E-Readers instead of Song Books

[welby]

KJocks know it's a pain to keep on top of printing song books.

And with the advent of a surplus of cheap e-readers available these days, I was wondering if anyone had actually done this and used them instead of the classic printed book.

Kind of makes sense but has obvious things to consider such as robustness, theft etc.

Comments anyone?

[Vectis]

Surely makes more sense given that 50+% of people now have a smartphone to set up a dedicated web server and open wifi hotspot with the event name as the SSID and let folks browse directly? Then you have an advertising opportunity as well as a songbook, and could even go on to develop virtual karaoke slips if you were so inclined!

There's plenty of wifi DSL routers out there which have a small amount of onboard storage and a web server on board ... the Fritz! box models spring to mind.

Or if you're technically minded you could run this from a laptop - doesn't need to be particularly high spec.

Gotta be cheaper and less chance of theft!

[welby]

Surely makes more sense given that 50+% of people now have a smartphone to set up a dedicated web server and open wifi hotspot with the event name as the SSID and let folks browse directly? Then you have an advertising opportunity as well as a songbook, and could even go on to develop virtual karaoke slips if you were so inclined!

There's plenty of wifi DSL routers out there which have a small amount of onboard storage and a web server on board ... the Fritz! box models spring to mind.

Or if you're technically minded you could run this from a laptop - doesn't need to be particularly high spec.

Gotta be cheaper and less chance of theft!


Martin a good idea!

Have you got any model specifics on the Fritz Box.

Im not sure I would want to set this up on the laptop I use for playout, but I can see what your saying.

Maybe a small NAS box would do the same?

[welby]

I could also host a database on my website with a song request that fires an email to my phone or playout laptop - oh gawd sounds like I'm on a mission.

No wifi connection but then costs the punter :(

[Vectis]

Have you got any model specifics on the Fritz Box.


I was thinking of the 7390 (AVM Fritz! Box Fon 7390 Wireless 4 Port VDSL/ADSL2+ Router DECT VoIP Phone Adaper: Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories) as this has some onboard storage (50Meg IIRC), web server, wifi etc. although I'm sure there's 101 other boxes out there which will do the same.



Im not sure I would want to set this up on the laptop I use for playout, but I can see what your saying.

Very wise. But we're not talking about very taxing work here, so maybe a netbook or similar low cost job - just needs to be able to act as a wifi hotspot and run apache or similar.


Maybe a small NAS box would do the same?

Possibly, but I don't think I've seen one with wifi hotspot capability. But then I'm no expert.

[Jiggles]

I am developing something similar here. :) Just waiting on some parts due to a horrific lead time...

[welby]

I was thinking of the 7390 (AVM Fritz! Box Fon 7390 Wireless 4 Port VDSL/ADSL2+ Router DECT VoIP Phone Adaper: Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories (http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B004EBGQYU/ref=s9_simh_gw_p147_d0_g147_i1?pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1 OLE&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=1052CVZ4BE4P1632YZ4K&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=467128533&pf_rd_i=468294)) as this has some onboard storage (50Meg IIRC), web server, wifi etc. although I'm sure there's 101 other boxes out there which will do the same.




Very wise. But we're not talking about very taxing work here, so maybe a netbook or similar low cost job - just needs to be able to act as a wifi hotspot and run apache or similar.



Possibly, but I don't think I've seen one with wifi hotspot capability. But then I'm no expert.


hmmmm they are quite exspensive (AVM Fritz! Box Fon 7390) but I guess there must be cheaper ones but I had a quick look on ebay but couldn't find anything suitable.

But I am warming to the idea of having my karaoke tracks on a web browser on a wifi hotspot.

I know you can have a web server runing under DD-WRT firmware but it is a messy solution.

I'll keep looking at this..

[Excalibur]

Numpty question alert! I can nearly understand the possibility of making your track library available through wifi. Nearly. The next logical step is taking requests the same way. Is that possible, or am I asking for the moon? :daft: ( And I don't mean just accepting texts, cos I've seen John have a phone for that before. )

[welby]

Numpty question alert! I can nearly understand the possibility of making your track library available through wifi. Nearly. The next logical step is taking requests the same way. Is that possible, or am I asking for the moon? :daft: ( And I don't mean just accepting texts, cos I've seen John have a phone for that before. )

I was thinking along the lines of having a web enabled database and a simple request form that sends either an email or just sends a plain text file.

