Karaoke Forums

Some of the older songs in your library are a little iffy, but your new music is great. In my opinion, it is the best available for new releases. I also like your customer service - everytime I call there, it is a very pleasant experience.

Now, here are my complaints. First, why is it you don't set up a frequent buyer club like Sound Choice has? Why do I have to go to Ebay and take the chance of buying pirated material? You should offer those on your auto release program a discount on music. I know you are selling your music about 25% lower to dealers than on your website. Ebay sellers aren't losing money on their sales!

Second, why don't you offer discounts on prepaid auto release subscriptions? Pop Hits Monthly offers a great discount for prepaid memberships.

Third, why don't you have digital downloads available for your auto release program? Think of all the money you would save on postage!

Finally, your website is terrible. I have a very difficult time navigating it. And why is it that there is no sort option "Latest Releases"? I went looking for the 100 disk box set of 2010 hits and had to wade through all your products to find out it hasn't been released yet.

Like I said, I like your music. I just think that you could do a lot better in how you market and deliver your product.

Sincerely,


TroyVnd27

Correction - 100 Song Box Set

Swipes need to go back to the old style as well, the swipes on the newer stuff - even commented from CB loyal singers - say many songs are unsingable because the swipes are not done well anymore.

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What I have to do now on most CB songs that I sing is add a bit of silence to the beginning of the track to get the lyrics to come on the screen quickly enough for me to sing the song properly. Usually about .30 to .40 seconds is enough. It's just a lot of hassle to rip the song, then convert it to a WAV file, then add the extra time, then convert it back to a bin file so I can burn it to a disc that a KJ may or may not decide to play because it's not an original ChartBuster disc.

Not too much of a problem with slow songs but any song with a little bit of tempo really creates a problem for people who don't memorize well.

It would be real nice if they had a "Coming Soon" page on their web site as well. I like to know what songs I should be listening to before they come out on karaoke so when I finally get them, I have a pretty good idea of how they should be sung.

There have been a few times when I've purchased instrumental tracks from Karaoke Version or I-tunes and made my own songs only to find out that the songs come out on the next month's Chartbuster discs. No need to buy the discs at that point....but I would NOT have gone to the trouble of creating my own CDG files if I knew the song would be out shortly. Chartbuster or Pop Hits Monthly lose out on a sale because the customer is not aware of what will be released in the near future.

It's not like ChartBuster is the first one out there with new songs anyway; so no reason to hide what they are producing from other karaoke companies. Pop Hits Monthly has already released their MARCH line up and CB hasn't even released their FEBRUARY discs......not to mention cutting down the number of songs per disc.

I second the cumbersome website thing. When I do a custom, I have to set aside a whole afternoon and steady my nerves with something so I don't get frustrated. Sometimes I can't even find a song I just found the week before, it is so difficult.

Don't think they will change their sweeps as it was explained they did it to keep the "cancer" from spreading throughout the entire disc when it gets a bad spot. With the discs being made more cheaply these days, bad spots come sooner. I think they mentioned they were using the old sweeps style on the downloads.

I also second that when you call, the staff is extremely friendly and helpful.

Won't be as big of a deal once my program adds the lyrics sync slider so I can just adjust it as I need it, but would be nicer not to have to fix or adjust anything and have them just go back to swipes that actually were 'karaoke' friendly.

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

My major gripe is they still haven't done Gonna Take A Lot of River by the Oakrige Boys. Also, they should have included Don't Waste It On the Blues on the Gene Watson cdg.

I agree. I ordered a few customs & it’s always a struggle to navigate their site. Type the song title & it’s not available. Type the artist, there it was listed. Plus you have to be careful selecting the format. “V” is with vocals. “K” is karaoke track, but on both letters you have to select if you want mp4, mp3, mp3g, & cd+g. If you want custom cdg, you select “K” cd+g. If you made a mistake & select “V” cd+g, then that’s what you’re going to get. I ordered 15 songs but made a mistake selecting “V” cd+g on 3 songs. That’s what I got, 3 with left channel vocals. So, I re-ordered those 3 songs. Lesson learned.

