Karaoke Forums

Nah, but the licensing contract and serialization of the media will sure let them know if you're "screwing around".

After all, that is the point of creating the GEM series and selling only to host/KJ's.

If, in fact, the GEM series has not been pirated (distributed on-line), then it would seem that this method is working.

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Never the same show twice!

as Bazza already stated, it is not the same thing because the GEM series is original source media *320 and clean lyric swipes*

But it doesn't just stop there. I have learned that the bitrate software/converter that you use makes a HUGE difference.

I have bought tracks from tricerasoft that are only ripped at 192k that I cannot tell the difference between the exact same music/file that I have ripped at 320k on my own computer.

most of the stuff i have downloaded off the internet, i can hear the difference myself.

I asked tricerasoft about it and they told me it was because they use professional/studio grade conversion software.

My point is the interest level in the gem series amongst the pirate community is likely low because it is old music that is currently readily available.





It seems to me that if quality was a priority for pirates the majority of the torrents/usenet SC songs out there would not be 128kbps or less, poorly ripped and with the telltale garbled lyrics.



I'm not dismissing the method as futile, it's a method worth using in an effort to curb piracy, but the true test would be using that method with the release of new music that doesn't already exist in the pirate world. It remains scientifically untested.

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KNOW THYSELF

I think I asked before but I'll ask again!

Is the Gem Series only sold in the US?

Being that it is made in the UK I'm sure that KJ's over there have access to it.

I'm also thinking that SC's contract doesn't hold much water in other countries if they are in fact selling it overseas too.

But then again I don't foresee them going over there to try and sue anyone for illegal use of trademark.

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I like everyone when I first meet them. If you don't like me that's not my problem it's YOURS!
A stranger is a friend you haven't met yet

Why wouldn't the contract hold water overseas? There are contracts between foriegn corporations all over the place. There may be minor changes in keeping within the laws of the countries involved, if necessary. One area that comes to mind would be the age of majority.

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You can be strange but not a stranger

Am I missing something here?
How is that a contract between countries?
If you are in a particular country, you are bound by the laws of that country. Nothing to do with contracts.
If the age of majority in said country is 21 and you are only 19, then tough patooties. You aren't at the age of majority in that country.
Go to another country where the age is 19 and bingo! You're in.
Pretty simple, but it certainly isn't a contract between nations.

Let's try this. There is nothing to stop SC to lease the GEM Series in the UK and have a contract provided it adheres to UK law. How's that. International companies have contracts in all sorts of countries. And that is what I was saying with the age of majority or prohibited materials, etc.

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You can be strange but not a stranger

yep the water is still wet... OK let's try this one
How about in CHINA????
Do you think that care what SC wants, I really don't think so.
If SC is selling the gem series internationally then there are some places "IN THE WORLD" (other than the US) that don't give a rats a$$ what SC wants and their contract doesn't mean squat.

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I like everyone when I first meet them. If you don't like me that's not my problem it's YOURS!
A stranger is a friend you haven't met yet

We would never go for it.
Country music...
We tend to ride horses rather than sing about them.
Same with beer and whiskey.
Oh... You already know about the beer and whiskey.

My point in posting.
If an MP3 was burnt to disk.
Since the ID3 tag would not also be burn't,
would any ID info remain.

In ID3 tag is part of the file header. If you burn a tagged MP3 to a data disc, you also burn the tag with it. Not so with a CD-Audio disc, which may have been your point. Not sure.

Solved it.

Digital watermarking.

The media is not "serialized" but the product contained on it is. It's a relatively easy process to change the graphics on any karaoke song, there have been tools to do exactly that for years. But trying to remove an inaudible digital watermark in the sound track is pretty impossible. Especially if that watermark moves with the sound track when you attempt to convert it from one file type to another like changing an mp3 back to a wav file and a wav into an mp3. Bitrate doesn't matter because to any converter, the watermark looks like "necessary sound" well within the normal hearing range (though you can't conscientiously pick it out and you won't see it buried in a waveform).

MP3 compression works by eliminating frequencies that are so close together (depending on the bitrate) that a frequency is eliminated from the overall spectrum. The "higher" the bitrate, the "less" that is removed - and consequently larger files that sound better. The lower bitrates eliminate so much that the sound becomes distorted.

However, there are always key sounds that will be present no matter the bitrate - those are the ones that are watermarked.

This is what the Red Peters tracks use. You purchase a disc and convert it to mp3+g, no problem. You purchase an mp3+g and convert it back to disc, no problem there either, the watermark goes with it and that watermark is serialized.

Think of it as a sales receipt that is permanently nailed to the track itself.

It works for cd+g,mp3+g,mp4,m4v,avi,mov,wmv and just about any other digital audio format out there.

It has and it is out there. Can't figure out how to show but it is. It is not just a torrent or a url, or IRC

Holy dead thread! Responding to an 8 year old thread.

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[quote="Gdtp"]It has and it is out there. Can't figure out how to show but it is. It is not just a torrent or a url, or IRC[/quote]
It's been out there since January this year. I was talking to Kurt Slep at NAMM, and he was betting me there was NO WAY it was being pirated.

Within 2 links of a google search I had it. 5 months later the employees he tasked to finding it again couldn't find it. I chuckled at the incompetency. Maybe Kurt should put "Must be proficient with google searches" on his employment ads if he's hiring any new privateers.

Well now.. The Google has been pretty much down most of today.. That's sure to confuse the PEP Boys..