Post by kenja on Nov 19, 2012 22:24:08 GMT
Hi all
I hope this is the right place to post this because a thread was started in "Technical Questions" back in 2009 on using laptops and then just recently similar threads both on Minilyrics software and remembering lyrics.
A few years ago I started using a laptop with Minilyrics v3 and Windows Media Player (WMP). I got the system up and running for a friend who wanted to show lyrics but had no idea how to do it.
Anyhow it worked fine and is still working with updated Minilyrics and WMP11. The downside for me was always that WMP would not pause after each track on a playlist so each track had to be played individually from a list in Windows Explorer. This of course meant that at the end of the song WMP had to be exited by pressing ALT+F4 to get back to the list. Winamp has an autopause function with playlists but if you want to play tracks individually it again had to be exited each time.
Not much hassle you might think but when you have a guitar in your hands and other things to think about, it can slow things down. Also too much "faffing" can make things look unprofessional.
So..to the crux of this post... VLC Player came to my attention via the Crintsoft (Minilyrics) site so I experimented with it for a while and BINGO it is perfect for this job.
It is a free open source program and is always under development. Here are its features for the job in hand:
It has a dedicated tickbox to incorporate Minilyrics
The interface can be personalized endlessly
It can be set to play tracks continuously OR pause at the end of each track (player remains on screen) OR to exit completely after each track.
This latter feature is the one that clinches it for me. Here's how it goes:
1. You have your track list(s) in Windows Explorer
2. You select a track by just using UP/DOWN arrows
3. Hit ENTER and player comes up with lyrics showing and it plays!
4. At end of track player disappears back to song list
5. Just select another song and hit Enter
Here's another good feature: You can endlessly configure HotKeys. A standard one (which you can change) is hitting SPACE BAR to STOP/START. Just think, anytime during the song when you might want to pause for a bit of audience interaction you just hit SPACE. You cant miss this key, unlike trying to find CTRL+P as on other players!
One thing though, you must select the right versions of VLC Player and Minilyrics for compatibility. The latest VLC must have at least Minilyrics v7.4. If you have an older Minilyrics version then you must download an older compatible version of the VLC Player.
I heartily recommend this combination for anyone wanting to gig with a laptop and especially if you want lyrics available.
One last thing, If you are on Windows 7 it will only have WMP12 which is an abomination of a player. VLC Media Player is very resource light and has a simple tried and tested layout.
By the way I am not on commission (lol).
Ken
I hope this is the right place to post this because a thread was started in "Technical Questions" back in 2009 on using laptops and then just recently similar threads both on Minilyrics software and remembering lyrics.
A few years ago I started using a laptop with Minilyrics v3 and Windows Media Player (WMP). I got the system up and running for a friend who wanted to show lyrics but had no idea how to do it.
Anyhow it worked fine and is still working with updated Minilyrics and WMP11. The downside for me was always that WMP would not pause after each track on a playlist so each track had to be played individually from a list in Windows Explorer. This of course meant that at the end of the song WMP had to be exited by pressing ALT+F4 to get back to the list. Winamp has an autopause function with playlists but if you want to play tracks individually it again had to be exited each time.
Not much hassle you might think but when you have a guitar in your hands and other things to think about, it can slow things down. Also too much "faffing" can make things look unprofessional.
So..to the crux of this post... VLC Player came to my attention via the Crintsoft (Minilyrics) site so I experimented with it for a while and BINGO it is perfect for this job.
It is a free open source program and is always under development. Here are its features for the job in hand:
It has a dedicated tickbox to incorporate Minilyrics
The interface can be personalized endlessly
It can be set to play tracks continuously OR pause at the end of each track (player remains on screen) OR to exit completely after each track.
This latter feature is the one that clinches it for me. Here's how it goes:
1. You have your track list(s) in Windows Explorer
2. You select a track by just using UP/DOWN arrows
3. Hit ENTER and player comes up with lyrics showing and it plays!
4. At end of track player disappears back to song list
5. Just select another song and hit Enter
Here's another good feature: You can endlessly configure HotKeys. A standard one (which you can change) is hitting SPACE BAR to STOP/START. Just think, anytime during the song when you might want to pause for a bit of audience interaction you just hit SPACE. You cant miss this key, unlike trying to find CTRL+P as on other players!
One thing though, you must select the right versions of VLC Player and Minilyrics for compatibility. The latest VLC must have at least Minilyrics v7.4. If you have an older Minilyrics version then you must download an older compatible version of the VLC Player.
I heartily recommend this combination for anyone wanting to gig with a laptop and especially if you want lyrics available.
One last thing, If you are on Windows 7 it will only have WMP12 which is an abomination of a player. VLC Media Player is very resource light and has a simple tried and tested layout.
By the way I am not on commission (lol).
Ken
