Windows no longer the only game in town for Karaoke Hosts

[DanG2006]

I have almost left Windows behind. While there still are things you can't do Karaoke wise reliably on any operating system other than Windows, Hosting software is no longer the case. I just started using OpenKJ on a laptop that is running Ubuntu Studio on it and it runs great. OpenKJ does almost everything that the previous softwares that I had been using on Windows. It has a filler player, the ability to import songs into the database using MP3 Tags so naming convention is no longer an issue except for a couple of download brands, it has the ability to accept online requests and the request reception window pops up when a new request comes in so you don't have to keep opening the window or place it to the side of the player. The thing that I like about it is that it's available for Mac, Windows and Linux and it's freeware. The creator is very responsive on adding features and fixing bugs. I have had a couple of issues, not during a show but he has fixed those issues inside of 24 hours of learning about them. He treats everyone who is using his software like family. Has great customer service. He won't treat you like a certain Karaoke software programmer treats his customers, as if his software has no flaws or takes complete credit for adding features that were suggestions from customers and acting like the ideas just came to him in a dream. The creator of OpenKJ is the complete opposite of that. To him, everyone matters.

[mr.dj]

I have never used Ubunto myself so not familiar with it. What advantages do you find using this over Windows ?

I have tried the OpenKJ software and it is being updated on a weekly basis, seems promising.

[DanG2006]

One of the advantages is that if I don't send files to Windows based computers and I don't intend on sending anything to any other computer, I really have very little to worry about buying and downloading on the fly or receiving song requests from online. While there are viruses that may target Linux based on systems, most viruses are targeting Windows computers. I have seen Windows based computers get infected but to be honest, Ubuntu has been around for a while and I have yet to hear anything about a computer running it get infected.

[DanG2006]

The person who is behind OpenKJ is by far the best customer service person besides Frank Crowder who is the creator of RoxBox. I would say that Bryan from MTU is just as good. Compuhost's support has somewhat slacked off, they used to be pretty good but to put the blame of videos not working right on the make of the video card"s chip when none of their competition has any of the problems that were present in Compuhost when I decided to change softwares is poor support. Whether or not they ever fixed the issue, I will never know because I lost my last registration for the software when my laptop decided to take a tumble off of the table that it was on and totally destroyed the hard drive. Personally I really don't care because it pushed me to finding the software that I have been searching for since I discovered Linux. The program has a songbook generator but it's pretty basic right now, one column and it's saved into a PDF file but he intends to add multiple column support in the future.

[DanG2006]

He has a zip tools program in the works that converts non-conventional zips into regular zip files and allows you to adjust the gain on the MP3 without having to unzip the songs.

[wiseguy]

What are "non-conventional zips" and by "adjust the gain" do you mean to normalize the volume?

[DanG2006]

There are zip programs that don't zip Karaoke files into files that some Karaoke programs don't like, I have never run into them myself but I have run into a program that a lot of people swear by that when it rezips the songs it leaves out the MP3. I won't touch that program with a ten foot pole but it's not the program's fault. With the exception of faulty zips Karaoke File Manager does a good job of renaming files. The fault that keeps me from purchasing the program is the horrible customer service that he provides a lot of his customers. I know of several that disagreed with his arrogant attitude that it's the user that is the problem and all of his programs are perfect the way they are. As the gain issue. It is a frontend for MP3Gain.

[wiseguy]

I use Power CD+G Burner to rip songs directly to zip files and the ones I purchase online are already zipped. I simply rename the zip files to my naming convention and not worry about renaming the files inside as every hosting application I've ever tried reads the zip file name to create its database. Being able to normalize the volume of the mp3 files without unzipping the zips would be very useful.

[DanG2006]

Personally I think that the only thing in OpenKJ that doesn't work right yet is the importing into the database using the media tag feature. Everything else works as it should. One thing that I would like them to add is when the request que in the request reception box has been taken care of, the request window would close automatically bringing you back to the main window.

[DanG2006]

Okay, I decided that OpenKJ does not work the way that I really want, the actual only thing that I like about it is that if I have to skip someone who is either in the bathroom, smoking or a bartender that can't sing right away due to being busy serving everyone, I can do it without having to actually move any singers around in the rotation. The biggest gripe I have is that a five singer rotation window is too small on the interface. So I have gone back to Siglos Karaoke Professional for the time being.

[Paradigm Karaoke]

5 singer rotation window? what are you talking about? it shows 16 before adding a scroll bar.

[DanG2006]

Okay he changed it, now it shows 6 singers before the scroll. You must be referring to Siglos. I have no issues with Siglos.

[Paradigm Karaoke]

no., look at the picture i posted, i'm talking about openkj, it allows 16 before a scroll bar.
have you resized the window to your liking?

[DanG2006]

Yeah, unless he puts a 32 bit version of his latest release, I will never know. I have the latest 32 bit version and it only allows 6 singers in the rotation before scrolling. The interface is not scalable.

[mr.dj]

I think it's related to the screen resolution and the scale you set. I was only seeing 6 rows with 1366x768 display with 125% scale setting.
I changed those settings to 1920 X 1080 at 125% and get 11 rows.
Paradigm, what are your display settings ?