Karaoke Forums

Saw an article and had to post it for those who are still disc based and could be for those that shift also.

http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/advisor/ ... 14650.html


When it was announced that disc would no longer be made I'm guessing that the drive people saw the light too.

and for Joe and others the site is OK so you can click on the link.
(I'm not picking on you Joe but you said that you do not click on links)

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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

Yup!

I think Disc based KJ's are already a thing of the past. The only disc based KJ's that I know of are people that have been hosting for 10+ years.

How many new KJ's that have started up in the past 5 years are running their shows from disc? My guess is that it is close to zero. New KJ's are not slinging discs. They are computer based.

That is not to say that disc based KJ's are going to disappear overnight. Many existing disc based KJ's could very well continue to run from disc for the next 5, 10, 20 years.

The issue will eventually be that no more content gets released on disc and they will have to hybridize to play disc and computer files. I still think that 4-5 years from now, very few karaoke companies will be releasing new content on CD+G.

-Chris

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-Chris

This is exactly the point I was trying to make. Just what is SC going to do then as they will not come into the 21st century and allow downloads?
But I won't worry about it as I foresee them flopping before that time.

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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

Or they will continue to do what I am doing.... Buy the download. Convert the file to a BIN File. Burn BIN File to Disc. Use disc in library just like the other discs purchased.

In that case, PM me your shipping address because I have 1000 CDR's to send you.

-Chris

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-Chris

NOT in hawaii. MOST KJS ARE disc-based, even the newer kjs that bought collections of discs and still run them today. They also download and shift to bin files, as Cue does.

I passed this info on to Kurt Slep (SC) at the Mobile Beat Show in vegas in february and said "come check it out, but you won't need your legal team because there's no one to sue!" (He laughed btw).

The only kjs that i know of besides myself are in lahaina and they just got finishing ripping their discs into a cavs system last year.

Surprisingly, most people don't even know that karaoke came to hawaii long before it ever became mainstream in the mainland. Most kjs here still use pioneer laserdiscs!

Concerning the article, as mentioned in the comments, who buys a laptop for weight nowadays? And what about backups in case of connection failure or cloud fuc%ups?

I've seen a few new laptops without optical drives but to suggest that they're gonna disappear anytime soon (3-5 years) sounds silly.

You can also do that with SCDG's, convert them back to discs format and avoid having to use the CAVS player. That's over 10,000 tracks right there.

I am still seeing plenty of disk-based hosts. I like it because I can bring my own versions in and be sure I'm not going to get some crap StarDisc or Music Maestro version of a song that should sound good....

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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.

The reason most newer KJs are not playing discs is because they never owned one to begin with. Most of the newer entries into the karaoke business have purchased a laptop and a hard drive from someone who did the same thing from someone else. No one seems to be happy even paying $500 for their hard drive. They immediately turn around and make a copy of their new hard drive and sell it to someone else to get back their initial investment. Then they realize how easy it was to do it so they start doing it over and over again....hence the proliferation of the $75 a night KJs.

Bruce brings up a point I have wondered about--people keep saying that disc hosts are only a small percentage of hosts but I wonder what percentage of non-pirate hosts we are--probably a bigger percentage of "legitimate" karaoke hosts than one might think?

Also we are probably not representative of the statistics but we started just 3 to 4 years ago as disc hosts and still play Pioneer lasers. It wasn't that we couldn't run a computer but because the legalities hadn't caught up with the technology and we wanted to wait for the dust to settle before switching over.

That's what people said about floppy drives too.

But you can still buy a floppy drive and install it in a newer machine if you want to and you can still buy a USB floppy drive.

I know someone who still uses a floppy discs to store photos from her digital camera that uses floppy discs. Could she buy a newer digital camera? I'm sure she could but the one she has still works well for what she uses it for so she asked me to install a floppy drive in her desktop PC that didn't come with one. I removed her floppy drive from her dead PC and installed it in her new one and it has been working for years now.

I also have plenty of old vinyl records. LPs and 45s. I haven't played them in years but maybe my grand children will sell them to an audiophile someday. Obsolete? Probably but some people still prefer them over CDs.

A '32 ford would also be considered obsolete by some people but not by a classic car collector.

Bingo. The more KJs go PC in my area, the customers I get Keep up the good work, I say!

Not only the above - and SC and sound issues aside, it's just plain less time consuming, and any technical issues that can arise playing discs are very quickly and very cheaply taken care of.

I don't worry about PC modifications ( sound/video cards, drives, etc...), I don't have to worry about software ( glitches, upgrades, incompatibility, etc...), and I don't have to worry about time spent ripping.

I can use ALL of that time for the promotion of my business.

Of course, I also like the tactile part of handling discs.

Are Disc based hosts a thing of the past? Not yet, but eventually, I'm sure.

I'll probably be the last one....

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"No Contests, No Divas, Just A Good Time!"

" Disc based and loving it..."

Funny you should mention this, because records (vinyl) don't seem to be obsolete.

I just read an article by Jim Sollisch in The Record ( NJ's largest newspaper. I think it can be found at northjersey.com / easy living?)

Besides mentioning an Indie singer who just released his first full length album on vinyl, he also mentions that, while CDs have slipped quite a bit, vinyl record sales have actually increased by about 16% this year.

The explaination includes the cover art, the tactile, and in HIS WORDS, not mine:

" ..You'll hear the music the way it was supposed to sound: warm and rich and breathing- not as if you were in a sterile studio, surrounded by a thousand tiny speakers, but as if you were right there in the room with the band."

To repeat: These are NOT my words, but those of the author of the article- though of course I agree.

He also mentions that advertising hot-shots may be carrying tablets, but most are still carrying sketchbooks too.

E-book sales are rising, but according to the Nielson report, print books are aren't suffering.

Things change, as they should. I've just always believed that I should wait until a change is better for ME before implementing it.

Opinions vary...

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"No Contests, No Divas, Just A Good Time!"

" Disc based and loving it..."

[quote="leopard lizard"]Bruce brings up a point I have wondered about--people keep saying that disc hosts are only a small percentage of hosts but I wonder what percentage of non-pirate hosts we are--probably a bigger percentage of "legitimate" karaoke hosts than one might think?

Also we are probably not representative of the statistics but we started just 3 to 4 years ago as disc hosts and still play Pioneer lasers. It wasn't that we couldn't run a computer but because the legalities hadn't caught up with the technology and we wanted to wait for the dust to sett


It would be very hard to get actual figures as to the number of disc based hosts v.s. PC, I would imagine it would fall under length of time in the business, older more established hosts would still be disc based. Younger newer hosts would tend to be computer based.

The chap who runs the karaoke show I frequent the most is part Kwizoke, part disc and part computer, so has the convenience of the PC and Kwizoke for his most popular tracks while still having a drive to play his older discs and singers' custom discs. Another KJ whose gig I attend on occasion is 100% disc based, as is another not too far away, so disc based karaoke definitely isn't dead in my area. Apparantly everyone in my town who runs a computer-only karaoke show is a pirate!

Well......if I am wrong in 3-5 years, I will be happy to admit it. Just have to wait and see.

until then....I found a kick (@$%&#!) deal for all of you dinosaurs out there.

8-Track, Cassette, and Karaoke all in one unit. Should get plenty of use out of this!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Amsen-B ... 3a80bec082



-Chris

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-Chris

I think the tapes just goes to show that not every new technology is necessarily an improvement. I can still play my vinyl but most of my cassette tapes are twisted or broken. The latest thing isn't always the greatest thing.

Darn thing didn’t sell. I missed it by minutes! NOT!

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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!