Okay, this software is not for windows 7 or vista unless you're running virtual PC in XP mode.
In Win '98 OR XP it works fine, and it's free and FAST...
It creates 2 RTF (rich text format) files, 1 by title and 1 by artist. It scans your drive and makes the book files from your filenames and it can make these files for 10,000 tracks in about 2 minutes. To see the 2 column format, open the files with MSWord or almost any wordprocessor (not wordpad because it won't show the 2 columns).
(and yes, I wrote it so I know it works)
Plus, it's free.... (the best part)
Here's the link to download the installation file.
http://dkusa.com/FreeBookLink/FreeBook.exe
FREE MP3+G Songbook Creator Software
I've seen 3 columns and the print was as big as the 2 column print.wiseguy wrote:I will always go with two columns no matter how many songs I have to list. With three columns you either have to use very small font or you're going to end up with a jumbled mess. I've seen this numerous times from KJs trying to cut down on songbook pages.
3 columns would keep my book in a 2 1/2 inch binder.
I won't waste the time or money to print another 2 column book.
I pride myself on having very easy to read songbooks. I use black ink on white paper, bold type, arial size 10 font, and two columns. With this I still have many song titles (and a few artists) that need two lines. If I were to go with three columns some of these would need three or four lines for a single song title. This is not acceptable to me.
I gave up on worrying about binder size a long time ago.
I gave up on worrying about binder size a long time ago.
Hi guys,
I'm intrigued by what you mean by two or three columns?
My books have lists sorted by artist AND song in the following manner.
Pick the book up and leaf through it as usual and you have songs listed by song title.
Flip the book over and leaf through and it's sorted by artist.
Basically, only the right hand page is in use at any given time. The left hand page is upside down.
However, whichever way it's being read, I have what I call a three column layout, as follows.
One way is;
SONG______________ARTIST__________DISC ID
Flip the book over and it's
ARTIST____________SONG____________DISC ID
How do yours show on the pages?
Sandy
I'm intrigued by what you mean by two or three columns?
My books have lists sorted by artist AND song in the following manner.
Pick the book up and leaf through it as usual and you have songs listed by song title.
Flip the book over and leaf through and it's sorted by artist.
Basically, only the right hand page is in use at any given time. The left hand page is upside down.
However, whichever way it's being read, I have what I call a three column layout, as follows.
One way is;
SONG______________ARTIST__________DISC ID
Flip the book over and it's
ARTIST____________SONG____________DISC ID
How do yours show on the pages?
Sandy
http://www.latshawsystems.com/downloads ... Artist.pdf
This will cut down the size of my song book by at least 50 pages. Allowing me to keep a 2 1/2 inch thick book....which is plenty big enough for people to read and for me to carry around. It will also keep the cost of the books lower. The bigger the binder the more it costs and the heavier it is.
I use the Artist first method. I have a one book by songs first. I don't print my books 25 different ways to make it look like I have a lot of songs.
This will cut down the size of my song book by at least 50 pages. Allowing me to keep a 2 1/2 inch thick book....which is plenty big enough for people to read and for me to carry around. It will also keep the cost of the books lower. The bigger the binder the more it costs and the heavier it is.
I use the Artist first method. I have a one book by songs first. I don't print my books 25 different ways to make it look like I have a lot of songs.
Haven't heard of that problem, although one of the 2 program files is 32 bit and the other is 16... others have run it just fine.wiseguy wrote:I installed the FreeBook software and while trying to use it I received the error message "The Win 16 Subsystem has insufficent resources to continue running. Click on OK, close your applications, and restart your machine.".
This in on my Windows XP Pro (32 bit) machine.
Here's a sample of the free program's output:
http://dkusa.com/images/SMPLTITLE.jpg
and the artist section:
http://dkusa.com/images/SMPLARTIST.jpg
http://dkusa.com/images/SMPLTITLE.jpg
and the artist section:
http://dkusa.com/images/SMPLARTIST.jpg
Tried two columns. O.K. but font a bit small.wiseguy wrote:What we're talking about is two or three columns of SONG______________ARTIST__________DISC ID on each page.
3 columns is virtually unreadable, unless each track uses 3 or 4 lines of text!
I'm using Latshaw's Song List Generator, by the way, as shown in Bigdog's earlier post.
Sandy
Hi guys.
I thought I'd better have a look at this software, as being a Scot, I have a reputation for being stingy to live down to.
Easy download and setup and it does do what it says.
So far Mr./Ms Staley, very good.
I DO like the option to reverse artist names and the manner the software then sorts the names out.
However, I do have a couple of issues with it.
1) while I appreciate the free software, I do not like the advertising aspect of it, trying to get users to migrate to "kiosk" use. If I was interested in using a "kiosk", I wouldn't be using a songbook, would I.
2) I do not like that the software places the generated files in the "C" root directory (folder). Why doesn't it simply put them in the songbook software folder, or better yet, create a songbook folder and put them there?
3)An option to place borders round the list entries, in like manner to Latshaw's Song List Creator or Excel to differentiate songs would be a good addition.
Your efforts are much appreciated, however.
Given your obvious software writing skills, might I suggest another project would be to write a Karaoke specific program to locate and isolate or kill duplicate files.
Please have a look at my post in this section on "finding duplicate files".
