Karaoke Forums

My husband was having trouble figuring out why our CDG player that is hooked up to the receiver and speakers, along with our big flat screen, wasn't working right. He put a CDG (old one) into the DVD player and it PLAYED IT! The DVD player is a JVC model XV N670. It is very slim (probably an inch tall, maybe 1-1/4 inches at most)...so, it would make sense if you have a DJ rack, an output on your board, the room in the rack, and you have no capacity to play singer's CDGs now, that you invest in one of these DVD players. Or even if you don't have room in the rack ...

I have a slightly different gripe to add on to what BFFL describes. I also bring my own personal CDGs with me when I go out (a compilations of songs I sing that I burned onto several discs). IO also hate it when I'm told that the KJ can't play my discs because he is operating from a PC. I will also sing a few songs before deciding to leave (and probably not return again).

One of my problems with this, is that they don't have the Manu's version of a song that I like to sing, or, they can't tell me what version it is that they have on their PC. I don't like to sing blindly like that. Another problem I have is this... I am finding several KJs that operate like this don't have a Key Changer either (or, whatever program their using on their PC just works differently). I have been to these shows where I have requested the key to be taken up between 3 and 5, and when the song played, it didn't sound like the key was changed at all.

I have costumers that leave their discs with me. I even have one gentlemen that leaves a case full. It's funny I've never considered ripping their discs into my system because they're not mine. Keeping their discs for them is easy for me because I have a locked cabinet at the bar. Sure it would be easy to rip them on to my system, but that would be wrong. Honestly its just as easy to stay legal and just pop them into the player.

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[updown]~*~ MONKEY BUSINESS KARAOKE~*~ [/shadow][/updown][/glow]

That's usually Sax and Dotty's. It has a fragile connection with Pacemaker, the Winamp key changer. I have constantly seen this problem.

Personally, I do enough songs and enough in the original key that it doesn't bother me that much anymore that people can't play my disk. But I love it when they can. Last night I burned a special disk for a show. I handed it to the host and said "Just do 1, 2, 3, etc.". She loved it. I can even burn the key change on, so that doesn't have to be coordinated.

I really do hate it when they won't play my disk *and* they have only crappy material. That is, unfortunately, the situation at the show I go to most. But they have 1) an early start, 2) great food, and 3) our friends at that show. So I go anyway. If there was any viable competition, I would go elsewhere. But 7pm shows with nice people and good food are hard to find.

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[color=#ffff55]Mickey J.[/color]
Alas for those who never sing, but die with all their music in them.
-- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

BFFL - You make your own "custom" karaoke tracks and complain that a KJ can't play them ? I assume that those would have to be on a BURNT CDR disc. I don't even know if that is legal to make your own for public performances ????
Not sure but you are probably like many other singers who carry their collection on BURNT copies as to protect the originals. Why should a KJ play anyones copied cdg ? How would the KJ know it's a LEGAL copy and not some pirated compilation that is not legal ??????

I applaud the digital KJ's who have the shows that require the additional set up of a CDG player and AB swicthes. If I had a show like that it would be no problem to hook up every week. .....But I don't and haven't had a problem because of it. At my previous gig I did have a regular allow me to download one of his compilations of favorites that he use to sing. Once I left that gig I deleted the folder ( I already had the songs anyway in differant versions)

It's just the changing times ....GET USE TO IT and stop complaining ....
What your KJ doesn't offer to play your CASSETTE TAPES / VCD'S / LPS' AND 8 TRACKS?????

Babs --you have a customer that leaves ORIGINALS WITH YOU ?

If you had their permission why wouldn't you rip them to your system under a seperate folder to make your life easier ??? If you had the permission and they have the original for proof...there should be no LEGAL PROBLEM ????

"Why should a KJ play anyones copied cdg ? How would the KJ know it's a LEGAL copy and not some pirated compilation that is not legal ?????? "

Oh, I don't know.....to satisfy and KEEP a good customer maybe???? A KJ who CANNOT or WILL NOT play a customer's disc is just being too cheap to buy a player and an A/B switch, IMHO. I doubt it very much that someone with more than 100,000 songs on their laptop is worried about my home made tracks being legal. LOL :lol: :lol: Most of these "six figure" KJ's have spent little or no money on their song libraries and they work for "peanuts". It's no wonder that they won't spring for an extra piece of equipment to make their shows better for their singing customers.

If I purchase a backing track from i-tunes and combine it with a home made cdg file for my own personal use at a karaoke show, I don't see who I'm hurting and I don't know who would accuse me of breaking any karaoke laws. It's not a copied Sound Choice disc so Sound Choice would have no legal standing to file a law suit against someone using a home made disc. Who would want to file a law suit against some guy who made a custom made karaoke track??? It's not like I'm making them and trying to sell them to anyone.

