Karaoke Hardware and Software Wanted

[Fred_Mertz]

Copy mode, Wiseguy, is much faster as you stated. However, in that mode, there's no way to enter/edit song names unless you know a way. Without song names, there's no point in printing a jewel-case label, for the song names remain a mystery. Perhaps is some cases, the CD to be copied has imbedded song names but nearly all of mine do not.

[wiseguy]

Haven't you noticed the automatic song naming feature? If the computer Power CD+G Burner is installed on is connected to the internet it will connect to an online karaoke disc database and fill in the title and artist of the songs. You need to go to Settings and check the box beside "Use FreeDB to search for the track names on the internet".

Furthermore, in copy mode when the song tracks appear after inserting a disc, you can name each track even though there is no Rename button. Simply left click on a track to highlight it and then left click on it one more time and you can type in the song name.

[Fred_Mertz]

The "Use FreeDB to search for the track names on the Internet" is checked, but I haven't noticed any attempt to fill in the song names automatically. My source CDs might not have the right stuff. However, the left-click, left-click technique worked like a bomb. Thanks again...

I'm going to finish making copies of all my functional CDs and then begin trying to burn those tracks residing on my SSD that won't burn now but will play on the Power CD+G Player Pro and KaraFun. Stay tuned.

[wiseguy]

They would have to be the original discs in order for the disc ID information be included. Also, you need to make sure that the program has internet access and not being blocked by a firewall.

[Fred_Mertz]

OK, Wiseguy, I installed Audacity for Windows 10 on my computer and watched and listed to a tutorial on YouTube for that software. Audacity seems to be a fairly sophisticated program, but it appears I only need to use a small part of it. My guess is I only need to:

Import an MP3 file with the wrong audio sampling rate from the track pair of a given song.

Resample the MP3 file at 44100 Hz.

Export the resampled MP3 file to a new folder.

Copy the .cdg file paired with the original MP3 file to the new folder.

At that point I should have a pair that can be burned to a blank CD. After that, I need to repeat that procedure for all the tracks for a CD I want to restore.

How say you, Wiseguy?

PS
More Trouble

I just discovered that the file on my computer for CD 9 of my set uses the .wav format for its audio files. Those files play OK on KaraFun, but I haven't tried them on Power CD+G Player Pro. Can those .wav files be converted to MP3 files, or should I just resample the .wav files?

[wiseguy]

The instructions are basically correct except that I would not export the corrected mp3 file to a new folder as that just creates unnecessary steps. If you simply overwrite the original with the corrected file there is no need to copy anything to a new folder. You can import the wav files into audacity, set the sampling rate, and export them as mp3. They should work fine. I have created a short step by step tutorial for you. Since you have already installed Audacity you will need to install just one more thing which is an mp3 encoder that Audacity needs to process mp3 files. CLICK HERE to view the tutorial.

[Fred_Mertz]

Thanks for the tutorial, Wiseguy. I'll put it to use at my earliest convenience.

[Fred_Mertz]

Say what, Wiseguy? You stated I must download and install the Lame MP3 Encoder. Well, that program only comes in source code that apparently needs to be compiled to make it useful. Compiling sounds OK, but where do I find a compiler for that source code.

Assuming I compile the source code somehow and install it on my computer, is Audacity smart enough to find and run the compiled software at the proper time, or do I need to enter the proper path? I seem to be missing parts of the puzzle.

[wiseguy]

The tutorial gives you a direct link to the Lame for Audacity installer. The file name is Lame_v3.99.3_for_Windows.exe. All you have to do is download and run that file and it will install the encoder and Audacity will then work with mp3 files.

[Fred_Mertz]

Oh! I printed the tutorial and never noticed it contained links, possibly because I had already downloaded and installed Audacity several messages ago and wasn't expecting a link. Your tutorial is foolproof but not student proof.

Anyway, I downloaded and installed the Lame software using the provided link, and it's somewhere on my computer I guess. I hope Audacity can find the Lame software when it's needed. Thanks again for the guidance.

[Fred_Mertz]

Yes, Wiseguy, CD1 is back from the dead! It lives!! OK, it's true I've only completely checked three songs out of ten, but I have checked about 30 seconds of each of the remaining seven songs, and all were OK -- audio and graphics.

However, I think I need a graceful exit strategy from your tutorial after the last audio file is resampled. I mucked about and apparently exited Audacity satisfactorily, but a few of your wise words would be nice.

[wiseguy]

It sounds like you're on your way to retrieving all your presumedly lost songs. Were you able to correct the WAV+G songs as well? I'm not sure what you mean by "exit strategy" from the tutorial or buy "exited Audacity satisfactorily" for that matter.

[Fred_Mertz]

On my way, maybe so, but as a famous Yogi often said, "It ain't over till it's over", and it ain't over. No, I haven't attempted the .wav audio files yet; I've only done files of one lost CD, which were all .mp3 audio files. As Scarlett often said, "I'll think about that tomorrow."

Re: "The song is ready to be added to the Power CD+G Burner burn list. Now click on File and then on Close. When it asks if your want to save the project, click on No. You are ready to go back to step one and process the next .mp3." That instruction works fine when there is another audio file to be resampled. However, what does the student do if there are no more audio files to be sampled? In gymnastic terms, what does the student do for a dismount?

[wiseguy]

Just close the program with the little X in the top right corner.

[Fred_Mertz]

Trouble in paradise, Wiseguy. Re: Step Three when processing .wav files, as soon as MP3 is selected, the list of .wav files disappears, and the File Name changes to a .mp3 file. The rest of the settings (e.g., Bit Rate Mode) remain as specified in your tutorial. What to do, what to do? Seemingly, the software should keep the list and the selected file should remain a .wav file, which would mean to me a .wav file is being converted to a .mp3 file.

Regarding the exit procedure when finished processing, clicking on the X doesn't get the job done. There is a popup window requiring a choice of save or don't save I seem to recall. Anyway, we'll deal with that issue later.

If all that weren't bad enough, I seem to hear some light noise in the background of the sound of most of the resampled .mp3 tracks I did yesterday. So, it may be the resampling isn't a perfect solution to the sampling-rate problem. However, that light background noise might be attenuated by typical settings of the average karaoke machine or simply not noticed, especially because the singer's voice is usually the primary sound and is often the only thing providing the melody of the song.