As you can see, I have very specific criteria I would like to see in a Karaoke dupe finder that are sadly, missing in all standard dupe finders.
Well done on this project.
Sandy
I thought I'd better have a look at this software, as being a Scot, I have a reputation for being stingy to live down to.
Easy download and setup and it does do what it says.
So far Mr./Ms Staley, very good.
I DO like the option to reverse artist names and the manner the software then sorts the names out.
However, I do have a couple of issues with it.
1) while I appreciate the free software, I do not like the advertising aspect of it, trying to get users to migrate to "kiosk" use. If I was interested in using a "kiosk", I wouldn't be using a songbook, would I.
2) I do not like that the software places the generated files in the "C" root directory (folder). Why doesn't it simply put them in the songbook software folder, or better yet, create a songbook folder and put them there?
3)An option to place borders round the list entries, in like manner to Latshaw's Song List Creator or Excel to differentiate songs would be a good addition.
Your efforts are much appreciated, however.
Given your obvious software writing skills, might I suggest another project would be to write a Karaoke specific program to locate and isolate or kill duplicate files.
Please have a look at my post in this section on "finding duplicate files".
As you can see, I have very specific criteria I would like to see in a Karaoke dupe finder that are sadly, missing in all standard dupe finders.
Well done on this project.
Sandy
Great! Finally, an expert!mnementh wrote:Hi guys.
I thought I'd better have a look at this software, as being a Scot, I have a reputation for being stingy to live down to.
Well, something had to pay for the development of "free".... Is the one click too much? (I know, I know, you Scots are not giving up any clicks either right?mnementh wrote:Easy download and setup and it does do what it says.
So far Mr./Ms Staley, very good.
I DO like the option to reverse artist names and the manner the software then sorts the names out.
However, I do have a couple of issues with it.
1) while I appreciate the free software, I do not like the advertising aspect of it, trying to get users to migrate to "kiosk" use. If I was interested in using a "kiosk", I wouldn't be using a songbook, would I.
I suppose, I'll add that in the next couple weeks when I get a chance.mnementh wrote:2) I do not like that the software places the generated files in the "C" root directory (folder). Why doesn't it simply put them in the songbook software folder, or better yet, create a songbook folder and put them there?
This was purposely left "plain vanilla" so that you can add those kinds of bells and whistles yourself. If you notice, each element is in a different typestyle; the artist name, song title and disk id. You can, using a program like MS Word do a global search and replace for format only and make the type face larger or style to a different font, change the number of columns from 2 to 3 or simply 1, etc. And you can add your own headers and footers.mnementh wrote:3)An option to place borders round the list entries, in like manner to Latshaw's Song List Creator or Excel to differentiate songs would be a good addition.
I will look at it... Thanks for the kind words!....mnementh wrote:Your efforts are much appreciated, however.
Given your obvious software writing skills, might I suggest another project would be to write a Karaoke specific program to locate and isolate or kill duplicate files.
Please have a look at my post in this section on "finding duplicate files".
As you can see, I have very specific criteria I would like to see in a Karaoke dupe finder that are sadly, missing in all standard dupe finders.
Well done on this project.
Sandy
Okay, here's the IMPROVED VERSION:
Modifications:
1. Added "REMOVE ALL DUPLICATES" function. This means that all the duplicates will be removed. Sorry, it doesn't give you a choice of brand, but it will work. Be advised: Because this function involves several "comparison tests" it is very time-intensive. It will take a few minutes to run so be patient. You'll see a counter as it goes up and at the end, you'll also see what the final count was in your book.
2. Added "DO NOT PRINT DISC ID" function. This means that the leader dots AND the disc ID will NOT appear in either the song title or artist section.
3. Changed FILE DESTINATIONS. All files will now be written to the same folder as the program and NOT to the root of drive C:
Please NOTE:
1) If you have already downloaded and installed this program, then you ONLY need the file below. You MUST place this file in the same folder as the files you have already installed. The default folder location is: C:/book
http://dkusa.com/FreeBookLink/Mp3gBook.exe
2) If you have NOT already downloaded and installed this program, then you can do so here:
http://dkusa.com/FreeBookLink/FreeBook.exe
As usual, give it a try and let me know how it works.... (be nice, remember it's still free.)
Modifications:
1. Added "REMOVE ALL DUPLICATES" function. This means that all the duplicates will be removed. Sorry, it doesn't give you a choice of brand, but it will work. Be advised: Because this function involves several "comparison tests" it is very time-intensive. It will take a few minutes to run so be patient. You'll see a counter as it goes up and at the end, you'll also see what the final count was in your book.
2. Added "DO NOT PRINT DISC ID" function. This means that the leader dots AND the disc ID will NOT appear in either the song title or artist section.
3. Changed FILE DESTINATIONS. All files will now be written to the same folder as the program and NOT to the root of drive C:
Please NOTE:
1) If you have already downloaded and installed this program, then you ONLY need the file below. You MUST place this file in the same folder as the files you have already installed. The default folder location is: C:/book
http://dkusa.com/FreeBookLink/Mp3gBook.exe
2) If you have NOT already downloaded and installed this program, then you can do so here:
http://dkusa.com/FreeBookLink/FreeBook.exe
As usual, give it a try and let me know how it works.... (be nice, remember it's still free.)