I used to have a cassette player at my show since karaoke kind of started out with cassettes. Hooked into my Pioneer laserkaraoke player (aux input) gave it key change ability as well. I just took it out of the rack probably 3 or 4 years ago as it hadn't been touched since around 99. If there were any tape users left, i'd probably still have it.

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I have customers who have given me their originals to add to the book since they go no where else, never had anyone pull their donation back. Others will sell them to me CHEAP ($5 usually for a SC or CB) after they have their fill of the song they wanted and move on to new.

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BBFL

You make a lot of assumptions about KJ's. Just because a KJ doesn't want to play your burnt cdg doesn't mean they're are CHEAP or don't care about keeping a good customer . Nor are all KJ's using a hardrive Illegal or pirates or not keeping up with current titles. If you've taken the time to read the many topics on this subject there are very good points from both sides on playing customer cdgs. And as always it's your personal choice whether you return to a show or not. But as your finding out ...... you have more reasons then anyone I've every seen for NOT liking a show. Being a KJ for most is a business - extra cost and extra set up time goes in the equation. If there are many customers bringing their cdg's with titles the KJ doesn't have .... Then he KJ should either 1) Hook up a player or 2) add those titles to their library....but that if its a big issue. Just because 1 singer wants to play some homemade cdg ... isn't reason IMHO to hook up a player. What you SHOULD do is besides bringing your homemade cdgs in you should bring A PLAYER with you ..What are you cheap ?

I have a portable DVD player which is maybe slightly larger than a cd jewel case & about an inch and a half tall that will play cdg's, but how many hosts would actually even go to that trouble if someone actually brought it in - none I would imagine? I hate to agree but I think all kj's should at least have a means to play a cdg at their show.

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We've recently experienced the "loss"... again... of one "know-it-all" poster.

I find it even more irritating when a "know-it-all" poster has never walked in my shoes.

When I began my business I carried a deck with me that plays CDG, DVD, VCD and MP3 along with my Lappy. I also purchased for my lappy an inexpensive ($39) program that plays CDG's, just in case I decided that for a particular event I would not take the deck.

Since that time, I have become aware of a freeware program - Karafun, which I imagine can be purchased very inexpensively by professionals. I have been to shows where it is in use. I don't imagine it can cost too much. And if a show you attend has a pirated library I don't think the kJ would be too concerned about installing a freeware program WITHOUT paying for it.

My point ---- so much for the comment that KJ's who won't play your disc, BFFL, are cheap.

I agree ..If I was like you at the same place and knew my crowd NO problem.
I use to have a crowd that brought discs in and I set up a player every week for them. Then the manager of the place sort of ran the entire karaoke crowd out and I took the player out of my system and haven't had the need to put it back in. DON'T GET ME WRONG - I would set it up in a heart beat if I knew I had a weekly need for it ...but without that need ?....I'm doing fine with out it I've PURCHASED customer requests if I did not have the song and even ( shhhhh) downloaded from their drives to keep for them. Nothing wrong with having one ( a cdg player) and I'm not preaching KJ SHOULDN'T have one. I just don't believe a DIGITAL KJ should have to have one or be considered CHEAP.

Yep I get both orginal and burnt discs from people. More Chartbuster than anything else. I just never have considered ripping anyone's discs. Honestly it never crossed my mind because it's their music. Some nights I don't get anyone wanting a disc played other nights I can have up to 5.

My equipment stays at the bar, so I don't have the extra effort of having to haul around the CDG player and hook it up. It's always there. It's just as easy to put a disc in as have it on my hard drive. I try to keep my books so I only have one version of a song unless it's done by different artists not to mention a lot of these discs in my opinion aren't the best quality. I'm satidfied with just playing their disc on the player.

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[shadow=pink][glow=deepskyblue]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
[updown]~*~ MONKEY BUSINESS KARAOKE~*~ [/shadow][/updown][/glow]

"It's just the changing times ....GET USE TO IT and stop complaining ....
What your KJ doesn't offer to play your CASSETTE TAPES / VCD'S / LPS' AND 8 TRACKS?????"

