Karaoke Forums

I recently picked up a VogoPro CDG-8800 player in trade for some web development work, but after checking out local KJ's and online info it seems more and more are moving to the digital source of files.

I've found several multi-format players online, but hate to shell out the case just to get another CD player. Does anyone make a rack mountable MP3+G player that I could add to my existing setup? My setup is mainly for home use and get togethers. I know I could just get a laptop and purchase/download software, but would like to just add a digital player w/o buying another pc.

I was also wondering how one goes about purchasing songs. Do I need to keep buying discs and just rip them or is there an online source? I see ads on craigslist and on ebay for large collections of songs, but am very doubtful that they are legal and not in some violation of copyright.

Thanks in advance!

Did a little digging and found answer to my question about online source for downloads.

I had an older cd+g player at home with about 50 cd's. When I decided to use a laptop and go digital it was the best thing I could have done. No more lugging cd, and very easy cataloging and searching for songs. Just my .02$.

Thx flanman, but was really hoping to go digital without having to purchase a laptop. I have one that I use exclusively for work (web design) and I protect it like it was the last pc on earth..., without it I can't work. Plus I figured if a mp3 format player was available it would be cheaper than a laptop plus software. Again this is mainly just for my own amusement and not anything professional.

To my knowledge there is no MP3 standalone player that will work with karaoke songs (mp3+G format). Besides laptops and software, it would probably just be easier to rack mount the disc player, and look for a cheap laptop to buy and go digital then.

Thanks for the reply twansenne. I hadn't found one either, but am fairly knew to the KJ side of things.

Thanks again

Actually a couple of companies are starting to make decks that will read MP3+G. I haven't had a chance to look at one but I know the V2Go 100 Plus is supposed to be able to play MP3+G discs as well as through the USB port for a thumb or hard drives. Just make sure it's the 100 Plus model.

Karen thanks for the reply. I'd had seen several multi-format players that include a single or dual cd, but since I already have a dual disc setup I was looking for an addon stand alone mp3+G player.

Ya learn something every day. Didn't know someone was making such a thing. I might have to get one as a backup.

BTW....dug up a tread on here about the V2Go.....
http://www.karaoke-forum.com/viewtopic.php?p=254443

I have one by American Audio that will take up to a 1TB FAT32 usb drive. It's a pain in the preverbial to navigate to the files once you have a decent number.

It does index them based on the order they were added to the drive and you can directly key the index number but it's response time is more than a little slow.

- Jonn

I've used many standalone MP3+G players including the V2GO plus. For the V2GO plus, I had to name the files as "0001.mp3", "0001.cdg", ..... "9999.mp3", "9999.cdg" then I use the program DRIVE SORT which sorts the FAT directory listing table so that it's in numeric order per the filename.

When you then enter 9999 using the remote control - it will play file 9999.mp3 (and it's corresponding .cdg file).

You are right about these things being sluggish. The best standalone player I've used is the CAVS 105G-USB player. The CAVS unit has an "INDEX" file (INX) file that you can create which gets read by the player so loading, selecting songs, and etc is quite instantaneous. If the OP doesn't want a full blown DVD player, I'd say - he should snag a CAVS IPS-11G instead (easy to get them for less than 80$ nowadays). It supports the INX MENU (and INDEX) and works solely with external usb drives, or external usb memory sticks.

When I purchase songs through Tricerasoft's website (MP3+G), we convert the .cdg file to a .mcg via the MCG Manager (free -available from CAVS) then we just tell the program to rebuild the INX index.

Oh yeah, if somebody wants some perl scripts that will create a songbook (PDF) out of the files in a particular folder, ping me and i'll share them.

Here's the normal workflow I use with the V2GO

1) Plug in external hdd to PC
2) My wife chooses a song from Tricerasoft - http://www.tricerasoft.com/cgi-bin/KaraokeDownloads/index.asp - the ZOOM branded ones are great!
3) We unzip the file and name it the next number up in the folder, so if the last file in the folder was 0101.mp3 and 0101.cdg, we name the new one 0102.mp3 and 0102.cdg.
4) We make sure the files have IDv3 tags (as my perl scripts read them and uses it for title and artist info)
5) We then run the perl scripts I wrote which will create a songbook in said folder and names it Z_SongBook.pdf
6) We then run DriveSort - http://www.anerty.net/software/file/DriveSort.php
on said folder so that the directory listing is in alphanumeric order.
7) Finally, we run the program MP3GAIN - http://mp3gain.sourceforge.net/ so that the volume isn't all over the place

Works just fine with the V2GO