RequestNow - Cool Tool for Taking Song Requests

[steve149]

Remote desktop software is not only outdated but not really cool or enjoyable to use.

An opinion, but ok ... I have used a similar system for karaoke that allows people to look in MY specific library for a song and then request it. Without a library link, the requestor(s) may be asking for things you can't play.

What do you mean by a "standalone local wi-fi hotspot version?" Do you mean desktop software of some sort? The monthly fee is $2/month which is relatively negligible and creating an event is fairly cheap relative to the revenue you most likely make per event.

Plus $5 per event .. I believe that is the charge that would be eliminated with a phone app through a temporary WiFi port (which everyone who has a Smartphone knows how to configure).

In response to all the people saying that they use Google Voice, it's an interesting way to take song requests but it's clearly limited relative to RequestNow's feature set. Google voice doesn't give you any way to organize your requests or easily answer them / let party-goers know when their song will be playing next.

Unless you're getting dozens of them (which you couldn't get to anyway) it doesn't appear to be marginally more difficult. Not sure anyone who takes multiple requests can tell someone when their song is playing until they play it anyway, but maybe that's a reason to use your software.

 

[SoftJock Rick]

Love the discussion here so far. The system designed by SoftJock Rick is interesting, but seems designed for an era of the past. The users of RequestNow actually enjoy requesting songs via our system. It enhances their experience at an event and taps into the fact that mobile is everything nowadays. Remote desktop software is not only outdated but not really cool or enjoyable to use.

I don't even carry a mobile phone -- just my little flip that can only dial 911 when I'm working in the back yard -- I live alone, so that's the only reason I have it. If I fall off the roof (and survive), I would use it.

Not everybody is into mobile devices -- I use a land line. I don't wish to be disturbed when I'm out and about. If I desire to talk to someone, they can leave a message on my answering machine, and I'll call them back when I get home.

I also don't like the ability to be inundated with requests (I usually don't play them anyway). Let's say yer doing a school dance for 700 kids, you may get 100 requests per 10 minutes -- that takes you away from doing your job. It also takes away from the social ambiance, because they are all staring at their alleged smart phones.

 

[ahoustondj]

ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!!! No I'm not!

How is someone texting a request to you ANY different than someone walking up to you..... If I don't have the song or I know its inappropriate I can tell the requester right there and then. in either case, if you play the song, wouldn't you be considered a "human jukebox?" Nope, its a Human Jukebox when the music program list of songs is controlled by someone other than the DJ.

Your attitude just screams "I am the only one who knows what people want to hear, so just leave me alone the let me play my music choices and not bother with you"......the text system is IDEAL for dinner time, when you have a room full of 200 people who don't want to weave in and out of tables to walk over and request something they would like to hear while eating. I was hired because the Client knows what I am capable of doing. You won't hire a brick layer and tell him how to lay the bricks would you?

I should have known better than to try and contribute to this discussion because the elitists amongst us out there will never actually be open minded enough to consider something they did not think up themselves.

Some answers above in Red. I take requests all the time and at the end of the Event I have very satisfied Clients and guests. I am not willing to contribute to an iPod or Jukebox mentality. Patrick, I know you do not like interacting with people, I get that. You prefer to take orders online and have little or no interaction with your Clients and Guests, that is your prerogative, not mine. I am different, I want to feel approachable. When the Clients approve, sometimes they don't, I make announcements that requests are welcome but I don't brow beat the Guests with it. Those who want to come up and request a song will do so and those who don't, then they just sit back and enjoy. I don't need requests to put on a good show and there is nothing Elitist about it. It is called skill, knowledge and experience.

- - - Updated - - -

This notion of "I know what is best for the guests and don't need their input" is putting YOU first and not the client and guests.

Who made that comment? Just to let you know, I am not referring to Pre Events. I am referring to At the Event. Even for Pre Events, I don't get the kind of Play/Do not play lists that I see some sharing on here. Age Group and preferred Genres are my Guidelines for which I ask. Given that information I can take it from there and adjust to suit depending on the crowd's response.

 

[rickryan.com]

In response to all the people saying that they use Google Voice, it's an interesting way to take song requests but it's clearly limited relative to RequestNow's feature set. Google voice doesn't give you any way to organize your requests or easily answer them / let party-goers know when their song will be playing next. RequestNow maintains the level of interaction that you would have if you also took face-to-face requests but lets you do it on your own time.

Sorry but bullspit. Organize? How many requests do you think you'll get electronically? It's a handful, at the most, in my 3 years of real world experience. As for easy, not sure how you define easy but google voice is incredibly easy and straight forward to me. Let me ask you a question. On requestnow, how easy is it to ditch people who are abusing the system? For me, I give them a couple of chances to straighten up, then they go to iggyland.

 

[DjDennis]

Sorry PASS..... thats all I will say on it!