Last time I checked, the local karaoke store was no longer selling CASSETTE TAPES / VCD'S / LPS' / Laser Discs AND 8 TRACKS?????" for karaoke songs. They do still however sell quite a few CD+G discs which a customer should be able to take to his local karaoke show to sing from. While some on-line karaoke sellers are selling tracks in the digital format, most of them are still selling CD+G discs as well so it is not unreasonable for a singer to expect his local KJ to accomodate the singer's personal discs. While I'm sure that being "cheap" isn't the only reason someone might refuse to have a CDG player on hand; It is certainly the reason for some people. Some KJs want to please their clientele and some just don't care if you're a satisfied customer or not. I'll be going to a show tonight where I cannot sing from my own discs but Im going anyway and I'll certainly be able to find plenty of songs to sing in the KJ's HUMONGOUS collection of songs on her hard drive. However, I won't be able to sing a handful of songs that I just made for myself and a friend of mine that I think the audience would appreciate. I also won't be able to sing songs from my most recently purchased CD+G discs because the KJ doesn't have them yet. It doesn't stop me from going to the show but the experience will not be as good as it could have been. If there were another karaoke bar a block away that played CD+Gs, I'd probably go there instead.

[quote="jamkaraoke @ November 2nd 2009, 12:01 pm"]BBFL

You make a lot of assumptions about KJ's. Just because a KJ doesn't want to play your burnt cdg doesn't mean they're are CHEAP or don't care about keeping a good customer . Nor are all KJ's using a hardrive Illegal or pirates or not keeping up with current titles. If you've taken the time to read the many topics on this subject there are very good points from both sides on playing customer cdgs. And as always it's your personal choice whether you return to a show or not. But as your finding out ...... you have more reasons then anyone I've every seen for NOT liking a show. Being a KJ for most is a business - extra cost and extra set up time goes in the equation. If there are many customers bringing their cdg's with titles the KJ doesn't have .... Then he KJ should either 1) Hook up a player or 2) add those titles to their library....but that if its a big issue. Just because 1 singer wants to play some homemade cdg ... isn't reason IMHO to hook up a player. What you SHOULD do is besides bringing your homemade cdgs in you should bring A PLAYER with you ..What are you cheap ?[/quote]

I'd be more than happy to bring my tiny DVD player to play my discs but most karaoke hosts that are using computers don't want to deal with hooking up more connections to their mixer for one reason or another. Heck! I'd even bring my netbook computer if they'd allow me to hook it up to their mixer. I'm just not putting my "make shift" tracks on their hard drive for them to keep.

I never said that all KJ's that run from a PC are pirates. I do have my doubts though about the KJs that advertise those six figure song libraries. One hundred thousand songs would cost at least $100,000, even if you could get them for a buck apiece. I keep seeing new KJs pop up everywhere that never had a show before and they have over 100,000 songs but hardly any NEW SONGS. It is quite suspicious to me that someone who would buy 100,000 songs would suddenly stop buying any new music. It's just a scenario that sends up a big red flag in my opinion.....and that flag may just be displaying the Jolly Roger.

Most of the shows that I go to, that are run from a laptop, are run by people who admit to purchasing all of their music on a pre loaded hard drive. they are quick to brag about the great bargain they got from either e-bay or craig's list. The local karaoke store runs multiple shows with their CAVS machines with plenty of Sound Choice tracks loaded in them. A friend of mine recently purchased a half dozen new discs from the local karaoke store and 5 out of the 6 discs were burnt discs with paper labels. Even the karaoke stores are selling burnt copies of discs to an unsuspecting public. The owner of the store buys stock from the karaoke manufacturer, opens up a new disc, loads it into his CAVS machines and then re seals the disc in plastic to sell as new ....after making enough copies of it to sell to the public.......and I'm supposed to be worried about bringing my home made discs to one of his shows because they might not be strictly legal????? LOL

FYI, BFFL, while DVD's are becoming more popular, VCD's are still available and are the main format, I believe, in Asia! BTW, I just purchased A VCD last month and don't mind playing my own DVD's or VCD's at my show!

In light of the fact that software is available that handle DVD's and also software that handles VCD's, as well as software that handles CDG's, perhaps there are reasons that you don't understand or that you can't relate to as to why a KJ may try to avoid playing customer's discs.

While I have no reluctance to playing my own DVD's or VCD's, I try to avoid playing customer discs, However, if I know a singer and am familiar with their discs I will be more inclined to play them, but I'll often ask them if the track they want is in my library?

Here are the reasons for my preference to avoid discs.

