Race Day Music Management System available for FREE

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pack529holycross
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Race Day Music Management System available for FREE

Post by pack529holycross »

well... mostly free.. you do need to have access to the internet.

If you are doing your event in a location that has WIFI or internet access, ask for access to that connection... wireless aircards work in a pinch ,but sometimes the buildings themselves can cause interference... although your internet connection will NOT drop... this method works best with a very strong solid internet signal

step 1 - make a google account
step 2 - log into YOUTUBE.com
step 3 - take your wishlist for music and find the best AUDIO quality you can find.
step 4 - under the first video you find, click on the ADD TO drop down, and then select NEW PLAYLIST
step 5 - name the playlist "derby music" or something similar
step 6 - find all the videos on your list, and add as shown
step 7 - go to the top right where your loggin name is shown, and select "my videos" from the drop down
step 8 - your playlist NAME will be a link on the left - click on it
step 9 - you will see your play list on the right of the screen, and you can re-sort the order of the songs easily from there.

a few tips for using this system -
1. Videos sometimes are yanked off youtube.. this screen will let you know that one has to be replaced if there isn't a thumbnail of the video next to the name on the list... just go back out and find a suitable replacement, add to your list, and put back into the order.

2. LISTEN TO THE ENTIRE VIDEO FOR EVERY SONG ON YOUR LIST - sometimes people add things to the audio tracks of videos, so you don't want any "surprises" during your event...

3. Have fun with Youtube - they have alot of fun stuff out there... including old timey commercials from our youth as parents... fun to add to your program as time fillers and breaks in the action
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p ... 68D55C25CA

4. Consider using this version of the national anthem, by what I feel is the best performing group for that song
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khvcHe1w0nA


one of my playlists
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p ... 35732CEA42
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Stan Pope
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Re: Race Day Music Management System available for FREE

Post by Stan Pope »

Neat idea!

To further insure against "surprises" and "loss", you can use a product like "WinAVI YouTube Download" to store the YouTube video on your hard drive. This also frees you from internet dependence during playback.

The "Download" software is a free offering by ZJMedia Digital Technology Ltd, which also sells the WinAVI Video Converter. I purchased the converter when my Mac user offspring was not able to view my Windows media videos (created by digitizing old family video tapes, including extensive interviews of now deceased family members, and editing them with Windows Movie Maker.) Both products appear to be safe from "nasties".
Stan
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pack529holycross
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Re: Race Day Music Management System available for FREE

Post by pack529holycross »

you rock! I am very impressed when I learn something new, and I did not know there was a way to d/l youtube videos... that is absolutely going to resolve a major setback for this, and I thank you for your wisdom!

Nicholas
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Stan Pope
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Re: Race Day Music Management System available for FREE

Post by Stan Pope »

pack529holycross wrote:... I did not know there was a way to d/l youtube videos... that is absolutely going to resolve a major setback for this ...
There is a nice big word for when two useful bits of knowledge are combined to form a "whole that is greater than the sum of its parts" ... you or FS can probably remember it for me. Regardless, a forum like Derby Talk is tailor made for enabling such conjunctions. Thank you, Randy!

BTW, the software can produce two formats of files. I don't know which you would find most useful, but you should be able to decide with a short test.

If you are only using the soundtracks and not the pictures, then you might strip the audio and work it all together with a product like Audacity (another freebie which seems free of embedded nasties. Always get copies from "safe sources" of course.)
Stan
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pack529holycross
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Re: Race Day Music Management System available for FREE

Post by pack529holycross »

I call this type of research R&D ( Rob and Duplicate ) :)
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Re: Race Day Music Management System available for FREE

Post by FatSebastian »

Stan Pope wrote:There is a nice big word for when two useful bits of knowledge are combined to form a "whole that is greater than the sum of its parts" ... you or FS can probably remember it for me.
:idk: Synergy? (It's not that big, but it's fancy.)
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Stan Pope
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Re: Race Day Music Management System available for FREE

Post by Stan Pope »

FatSebastian wrote:
Stan Pope wrote:There is a nice big word for when two useful bits of knowledge are combined to form a "whole that is greater than the sum of its parts" ... you or FS can probably remember it for me.
:idk: Synergy? (It's not that big, but it's fancy.)
Yes!!! Thank you! Thank you, from the bottom of my ... uhh ... ummmm .... darn! Lost another one!

If you add a suffix or two, it does get bigger, though.

BTW, my Bride really identified with the YouTube song that Darin pointed out ... Tom Rush Remember Song. That is one that I applied the WinAVI YouTube Download to. The first, though was about Grandma getting run over by a reindeer ... my 4 yo grandson really rocks with that song!
Stan
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Re: Race Day Music Management System available for FREE

Post by Stan Pope »

I've got good news and bad news.

The good news is that you may download the audio in a Windows friendly .mp3 format if you don't need/want the video portion.

The bad news is that the YouTube download video file format (that seems most to match) is MPEG-4 (.mp4) and is played by QuickTime, but not by Windows Media Player or Windows Movie Maker. I didn't check any of the other formats but they didn't look promising to me. But I could be wrong, so check 'em out.

The good news is that WinAVI also has a general purpose conversion program which I purchased to convert WMV (Windows format) to MPG (a format that unimproved Mac software knows about. The program works very well converting .mp4 files.

The bad news is that the conversion program costs a few $. The cost, I think, was about $30, and I felt that it was reasonable for my goal of making family videos available to family! (I especially wanted them to be able to see, hear and save the extensive personal history interviews of their greatgrandfather William and his aunt Helen.)

The good news is that you can probably get someone to convert the files for you if you can find a place (FTP site) to put them (legally) for transfer. Most of these video files are too big to mail. I can't even get a 200 MB file out into my ISP's email service due to size limitation. Email me if you need a suggestion of someone willing to do it for you.
Stan
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Re: Race Day Music Management System available for FREE

Post by Rukkian »

Quick question, we have never had any music during the event, but would like to kick up the derby a notch this year. When do you typically play the videos/music? Just before the event, during breaks, or just kind of run it in the background on another screen while things are going on?
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