 

[dunlopj]

I think anyone would take that to mean pre-event.....why would you want to pull the bride and groom away during the event to do a face to face with them?

My face to face comment meant with guests during the event.

 

[Ausumm]

Most of my weddings have a little more or a little less than 100 guests.
If someone doesn't want to take a moment to walk up to me and say "hello"...and ask for a request...
they must not want to hear it very badly.
Not only that, perhaps there is a little more to the request than just someone wanting to hear it.
Can't really get the sentimental details with a a text.
Plus, a face-to-face request can never have technical limitations or problems...
is a lot easier when the requester can't remember the name of guy who sang it...
and allows me to actually MEET some interesting people. (some of whom may have the need to hire me in the future)

At a prom with 300 hormonal teenagers...it's a GREAT idea.

 

[dunlopj]

Can't really get the sentimental details with a a text.
Plus, a face-to-face request can never have technical limitations or problems...and allows me to actually MEET some interesting people. (some of whom may have the need to hire me in the future).

Well said! And my point exactly...

 

[Patrick]

for everyone who is dead set against services like this.....you go get that people (like me) who use it are not JUST using this for request, but it is just an ADDITIONAL way for someone to make requests.

I just can not wrap my mind around why you would not want to make it as easy as possible on guests to make requests.

But, as someone has already said here, to each his own.

 

[SoftJock Rick]

I just can not wrap my mind around why you would not want to make it as easy as possible on guests to make requests.

Some of us do not like requests -- unless they put the cash in the tip jar at a bar, or bring me a shot and pitcher of beer.

At a wedding, it's the DJs job to pick the right music to play -- not the guests. Isn't that what we get paid for...?

 

[ahoustondj]

for everyone who is dead set against services like this.....you go get that people (like me) who use it are not JUST using this for request, but it is just an ADDITIONAL way for someone to make requests.

I just can not wrap my mind around why you would not want to make it as easy as possible on guests to make requests.

But, as someone has already said here, to each his own.

Well Patrick, nobody is saying others should not use that method. Its a personal preference. Is it any wonder that there are then so many wannabes. What special skills are required to take requests like what you proposed and plug them in for play? None! Why then should a DJ like that get paid premium prices? The Client would be the first to tell you "Anybody can do that!" then they will beat you down in price.

 

[kittmaster]

Feel free to try out our software -- Remote Request System.

http://softjock.com/remoterequest.htm

Hi Rick,

We have already spoken about this via email (at the time [email protected]), you mentioned to me about how there are 90,000 djs and didn't feel you wanted to update that app with the issues that I saw when I gave it a whirl. I guess your hourly rate doesn't correlate with the ROI for that app.

I have 85K tracks it needs to parse and it takes about 45 minutes to load 10K, I update often so it just becomes unfeasible.

If your willing to help me in working it out, I'd be happy to purchase it and recommend it if it could fit my needs.

It really has everything that I want, but it is just so slow and difficult to load up its database.

What are your thoughts on this? Any chance to have it work better?

Regards,
Chris

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What do you mean by a "standalone local wi-fi hotspot version?" Do you mean desktop software of some sort? The monthly fee is $2/month which is relatively negligible and creating an event is fairly cheap relative to the revenue you most likely make per event.

In what part of my post that I wrote that I don't want to pay you a monthly fee did you not understand? I don't care how cheap it is, I DON'T want to pay you a monthly fee. Again, I DON'T want to pay you a monthly fee.

I DO want to pay you ONCE for an app that works as a local LAN or wi-fi HOTSPOT that I will own forever, I DO (if I choose) want to pay you for service upgrades as they evolve if the program evolves.....but again, I DON'T want to pay you a monthly fee.

Understand?

EDIT: Why you ask?

You decide to close the doors on the project, then what do I do after I'm heavily "invested"?

Now you know why I don't want to pay anything to anybody after the purchase is made and the program is integrated into my business model.

 

[rickryan.com]

Most of my weddings have a little more or a little less than 100 guests.
If someone doesn't want to take a moment to walk up to me and say "hello"...and ask for a request...
they must not want to hear it very badly.
Not only that, perhaps there is a little more to the request than just someone wanting to hear it.
Can't really get the sentimental details with a a text.
Plus, a face-to-face request can never have technical limitations or problems...
is a lot easier when the requester can't remember the name of guy who sang it...
and allows me to actually MEET some interesting people. (some of whom may have the need to hire me in the future)

At a prom with 300 hormonal teenagers...it's a GREAT idea.

Song requests are only a part of what I use texting for at events. A lot of my texts are for B&G "shout outs". Of the ones that are song requests, there are a fair number that I'm convinced are too shy to request songs in person. Texting makes them feel more comfortable and is yet another feather I can stick in my services cap, which clients love.

 

[SoftJock Rick]

Hi Rick,

We have already spoken about this via email (at the time [email protected]), you mentioned to me about how there are 90,000 djs and didn't feel you wanted to update that app with the issues that I saw when I gave it a whirl. I guess your hourly rate doesn't correlate with the ROI for that app.