I also like this idea.
http://www.tricerasoft.com/SuperRemoteRequestTool.html

[DazzyD]

I was thinking along the lines of having a web enabled database and a simple request form that sends either an email or just sends a plain text file.

I also like this idea.
http://www.tricerasoft.com/SuperRemoteRequestTool.html

I would expect that that system is an add-on for Swift Elite, another of Tricerasoft's software. I trialled that software a few years ago and it was really quite good with some fantastic visuals.

I use something similar for VDJ:

http://www.pangolinsms.com/productfamily/product-family/virtual-dj.

It's quite possible that you could get your interactive database to send a text to the Essential Visuals software which would do what you're looking for.

[welby]

I would expect that that system is an add-on for Swift Elite, another of Tricerasoft's software. I trialled that software a few years ago and it was really quite good with some fantastic visuals.

I use something similar for VDJ:

http://www.pangolinsms.com/productfamily/product-family/virtual-dj.

It's quite possible that you could get your interactive database to send a text to the Essential Visuals software which would do what you're looking for.

Yes I use that -but just the plugin and not the SMS part of it.

I use Iwall for text-2-screen and I am hoping the develper is going to include a request function.

I could not get the tricersoft Iphone app to connect my request server (demo version) which is quite disappointing as I could have easy dropped this app on an ad-hoc wifi connection.

[Vectis]

Numpty question alert! I can nearly understand the possibility of making your track library available through wifi. Nearly. The next logical step is taking requests the same way. Is that possible, or am I asking for the moon? :daft: ( And I don't mean just accepting texts, cos I've seen John have a phone for that before. )

Going back to the OP's question, "all" you need is a box that can act as a wifi hotspot running a web server. Then build out a simple website containing the content you wish to distribute and make it the default landing page, so that anyone connecting to the hotspot immediately gets taken into your closed system. Much like hotspots in hotels etc. but without the hefty fee :)

Probably the cheapest, easiest and most flexible way to achieve this is to use a fairly low powered laptop or netbook. Linux is a good way to go, so well suited to those sub-£200 jobbies often found in the likes of Craplins or Darren's shed.

I only mentioned the Fritz! boxes because from a setting-up-at-a-gig point of view it's just a case of plugging into the mains, but obviously a bit more complex to set up and manage away from the venue.

[welby]

Going back to the OP's question, "all" you need is a box that can act as a wifi hotspot running a web server. Then build out a simple website containing the content you wish to distribute and make it the default landing page, so that anyone connecting to the hotspot immediately gets taken into your closed system. Much like hotspots in hotels etc. but without the hefty fee :)

Probably the cheapest, easiest and most flexible way to achieve this is to use a fairly low powered laptop or netbook. Linux is a good way to go, so well suited to those sub-£200 jobbies often found in the likes of Craplins or Darren's shed.

I only mentioned the Fritz! boxes because from a setting-up-at-a-gig point of view it's just a case of plugging into the mains, but obviously a bit more complex to set up and manage away from the venue.

yes I guess I could build a small linux webserver on a USB stick and add the landing page - add an adhoc network and away you go...

[welby]

I am developing something similar here. :) Just waiting on some parts due to a horrific lead time...

please let us know how you get on? thanks

[welby]

Well I have mine working in a way :)

I tried to use DDWRT on a Dlink Router and use the Hotspot functions NoCAtSplash and found it to be very unstable and didn't work at times!

Ok so I resorted to use a free Hotspot software called Virtual Router
http://virtualrouter.codeplex.com/releases/view/36035

So this gives users access to my laptop via a wifi hotspot.

I used a portable version of Xampp for the webserver.
http://sourceforge.net/projects/xampp/files/XAMPP%20Windows/1.7.3/xampp-win32-1.7.3.zip/download

All the clients have to do is connect to the wifi hotspot and type in the browser a small url (I edited my hosts file to redirect to the web server pages)

It's not slick as I would have liked.

I would have prefered customers to just join my wifi hotspot and then be taken automatically to my karaoke database.

Any suggestions comments most welcome.