I won’t even touch the check-out shipping & payment procedures using paypal. That’s another area that requires earnest effort to get through. I called their office & their tech support agrees with me it’s one of the kinks that need to be ironed-out.

Other than that, I love CB’s high quality reproductions of the song instrumentals. I also agree that CB staff is very helpful & courteous! One time I was told tech support was not available, leave my phone # & they will return my call. I told the receptionist it’s already 5 minutes to closing time but she politely insists. 15 minutes later I got the call. Outstanding service!

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To be fortunate enough to derive an income from a source as fulfilling as karaoke music has got to be as close to heaven as we can get here on earth!

I agree. Just got the Top Country Hits of 2010 and I found a couple songs that I kinda knew, but not well enough to sing from memory. The swipes weren't much help

When I go out to sing karaoke I don't mind getting up and trying new stuff, but if the swipe situation was like those songs, after a song or two it would be very frustrating and discouraging.

I don't know why CB can't just create the files so the lyrics are a little ahead of time instead of being behind ......if they can't seem to get them RIGHT ON TIME... Sooner would be much better than later.

Do they ever come here anymore to read the many complaints?

Karma already has a feature to slow the lyrics swipe down to meet the musics. Singer doesn't even know you helped them!

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NW Ohio Karaoke

as does Siglos

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

Probably one reason thay don't come around is simply that they seem to respond to issues in good faith then any response they give is twisted by some of the readers that take an opportunity to take pot shots at CB for something else. Kinda like baiting them on to the playground just to kicked around.

CB has a 1+800 number that is manned by some really great people that work real hard to respond to your concerns and complaints. I speak with them on a regular baisis and they are always helpful to me.

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No venue to big or too small. From your den to the local club or event, we have the music most requested. Great sounding system!

lmao...Rum, sometimes you sound like the SC/CB poster child.....Gotta love ya, though......

We've met some of them in person and they were wonderful!

.....I'm not trying to diss you, rumbolt...I guess I just enjoy being a smart a$$ sometimes. In reality, I peg you to be real "old school"....the kind of guy, who's handshake is his word......I like and respect that. I definitely want SC, CB, and all the karaoke manufacturers to continue making tracks for us, so I usually agree with what you say.....just don't sound so mushy with them......

I think with so many who are pirates wanting to dinigrate these companies every chance they get and praying for them to go under that Rum's response is a nice offset.

There needs to be a balance in everything.

One more thing Chartbuster - I understand that picking what songs to produce is a difficult task. I also know that not every song can be licensed for karaoke. But, how about once per year, why don't you create a special disk that includes the hits that you missed. I know it makes little to no sense to go back in time to re-do songs from forever ago, but what about songs like Bad Company by Five Finger Death Punch, or Party in the USA by Miley Cyrus? (I'm guessing Billy Ray probably made it difficult to license his little angel's songs). Definitely consider this instead of sending me another Christmas disk! I SOOOOOOO wanted to send those things back. Not one of those songs were sang in two Christmases!

And I agree with the swipes as mentioned by Lonman. I find it hard to sing along to your newer songs.

And now, in the defense of CB, they aren't really "behind" in karaoke music as someone mentioned. If one manu is shipping out 8 songs per month and CB is putting out 12, eventually, the other manu is going to get "ahead in time". Heck, I could start putting out karaoke music today and call my first monthly release May 2011 and I'd be ahead of everyone. Oh, and I'll only put 5 songs on it per month so I can get further ahead. CB and PHM really go back and forth as to who puts out certain songs first.

I do wish that CB was more predictable as to their release date. I always have to call in with a new credit card because I rarely have money on my card except for the first of the month when I get paid. Everything else is cash... Some of us know how that goes...

I'm betting there were many complaints that led to the way the swipes are done now. The screen was never refreshed, so if you played off a worn disk that had graphic glitches, the words could become completely unreadable before the end of the song...