I have 85K tracks it needs to parse and it takes about 45 minutes to load 10K, I update often so it just becomes unfeasible.

Are you talking about the client, or server side?

I just did did a test on the server side, and loaded about 3,000 songs in about 25 seconds.

If you're talking the client side -- that will depend on your network speed.


Realistically, you don't want them to have access to your entire library -- maybe a thousand or so popular songs. Otherwise, they will be scrolling forever. They can also enter a text request, although you can't drag and drop into your software a text request.

 

[kittmaster]

Are you talking about the client, or server side?

I just did did a test on the server side, and loaded about 3,000 songs in about 25 seconds.

If you're talking the client side -- that will depend on your network speed.


Realistically, you don't want them to have access to your entire library -- maybe a thousand or so popular songs. Otherwise, they will be scrolling forever. They can also enter a text request, although you can't drag and drop into your software a text request.

Server side, client side (but also refresh issues as server side is update while client is open) is very quick over my gigabit router connections.

In my case, I do many multi genre events, I'd like the clients to just be able to type in and search what they want and to include everything on the rig. I really don't have time to cherry pick what the client will see, I just want it to be an indexed version of my rigs master library since it is always being updated.

I also use very long file name per song for a reason, the meta tags and the file name are redundancy of each other in case of corruption or issues. Example of my file names:

{2} - BOB RIVERS--WALKIN 'ROUND IN WOMEN'S UNDERWEAR--BPM(114)--BITRATE(320)--YEAR(1993)--12INCH(NO).mp3

I'm also "running" the master file load (server side) from a laptop > Core 2 Duo @1.86Ghz with 4GB of ram.

This isn't a DJ computer, but is used to maintain my digital libraries and then replicated to the main rig and backups when I am satisfied with results for the rig. "Sometimes" I can get 3000 songs to load in a short period of time, but for some reason, there are times where it is loading like 1 song per second!

I gave up since you had mentioned there wouldn't be any updates.

 

[SoftJock Rick]

Server side, client side (but also refresh issues as server side is update while client is open) is very quick over my gigabit router connections.

In my case, I do many multi genre events, I'd like the clients to just be able to type in and search what they want and to include everything on the rig. I really don't have time to cherry pick what the client will see, I just want it to be an indexed version of my rigs master library since it is always being updated.

The problem is, you are trying to load 80,000 tracks, and update at a gig. That is not a feasible option.
The system should be set set up, and ready to go, before you walk out your front door.

Might I ask a question?

If you have 80,000 tracks, that would imply that you have spent at least $80,000, probably likely over a hundred thousand to purchase them. So, if you spent that much on music purchased legally, you would still be in the hole, so to speak.

So you are complaining about my $49 program...?

 

[steve149]

Hi Rick,

We have already spoken about this via email (at the time [email protected]), you mentioned to me about how there are 90,000 djs and didn't feel you wanted to update that app with the issues that I saw when I gave it a whirl. I guess your hourly rate doesn't correlate with the ROI for that app.

I have 85K tracks it needs to parse and it takes about 45 minutes to load 10K, I update often so it just becomes unfeasible.

Chris .. Try the one I use for karaoke (it also works for music). There's even a Smartphone app attendees can use if you set up a local WiFi.

https://www.tricerasoft.com/wp/mainpage/?page_id=47

 

[MADNESS]

I set up a text message link at a Relay for Life event I did several years ago. It was a nightmare. People would text a request.... Then I would get follow up requests asking when it was going to be played, people getting rude about songs not being played. AHHHHH not for me. I would rather have them walk over and talk to me.

 

[ittigger]

The problem is, you are trying to load 80,000 tracks, and update at a gig. That is not a feasible option.
The system should be set set up, and ready to go, before you walk out your front door.

Might I ask a question?

If you have 80,000 tracks, that would imply that you have spent at least $80,000, probably likely over a hundred thousand to purchase them. So, if you spent that much on music purchased legally, you would still be in the hole, so to speak.

So you are complaining about my $49 program...?

IMO, I read that to mean that he has an always updating library, much like most of us do. I didn't read it as it's a library being updated at an event.

 

[SoftJock Rick]

IMO, I read that to mean that he has an always updating library, much like most of us do. I didn't read it as it's a library being updated at an event.

I read it in a different way tigger...

Most of my customers have a few thousand hand picked tracks they use. When I encounter those that have 80,000 to 150,000 tracks, I grow wary of where they came from.

At that point in time, I distance myself from them.

It's nothing personal, just a business decision -- if people want to buy a loaded HDD, or download via bit torrent, that is their affair. I am not the music police, but I do know the cost factor of buying 80,000 songs. When I get to that decision, I stop doing support, and stop taking requests to update my software for their needs.

I wasn't born yesterday.