Hey guys, I partnered up my DJ company with a guy that does Karaoke. He has tons of CD's and I want to go digital like I have my DJ equipment. What would you guys recommend for a player that will do both Karaoke and regular music. I use Virtual DJ now and love it. Also what would you recommend for conversion software. I would like to keep the total under $300-$400.
As for software for playback there are several options:
VDJ: you already have can do a rudementary at best job of running a karaoke show but leaves a lot of the show management to you the KJ.
Winamp + Plugin's such as AutOKdj (Free), Sax & Dottie's ShowPresenter ($60-80) and Roxbox ($70-90).
Swift Eliete (sp?) from Tricerasoft ($60-90)
PCDJ KJPro (AKA Karma) ($99)- This what I'm currently using.... you can load both your karaoke library and DJ library.... it really is a dedicated Karaoke hoster but you can play your DJ music too... just don't expect it to be good at the DJ part. VDJ it is not, but is very good at running a karaoke show with music filler.
I'll be honest with you. When it comes to running a karaoke show off your computer the best thing you can do is use a program dedicated to karaoke... none of the major names in DJ software (ie VDJ, OTSAV... etc.) are very good at karaoke show management. Don't get me wrong they are all great DJ programs but then DJ'n is what they were designed for in the first place.
As for ripping there are free ripper's like Audiograbber. But, I've found so far that Power CDG Burner from
www.powerkaraoke.com to be hands down the best at it. Fewer graphical glitches in the ripped files.... I still use Audiograbber for those occational discs that just seem to want to be a PITA.... (namely Chartbuster and Sound Choice) but, those are becoming fewer and fewer.... Not much can't be ripped by Power CDG Burner.... and it's only $39.00.... best $39 I spent on software for converting CDG discs. Best of all it works on almost any CD-Rom drive... even ones that don't indicate the capability to read karaoke discs.
Hope this helps.... if you need any tips on ripping your files let me know.