Karaoke Forums

A reason to change bit rates could be to remove any serialization in the audio file? That's really as much a question as anything. If so, it may make it hard to track back.

When I first starting ripping for my Cavs JB99 in 2000, hard drive capacities were only 80GB. I had acquired almost 1000 discs by that time (I had a friend that owned a retail karaoke store) and 128 was considered the standard bit rate.

I spent an exhaustive amount of time getting the graphics as clean as I could and the files spelled accurately and uniformly. As time went on I continued to grow my collection and I stayed with 128. The big improvement was the ripping quality of the error correction software, and the hard drive kept getting larger and cheaper.

Were am I going with this: I have never re-ripped more than 2000 discs I own and they are still at 128. I have also never had anyone tell me that one song sounds so much better than another. In a noisy bar it would even be that much more difficult.

Over the years some of my original discs that I stored in binders, and stacked on top each other, developed some pin holes because they stuck to the sleeves. Those I cannot re-rip. It simply is not possible or important enough for me to go to 320 on everything I own.

I am 65 and my ears are not what they used to be, and my target audience, here in Florida, is my age or older. I will stick with 128 on my old collection and happily carry on.

People who already have a SC certification will be able to register their CB original media at no additional charge. We haven't put that on the website yet.



I think you mean to say that the audit hasn't taken place yet. You are certified and listed on the website as such. Since you mentioned it, I went ahead and had them add your GEM series license number to your directory record as well. We are in the process of reformatting the licensee directory, so we have not updated records as frequently of late.

You have (or you claim to have) a certificate from a company that no longer exists. We're simply asking that you provide us with a copy of the certificate and a photo of your original media so that our records can accurately reflect your status. If the certificate is unexpired, we're not asking you to pay anything.

If you don't want to cooperate, that's on you.



Of course you don't have to cooperate. You can be a jackass about everything if that's your preference.



What he confirmed is that there are tracks that claim to be GEM tracks on IRC, but that are not in fact GEM tracks. Since we know who all the licensees are, if we discover these bogus tracks in public use, that makes a willful infringement case virtually automatic. I'm perfectly comfortable with that state of affairs.

You should probably keep your fantasies to yourself.

Jim can you post a list of the songs that are on the 3 extra GEM Disks?? I just ordered mine today and forgot to ask.

And, yes, I saw the word "virtually".....

I'mpart of the '128' crowd.... Sure I have some newer CDs ripped at a higher bit rate, but maybe MAYBE 1 or 2% cares that it's that high, It's never been a factor for me.

I don't use an external hard drive, so I carry all my music from my CDs, iTunes, and Amazon on the same drive. All the CDs had to be ripped, and the popular tracks are there too. Some of the stuff I bought but never use (Like classical music), I stream if I have a need AND I have wi-fi in the space. As the drive is 1TB, got to make it all fit on there somehow.

As you all know, there are many factors with karaoke that go beyond the KJ: Things like alcohol, noisy spaces, quality of singer, etc. Unless your hosting the weekly version of The Voice, I personally don't see the need for a higher bit rate. But if that's what you want, then by all means go for it!!

As for this GEM series stuff, Only the very ill informed/stupid would venture forth with the illegal set and work with it in a public space. Fine by me, SC can go after them all day and night in my opinion, they deserve it. Whoever put it out there also deserves to be sued to hell too, as they are most likely aware this wasn't a smart or legal move. And now that SC knows about it, they might just track it down if they can find it, good luck living that down.

Only people I could see who might use a fake GEM set is 1) some home user who wants the 'karaoke experience' for private use (Not worth a lawsuit or worry in my opinion). 2) Some hard drive reseller who it trying to make some cash by selling this to new KJs and people (Very worth tracking down).

Finally I've said enough about how I feel with SC about CB to not go and repeat myself... But I really think if SC wants to make some friends here, they should make it FREE to base line register the CB product KJs have. If someone wants the certification, with all the benefits that go along with it, then only because of the work involved there should be a small fee (to cover the expenses).

I am getting tired of all the legal crap these days, its just not worth the headaches. This was a fun job to have, we make people happy every weekend, take some of their stress away by making them 5 minute rock stars, and shockingly we were able make some money on it too. I'm not getting rich from hosting karaoke, I'm a little fish who enjoys seeing people smile and have a good time, not a big production house who looks at the bottom line and profit margins. We know our singers by name, we know what they want to sing, and we try to keep them coming back so we can make ends meet. I've paid for my CDs and downloads once already, but now you want us to continue to pay for stuff we already own. To deal with your fees, I would have to become bigger, and I don't want that.

Its really getting to be time to hang up the mics and go, and let those much better suited deal with the madness this business has become. Sad because I truly love this job, its been my passion and I don't know how I'm going to replace it.

I should clarify that the case against the person who's using the bogus GEM tracks would be virtually automatic.

We know exactly who all of the people are who legitimately have this material. If we see someone with something that looks like a GEM who isn't supposed to have it, that's an easy case.

We also have the ability to identify where unauthorized copies came from based on data markers in the files, but not every instance of that is going to be intentional, as you suggest.

Wouldn't that ability be diminished if they, say, altered the audio version by changing the bit rate?

I don't have all the technical details on it, so I don't really know. I don't think so, but it's possible.

No, we're not making that information public. Only the people who are eligible to license the bonus discs will have access to the song list for those discs.

However, you're welcome to email Customer Care, and we can send you the list.

Thanks! BTW, I may ask questions that you technically don't want to answer sometimes. I am perfectly OK with, "I can't answer that".

Just curious: Are you saying that one of the stipulations of receiving these bonus discs is to not publish the names of the songs, specifically in this forum?

No, I'm not saying that. I'm saying that we're not publicizing the song list. It's a pretty awesome list, though. Some stuff on there that's hard to find.

I probably worded that poorly originally. I just meant that we're not publishing the list except to our GEM series licensees.

you don't mean that they could leak it and walk away because they possibly got hacked?

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

I have NEVER thought paying $150 to have my 38 SC discs certified. I only have ONE CB disc. So, do you think I want to pay for THAT disc to be certified?? I would rather just drop the damn disc.

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I am the ONLY SANE 1 HERE

The said certification on CB was a choice and just to register the CB discs with them for nothing.

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Forgive me for causing any confusion, but... If you have original disks and want to rip them to your computer... would you not want the best quality? Unless your very rich and can afford "That many karaoke songs" to fill even a 500 gb drive would use up around 150,000 songs or more if was 128 bit rate.

Seems to me you may have aquired your collection of songs through a third party maybe?