Karaoke Forums

Well hopefully you'll never have to find out.

Now in regards to theft, you (pl) have no fear of your laptop kiosk being stolen, yet theft of discs is one of the reasons you don't want to use discs. Doesn't make sense to me.

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You can be strange but not a stranger

I don't know about the others but theft of discs was not one of my reasons for going digital. I got tired of lugging over 700 discs with me to every show. Now it's because my present library will not play on a standard cdg player and I don't have the extra income to purchase a mp3+g multiformat player nor would I want to after becoming used to running digitally. I had to go back to discs when an old roommate decided to help herself to my laptop. I had more to fear from within than from any show I did. I no longer live with that fear because I now have a roommate I can trust.

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

As I stated before, if you're that concerned about theft, spend less than $20 and get yourself one of these:
http://www.amazon.com/s?ie=UTF8&rh=i%3A ... ock&page=1
I have one, but I quit using after the first two days. There's simply no point since it's always within my vision and in the vision of all the patrons in the bar. All it did was add setup and tear down time.
As for theft of discs being a concern, that was never really a motivation for me. Lugging them around on the other hand...
But really, my main motivation was the fact that when I started out, I didn't have a standalone player. My computer was my player.

I ordered a touch screen based XP machine to use as a kiosk on E-Bay. Anxiously awaiting it's arrival. Then I will have to D/L and Trial a few programs. I'm excited. Always looking for new ways to improve my shows.

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KODAA Enterprise Karaoke
International KJ Host
Chartbuster Certified Library 9 Jan. 2012

well i've been playing around with my new touchscreen monitor. It works like a DREAM.

best purchase i've ever made. Now i just have to find someone who is handy in carpentry to build a box/frame to put it in. and maybe put a handle on it too.

too bad I don't have anywhere to actually use it..

Send it to me, I'll give it a try!

Used mine Saturday night. Worked great but the kiosk isn't tall enough. I'm going to have to raise it a foot but still have a 2" ledge to attach my mouse platform to it on the side. Also it was a little dark but I have a 12" snake usb light I can plug in and light up the keyboard.

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KingBing Entertainment C'mon Up! I have a song for you!!! [font=MS Sans Serif][/font]

Why is a singer history so important to so many of you? Are you sending the singers Xcel reports to detail how many times they sang the same songs?

I just don't get it. With a kiosk, you can simply input the same song faster than you can log in with your P.I.N. and scroll through your list just to put in the same song.... again... Why do you have any interest in tracking this info?

Just seems like it's an unnecessary bell... or whistle....

You're assuming singers 1) remember what they sing and 2) remember to choose the same version and key. I have found that such assumptions are invalid.

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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.

But why do you have this need to be their memory for them? If they are so plastered they can't remember what they sing or so careless as to not know what version/key, why are you enabling and facilitating that behavior? "customer service" doesn't quite fit the bill...

Because I try to do what people want me to do, not what I think they ought to want me to do.

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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.

There is no need for that information to be stored in the kiosk. My hosting program stores it.
As soon as I see a repeat customer, I look in their history in the hosting program, select the song and done!
Why drag the kiosk into this?

I have a couple of singers who aren't ready to sing the moment they enter the building and I don't assume they want to sing the same songs night after night even if the history proves me wrong.

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

Why not?

Because our singers actually ask for one. And yes I have printed out a list for them if they ask for one. Again, sometimes it's just to see what they've sung, the last time they did - to either retire some songs for a while or to bring one back out. Also when they hear a song & want to try it, they add it to their list to remember to try another time. I also got a few people that do only new songs as a rule & look up to see if they did something to NOT do it again.
Again it's not really benificial for those few that do the same ones over, in which case I agree with you, it's for those that do try new stuff regularly & want to be able to track which songs they've sung. Many times they will ask me which song they did on a specific date because they couldn't remember the title, I bring up their list & they see the song & may put it in. Or they will sometimes just ask me to pick through their list - so I pick songs they hadn't done in a while. Or sometimes friends will ask to pick their songs, so now someone who has no clue what they sang before can see.
It's just a bell/whistle that our singers actually ask for and would be nice to offer it in a kiosk system so they can access it if they want. I don't see it as a bad thing in any respect. There are several reason why I am looking for a kiosk system with a history. Yes my hosting program stores that info, but when they ask to see their list, I have to pull their name up & turn the monitor, and I have my font set so small (as to fit everything I want on the screen at the same time) it's sometimes hard for them to read it.
The closest one I can find that offers it that doesn't need to be used in conjunction with other programs is the one from Tricerasoft of $25. I just need to figure out how to manipulate the database to make it work with my current system. I wish their were other choices to try.Auto detailing business cards
Controls

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

I have learned years ago just because a repeat customer is coming doesn't necessarily mean they want to sing, or want to sing right off. They occasionally just want to sit & enjoy the show with a few drinks. I used to do that and some people would actually tell me no not tonight or not yet and have me change their song anyway when they did decide to get up. So now most people know to come up to me when they are ready.

But the history isn't for the host, it's for the customer.

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

You misunderstood what I meant. I was referring to the use of a kiosk. I should have said, " As soon as I see a repeat customer AT THE KIOSK AND THEY ENTER A SONG, I look in their history in the hosting program, select the song and done!"
Please forgive me for not being more clear.
I also don't assume they want to sing the same stuff every time, but when they put in a song I know they've sung before, I just use the hosting program's history to see what version they sang before.

Well that's one good thing about Compuhost Kiosk, it DOES store history. I have a number of singers that like to view their history. Nice they can do it on their own now although I have a couple that will come up to me and say "pick something for me I sang before". I do, it's no skin off my nose and they never get mad at the selection I make for them.

I used to bring a list of songs in my back pocket to remind me what I want to sing. Not all of us have a photographic memory.

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KingBing Entertainment C'mon Up! I have a song for you!!! [font=MS Sans Serif][/font]

Maybe I'm just getting old, but I can't believe this kiosk and android phone stuff. A KJ should be an entertainer, like a DJ. If people are using their cell phones to put in tunes, what is the point in having a human being there at all? Why not just replace the KJ with a machine?

Any *J job is show biz. If you can't be an entertainer, or you don't have a personality that people want to see, what do you do? Play the disks? Any piece of machinery can do that. Get a funny hat, learn to dance, tell some jokes, or something. How else do you justify your existence?

This really isn't on topic...
I see stormy weather....

I don't see what being an entertainer has to do with whether your patrons type in a song or write it down on a little slip of paper. Not having to deal with slips actually frees up my time quite a bit to talk to people and entertain them. They also appreciate that I'm keeping up with technology and giving them something fun to interface with when they chose their song. A kiosk is not a replacement for a KJ...it's a replacement for a book. Do you often deal with entertaining Karaoke books? Really?

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Birdofsong