Karaoke Forums

but the JB-199 if it works right is perfectly okay to use if you rip all your own tracks.

Course by definition THAT's not legal either, but it's a victimless crime. No manufacturers are hurt in that production! !

Stand aside for the legality patrol!

If you visit Cavs' website and order a jb-199, then you can buy from cavs a couple of different libraries pre-installed that's true. I would think Cavs USA would have permission to sell those libraries- the discs and a Windows sticker of authenticity is supposed to come with the purchase of the unit. I bought an empty machine.

I paid one of my working djs to rip my cdgs into my machine- almost 900 discs a few years ago. It took him several months to finish. Since then i update it once a year.

I haven't had any problems with the 199, but did have a problem with my older jb-99 until it died and went in the trash a couple of years ago. The newer 199 is really a good solid machine and will outlast many cheapo computers by far. I don't hook mine up to the internet because i'm a little paranoid of viruses...and don't really ever need to.

..did the disc thing for 5 years- got sick of carrying them and worrying about someone stealing the binders. I demo'd a friend's player and bought one right away.

I do have discs as backup as well as S&D on a toshiba satellite laptop to practice at home with- but nothing compares (for me) to the jb-199.

I went to a show last night where the hostess had just gotten a whole new setup. She had worked for another guy for years in this place...the place got tired of his business antics, suggested she buy her own system so she did.  She did her maiden voyage last night. She got 18,000 songs on a CAVS and it came with a book - I was disappointed to see so many dupes in the book - those 18,000 songs probably come out to about 13,000 originals - every page had many, many songs with 3-4 of the same one. CAVS is slow to load...and where she really got slowed down was some sort of switch she had to use to switch between CAVS and the really crummy CDG player in the rack. I don't know what she had to pay for the setup,  but her setup was purchased from a "karaoke store" and I'm thinking is probably similar to what these people were looking at.  2x15 Behringer speakers were okay, but the effects on the board were not very good...they gave her cheap mics... Oh, I don't know, I think it just makes sense to buy your components independently, get the best you can for the buck.

Oh, all the singers who were trying the songs off the CAVS commented on how out of synch the sweep was ... She may regret going with the CAVS player just for that reason... Almost every song.

K

Yes, you can do so much better by paying attention here and ordering what people tell you.

My veterans club didn't know that they could listen to me about what to buy, and listened to a salesman instead. $4,000 later they had an off-target mix of equipment (not all bad, but overpriced -- Tapco speakers and amps) and couldn't get the sound right.  And it was RSC Neo players, which are an incredible pain to manage with a thousand songs on a DVD.

I was called in, and using the knowledge I mostly got here from Lonman and others, I tuned the system and got them going with Compuhost. I added an active crossover, decent mixer with effects, and some other things. Business is up 100%, people love the automatically-fair rotation of Compuhost, and all is going really well.

If they had just listened to begin with, then they would have saved a couple of thousand dollars and had better sound.

It's all in how you use it!  It's not a bad system at all & completely blows what you had originally outlined away.
I think in her situation is for a steady working karaoke bar, you had stated yours was more for home use & some outside parties.  I think in a bar the selection needs to be a little more competetive with other clubs that may be in the area.  The system isn't where the large protion of the money will lie, it's in the music and being she wants to download all the songs is another problem.  If they got a nice disc set of core songs like the Foundations & Bricks, then supplement the newer stuff from 2000 on with the Monthlies (they did have packages called the Millenium - not to be confused with the DK set), then they'd have a good base, they can transfer all that to the computer, THEN start downloading on a per request basis - provided they can find a legal site like Tricerasoft or selectatrack.  If they tried to purchase everything in download form from the start to get a 5000 song library could easily cost them $5-10,000 dollars for a decent core alone.

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I'm surprised that Tapco wasn't decent - Tapco was the original Mackie, and now that Mackie has sold out, they are manufacturing under Tapco again.

