Karaoke Forums

At my downtown show about two weeks ago we had a very odd, very slow night. For the first 2.5 hours there were only 6-8 folks in the entire bar. I proposed a new song challenge and specifically asked everyone to attempt songs I did not have yet. I downloaded 15 tracks in that time using the bar WiFi (which happens to be very stable). I also had my hot spot, and my smartphone available just in case. To top it off, we are within range of the free Seattle WiFi service. For this location I would run a download only show in a heartbeat.

My KJ in training has my downtown laptop so I cant lookup what the most downloads in a night is, but I am pretty sure the 15 above is the record. Usually download 3-5 (closer to 3) on busy nights. When I first started doing this I was downloading 5-8 a night, but over time the tracks get re-used and fewer get downloaded.

Pros:

Buy/Download on the fly - You just can't beat that for customer service. I get a LOT of compliments for that and it has directly impacted attendance at shows. People know I can do this and so they come in with a song or two in mind to download. I am slowly training people to look at iCroons as well as the individual sites to make sure tracks are available.

Variety - There are number of tracks that are very interesting and unique that I have been exposed to with this process. Singers are doing tracks with a lot more variety now. If you have never had a good, theatrical type singer do some Hedwig and the Angry Inch then you and your other singers/listeners are missing out.

Singers get what they want, when they want it. - As a singer, there is nothing more frustrating than going to a new place, looking for songs and the first 1/2 dozen aren't in the book. Singers like to sing "A Game" songs when they come to a new place and those songs tend to be better known. This helps alleviate that problem even if they may not get the exact version of the track they are accustomed to.


Cons:

The night of 15 downloads in 2 hours was a fringe case, but it showed to me how with that many downloads it is a lot more work and quite time consuming. Not much time left over for dealing with requests and adjusting sound. It was fun for the one night, but doing it every night every weekend will get old very, very quickly. Over time though, this becomes less of a problem as the library builds....

No Internet, no downloads. Nuff said. Always have a backup plan.

Expensive. It costs a lot more per track to buy individual downloads one at a time. I have bought credits from Tricerasoft to help with that. I also recall a thread from someone else about getting a hold of KaraokeVerion to pre-purchase downloads so I am going to work that angle.

I have a gig starting up on the 24th. I just placed the order for a second GEM today. That will be the core starter music for that gig. I am going to work along side my KJ to manage downloads while he runs the main show for the first few weeks. That way we can see how much work is truly involved.

More in a few weeks....

-Chris

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-Chris

I have been running my show on downloads since day one. Never had a problem. I use two lap tops. One is for karaoke, one is for tunes. I can download on the tunes machine while people are singing off the other one, then rename the files, and transfer them to the other machine with my flash drive. Then just slide them into the program between songs. Works like a charm.


I am about to start another show, that has no WiFi. I will find out if they have internet and then I can just set up my extra router with their internet, and BOOM instant WiFi. Once I can afford it, I am going to buy a mobile hot spot. I can use my phone, but unfortunately Metro doesn't allow for unlimited 4G Hot spotting. My credit isn't too good, so I can't get one through Verizon without a $400 deposit.

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I am the ONLY SANE 1 HERE

the first couple weeks would be rough with downloading every song, but you would save a ton of money. the cost per track is much lower than disc unless you find the bulk deals, but then you are still laying out a bunch of money at once. you can buy the same tracks that are on KJMP for less money per track than you can on KJMP by buying a $40.00 tricerasoft credit pack and one off DTE downloads are the same price or less than the KJMP. as for internet, i have 2gb on my phone plan and i use foxfi to use it as a hotspot (cheap a$$ bar owner) and running my hosting computer and both kisok computers i have never hit that mark or lost service (more than i can say for Cox internet ) and it costs me no more than what i already pay for my phone.

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Paradigm Karaoke, The New Standard.......Shift Happens

Anyone know if there is an app like this for Windows 8 phones?

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I am the ONLY SANE 1 HERE

You mean to use your Windows 8 Phone as an Internet Connection/WiFi Hotspot? There is an option in Settings to enable it, but you have to turn it on with your cell provider. For AT&T they have plans ranging from $20 - $65 per month. . Can't speak for the other providers.



-Chris

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-Chris

Metro only allows 2.5 GBs of Hotspot data then knows it down to 3G. It's stupid, because you can get unlimited data for the phone itself.

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I am the ONLY SANE 1 HERE

I'm not real good with cell phones. I never take the time to learn them. So, I'm serious when I ask.... Why not just use your phone to browse for and download songs? And then, just copy the files to your host computer when done? I know with an iPhone, you need a download manager app, but what about other phones?

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I'm not a cheerleader, but I paid for my pom poms with my own money!

If there is a good wifi connection that your phone can work with, then downloading to the phone could be done, otherwise it takes quite a bit longer on a 4G and even longer on a 3G connection. Then you have to be able to access the files to your computer - which isn't always the best thing while trying to run a show, unless you are dropping the files to a different computer.

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

I don't know. i just tried it with two of my Tricerasoft songs. I saw the files download, but I have no idea where they are ending up in the phone. When I hook up to a computer I see the phone and the SD card, but the karaoke files are nowhere to be found.

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I am the ONLY SANE 1 HERE

What type of phone?

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I'm not a cheerleader, but I paid for my pom poms with my own money!

If they downloaded they are there. If connected to the computer usually there are two storage areas of the phone, the phone itself & the SD Card. Sometimes the downloads might actually go to the phone unless you specify saving to the SD card (or whichever is bigger). This usually has to be done in settings on most phones.

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

I wish you had an Android. I could walk you through to the file locations without even seeing the phone.

Can you take screen shots of the phone storage and sd card storage folders on your computer when the phone is hooked up to it? I just tried to play with a Windows phone to find some kind of file manager, and to no avail.

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Co-host of The Greatest Song Ever Sung (Poorly), a karaoke-themed podcast

Troy, before i got the foxfi app i did just that. i like using the hotspot option to avoid another step of transfering to the computer from phone. never had any issue with it either. i think right now with my HTC DNA i get the average song downloaded in under 10 seconds.

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Paradigm Karaoke, The New Standard.......Shift Happens

A lot of work, to save very little money

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