1. when I DO play one of my DVD's or VCD's it is because I do not have a CDG version of the track OR the CDG version I have is lacking in quality compared to the other formats I own!
2. RARELY, do people who bring their own discs bother to see if I have the specific track they desire. Working with discs CHANGES the "pattern of events", and I can be ANAL in regard to that pattern. So, I prefer to avoid using discs, even my own.
3. If nothing else, as an example of what I refer to as the "pattern of events", most singers "hang around" for the return of their disc while I am trying to focus on getting the next singer up and started. While some singers are courteous enough to sit down and wait for me to motion to them to return to the stage for their discs, some stand their with their hand out until the disc is retrieved and returned! How annoying!
4. In one particular instance, a fellow who always uses his own disc presented a disc to me that was defective. It's notable that he had been using that very disc everywhere he sang for months and had previously used it at my show!. As quickly as I realized that the disc was NOW a problem, I queued up the very same version on the computer (which I knew was in my library). Furthermore, I fast forwarded the computer version to the spot where he was singing and got it going, without hardly missing a beat!
5. When I play a disc, that event does not show up in the history maintained by my hosting software. And just last week I was curious about what a particular singer had sung at my show. Only after I looked at the history and he wasn't there did I remember he had used his own discs all night! And referring to his request slips, which I also keep, reminded me all that he wrote on his slips were his name along with the disc and track number he wanted me to play - no song titles
6. Tracks that play perfectly on one piece of equipment often don't play on different equipment. I have learned from using my equipment at home that burned tracks sometimes won't play on EVERY one of the 4-5 different devices I can play karaoke on!
7. And considering that you, BFFL, are actually creating your own tracks, I would be even more hesitant to play your discs!

Why? To protect my show.
a. It would behoove me to be extremely and consistently skeptical of the quality of TRACKS that are homemade.
b. I know, by definition, that you didn't pay for the syncopation rights to convert a backing track into a CDG

I am sure that there are other reasons for my avoiding customer discs and I would guess that others on the forum could probably offer considerations that I have not consciously thought of for avoiding customer discs!

This is beating the expired equine for certain. It's a simple thing - either a host plays someone else's discs or they don't. They either have the song for the singer or the singer gets bummed, finds something else, and debates whether to return (I know a lot of singers who have the most obscure music - not anything that anyone I know would have in their library - they're great singers, they drive a long way to come to my show - I hate to think that every slip they brought up would be met by a "Nope, sorry, don't have it," kind of response).

I have found that absolute rigidity is not a good trait in a host - don't get on my stage before I ask you, don't touch the mic/tap on the mic/turn the switch on the mic, don't mess up on your slip, don't bring me more than one song or you won't sing, etc., etc. Unless you have a similarly AR crowd, the fun drains out of the night quickly. Who wants to be treated like a kindergartener? (NOT all show attendees are drunks, there are some of us who maintain our sobriety and good judgment and don't need to be reprimanded for anything.)

If a person spends hours and hours learning songs that no one else sings (a WELCOME RELIEF for a host who has to listen to the Rose and Wanted Dead or Alive 6000 times a year), buys the music themselves, and provides a wide array of very appealing music for the crowd, far be it from me to deny them the joy of singing. My choice, certainly, to do it. I prefer to cater to the most people possible. If the response to that is that I should buy their tracks, I am not going to go backwards in music purchases and buy OLD music; nor am I going to buy music that no one else will sing. Just makes economic sense to me to play singers discs for them and one of the main reasons I chose MTU Hoster as my software.

Can we stop talking about this now? There are a lot of other subjects that have never or rarely been brought up.

I play customers' CDGs at almost every show, it's very common here. I gladly accept a customer's CDG, even when I know I have the exact same song.
Most of these are manufacturers' custom discs or store-bought CDGs. When a customer has a burned CDG, I warn them it may not play cleanly, but let's have a go at it. They usually do work.
Also, if a customer presents a CDG with no song title on the slip, I ask for the song name just to be safe -- certain songs may not be allowed at my venue.


(I'm not understanding some of the hostility on this thread, from either side of the issue.)

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO WE CANT!!! I havent had MY CHANCE to WHINE YET!!!!!!

If they cant play my discs, then Ill be disappointed and bummed out, but will sing something to be polite but will NEVER BE BACK TO THIER SHOW.

PERIOD.

I like to sing the songs I LIKE TO SING...............NOT THOSE THAT IM FORCED TO SING AS A SUBSTITUTE.

CARRY A FREAKIN' CDG OR DVD PLAYER FOR CRYIN' OUT LOUD. How hard can it be----a power plug and a 3 signal wires...............maybe an RF MOD and TV wire in EXTREME CASES!!!!!!

NOW YOU CAN CLOSE THE THREAD AND MOVE ON!!!

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"You know that I sing the Blues and I do not suffer fools. When I'm on that silver mic, it's gonna cut ya, just like a knife"-The SWINGCAT