K

Actually TAPCO isn't a bad product at all.  They are actually still designed by Mackie & are still owned by Mackie (well LOUD Technology - Mackies parent company formed by Mackie ownig EAW/Crate/TAPCO/AMPEG & a couple others I can't think of.  
They don't get recommended much for some reason.  I honestly don't remember about them with so many options already around but have tested them before.  They make a decent powered speaker called the Thump.  They have a couple really decent mixers the mix.260FX for 1 are comparible to anything in the price range, they make power amps & computer sound interfaces as well as a couple sound processors.  They do make a very affordable & nice sounding studio monitor.
http://www.tapcoworld.com/products/index.html

Sweetwater sells Tapco products & they don't sell junk.

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Maybe I wasn't clear enough when I said "off-target mix of equipment (not all bad, but overpriced -- Tapco speakers and amps)".

I meant the rest of the stuff was off target, and the not all bad part was the Tapco speakers and amps. It was still overpriced.

Karen, she was more than likely using an older jb-99 model that hadn't had the software updated. If you see her again perhaps you can tell her to solve the swipe issue by upgrading to a higher version..?
Once again ,the swipe/sync issue is not a problem with the jb-199, and even with the 99, only the faster hip-hop and certain manus swiped late, on my machine anyways.
Unless she is "competition for you" and you don't mind helping a fellow-kj out, refer her to CAVS website forum to get her problem resolved.

What is wrong with KJs who list multiple songs in their books? If i had (god forbid) a SUNFLY listed alongside a SC, wouldn't you like the alternative? But Joe-Schmoe might be used to the former version. Selection IS important. How could someone be unhappy with a variety of songs? Now if she had 10 or more crappyoke versions, then that is a different story... 13,ooo songs is a good selection to have, no?

I can understand if people want to save money and "buy components independently", but it seems everyone here has gone through EVERY software hosting program, computer upgrade, and video cards this industry has to offer...not really saving time or money. I do however, appreciate the fact that they post what to avoid, having spent their hard earned cash and T-I-M-E figuring it out.


Whatever works for you i guess.    J.R.

I guess what I find kind of a bummer is she paid for 18,000 songs - when really she probably should have been sold 13,000 with dupes.... and btw, this is a brand new setup. Just think the karaoke store in our area maybe is overpriced and kind of preys on people like her, who maybe don't have the time or knowledge (they think) to make independent decisions and go for better components. I have no idea what "version" of CAVS she has, and it doesn't reall matter to me, I always grab my own CDGs out of the collection and take them when I go and sing at someone else's show. I was just listening to the two guys who always sing at her show...ouch...they weren't happy.

K

Karen..yeah sounds like a real bummer.  I know of one place locally that sells old jb-99s at new prices, and the units look brand new. The parts for it are dang near impossible to find if you have probs with the older 99. If you didn't do your homework on them, you might get stuck with an outdated model. Sounds like that may have happened to her unfortunately. suckz.

I at least hope she got discs with her purchase...? The thing about independent authorized dealers of certain products is they don't seem to be regulated by the manufacturer.

All i do know is the actual jb199 product is good. Whether you can buy it pirated, b-stock or refurbished has never been an issue for me thankfully. Seems like everything dongleless can be pirated, no?

In the end i just like the product. It's a computer just like the rest of them laptops and desktops in use nationally, but more stable and rugged IMO. I don't support them or work for them or anything like that. I just know it's professional ,reliable, and all-in-one without different parts hanging off it- and rackmountable which has been perfect for my use.

I do hope she can get her unit updated and working correctly as it should.

I'll stick to the topic at hand and still recommend the cavs as a viable karaoke computer option for a small bar, that can be legally loaded by cavsusa and given discs. It will cost, but it will cost MORE of everything to get someone to buy discs, build a computer, buy software, load the discs, then sell it to a small bar.

Sorry if i've repeated myself- i only got 4 hours of sleep lastnight. Cheers.

With all the CAVS hosts I have seen, it is that they use that stupid arbitrary number and you can't tell what versions they have.

I have serious doubts, that your acquaintance even has 13,000 unique songs.  However, I feel compelled to say, "so, what".

I don't believed she overpaid for the tracks she purchased.  Who amongst us has a library that is comprised of only unique songs  -- no duplicates?

