Karaoke Forums

You don't like the CAVS and I have had no problems with either of my U-Best machines either the 168 or the 268, if I were staying in the business I would seriously consider buying a 368-E. They have done extremely well for me and the 168 is still running after all these years. There is no disc lag time like Lonman mentioned about the CAVS 199, the jukebox has never crashed like some PC have cancelling a show. I agree with MrMarog that has also used such a machine it is the easiest way to do a karaoke show, just punch the number and go. The worst part is the downloading of the discs unto the hard drive, it is very time consuming.

This is a red herring.

It has a hard drive. It is not somehow immune to disc crashes and WILL crash eventually.

It's a moving part after all...the same moving part as in those crashing PC's.

The hard drive is not the only part of the PC that can cause it not to work Bazza, downloading material can install a virus that will cause the PC to malfunction and make it go down. There is little chance of this with the Jukebox hard drive since it downloads not off the internet but only from the disc and stores on the hard drive. So not really a red herring. Unlike a PC that is continually used the jukebox since it's only function is to do shows, it is only used for short periods of time. The chance of the hard drive wearing out is much less. That is why the 168 is still going strong after 10 years.

OK Lone. Enjoy your limited magic box.

But what you are saying is akin to "I carry my karaoke gear on a bicycle everywhere. It has never left me on the side of the road with a flat tire like a car and is not affected by bad gasoline".

That is the whole point Bazza keeping it simple. Using your analogy of the bike v.s. the car, there are less parts on the bike therefore fewer things to go wrong with it. Keep in mind both the car and the bike need proper maintenance to avoid the chance of a break down. Most people have the ability to fix a bike not so much a car.

Whoosh! Right over your head. You missed the point. Both have tires. Both get flats. Both can pick up a nail. One is much more limited.

I feel like I am arguing electricity with the Amish.



Wrong. It's exactly the same. Your zeal for the magic box doesnt change reality. Your hard drive spins at 7200rpm. A computer hard drive spins at 7200rpm. It is not used "less" because it's a specialty device. It is exactly the same use.

How are these new Solid State drives? How well do they hold up?

_________________
I am the ONLY SANE 1 HERE

I think you are the one that missed the point a PC like you have stated is a more complicated piece of equipment, more can go wrong with it. While it is true the hard drive spins at 7200 rpm, it is also true the more you spin it, the more it is used, and the more wear it receives. How many PC's have you gone through Bazza in the last ten years? I'm still able to operate my original hard drive player.

It's (SSD) a fairly new technology so there are more failure rates now than I think there will be once they refine the technology. It does remove the "moving parts" element so, in theory, that element of failure is removed. You still have the number of cycles issue (which is a slightly smaller number in SSDs with smaller being bad) plus they have a few of their own new issues.
But I think they will get it worked out where they are much more dependable than disc based drives.

That will be a good day, indeed. It will be nice to feel safer that you files will be on a better storage medium.

_________________
I am the ONLY SANE 1 HERE

AND there you have it folks. You should understand the actual technology before you try to debate.

Maybe this will help: "How hard drives work" - http://www.pcworld.com/article/18693/article.html



SSD's are improving in technology and coming down in price all the time. They will eventually replace all platter based drives. They would work well for things like Karaoke as it's the write cycles that lead to their eventual failure. For 99% read operations (like a KJ's music drive) they would be ideal.

I use SSD drives for the Operating System drive and 7200 RPM High Capacity drives for music. Incredibly fast startup/reboot times for the SSD but higher overall cost and as Boo pointed out, it is a newer technology that is still shaking off some of the bugs. But it is rapidly becoming the storage medium of choice and will likely overtake spindle based drives in the next few years as prices become more competitive and reliability goes up.

-Chris

_________________
-Chris

I would not take any of this as a reason to shy away from SSD today. Cost is a factor right now but, as has been pointed out, that is changing daily. I would have a solid backup plan and secondary show plan even if the drives had a ten year 1% failure rate.

I already do. I have everything on my second laptop. And I have all my download zips saved in a few different places. If need be, I have my discs for everything I haven't downloaded.

_________________
I am the ONLY SANE 1 HERE

Oh yeah, if you are a single rig operation, I would highly recommend using SSD across the board. Since I have multiple rigs to maintain, I am keeping costs down by using SSD for the OS drives only.

I expect this to change within the next 6-12 months though as prices come down and I can buy 6+ SSD drives for almost the same as 6+ Spindle drives.

For me the two biggest up sides to SSD are 1) Disc access times and 2) no moving parts to crash a disc if you move/drop it while running. Absolutely worth the cost just for those two.

-Chris

_________________
-Chris