, just in case. I can always re-rip, if need be. Would take a while, but I COULD do it. Just my thing.