$2500 won't cut it.  There will not be any money left for music, no matter what media they choose to play it.    Use an experienced KJ.

I agree mckyj that arbitrary numbers are annoying, but I print my books with a column stating manu codes because i wanted my customers to know how much $$ i spent on different discs!  LOL . Of course to show them their many options.

It's too bad not all users don't do the same, as i'd like to know if they had versions i would refrain from attempting to sing after waiting an hour to sing.

Many singers and KJs think a book printed in all the different ways, is an attempt to make them look like they have a bigger selection than they actually do.

What's to keep you from picking the worse song version?

Once I get my SONGS RELOADED TO Hoster, I will again work on the book - I am taking out the dupes from the book, indicating with * - more than one version. Ask if you have a preference.... Most people know what I have, or they can ask and I'll steer them to the best version. After 12 years, I pretty well know what's gonna fly as the most desirable version...Of course there is the oddball who loves SGB!

I just figured if she was "paying" for 18,000 songs that should get 18,000 songs, not 13,000 - lots of songs with 3-4 versions...

I am always more suspicious of the number of songs someone has when they pad their book with dupes - I figure it's a good chance for me to clean mine up, doing the conversion. I am about to go and check to see, after rebuilding the database on Hoster, if the backup I made on the 500GB Western Digital actually contains SONGS and not just numbers... crossing fingers.

K

Karen, she did pay for and get 18,000 songs.  Did they advertise one of a kind songs?   She paid for different maunfacturers disc sets.  So they are going to have duplicate songs.  They are in competition with each other.   Sound Choice has many of the same songs  as DK, Music Maestro, SGB and all the rest.  CAVS sold her how many different disc sets from different companies.   Did you get ripped of if you bought discs from 2-3-4 different companies?   Dupes are a fact of KJ life.  We don't like it and it can't be avoided.   The sad part is i feel even more ripped off if the songs are duplicate crappy versions.

I completely agree with you on those points Sidewinder.
But your previous post about padding a book to make it look bigger...well...i mentioned i added another column to list manus- MY books didn't get any bigger! Same size page 8x11.

Karen, i suppose i'd rather give answers to song questions in-advance to stem unnecessary questions about asterisks. I include what i deem are the best dupes, up to 4 manus, so they can decide for themselves. I have too many drinking young tourists to deal with most times, so if i can let my books "babysit a question" for me then that's great. Perhaps your situation is different than mine...?

I don't understand the big deal of having a big book if you do. If you have the product, great, you paid for it. why not show what you've invested your hard-earned money with to provide for them? If a book is padded, WHO really cares?
ANSWER: Usually ONLY other Kjs... customers want selection and variety, no?

Granted, some manus should be hidden out of sheer embarassment for the Kj

If someone's reason to make a smaller book to save money on materials or cut costs, i can see that. Or to have more space in a container for more books, i can reason with that logic.

But as to why other kjs might feel threatened or pessimistic toward another colleague for displaying their wares for the publics' benefit, it evades me.

Why would a high number of songs make you suspicious, even if there were lots of dupes? Total number of songs doesn't matter. You could only have 3,000 of the most requested karaoke songs and be fine. 3k to 150k I personally don't care, as long as i can bring my discs of my favorite versions to another show. Someone with a large library (over 50k) might raise a legal flag or two, but that's only to another competing kj, or the manus who have vested interest in busting the pirates.

I worry about MY business being legal, not others. I can't influence the laws one way or another but can protect myself from getting "booked" (Ha!). But that's just me i guess. If i came to- and you ran an illegal-show, i personally wouldn't care..i would just want to have a good time. Let the laws deal with them pirates, i have more than enough things to do than worry about futile situations that don't involve me directly.

My sister owns a bakery and displays 15 different kinds of donuts. If she only put out 1 with an asterisk, well business might drop off tremendously. (not meant to sound condescending btw)

I DO. however, think it's tacky if you have 17 versions of a song and only a couple thousand songs overall, but MANY kjs have MANY tacky things about them, including their choice of clothing styles!

oops...sorry for the hijack.