What kind of set-up do I need?

[dave]

correct, but DVDs will look MUCH creamier.

[Karanight]

I've been looking at creating a setup that I can leave at a venue in a very secure position. I've spoken to the people at Apple and they recommend, rather that getting the iMac to get a Mini Mac. If it didn't read CDG's I'll put a light scribe drive in. Would the 1 gig of ram that it comes with be enough to run a show along with running Garageband, (to record singers) iTunes and some Automator scripts thrown in. Apple said I can have an extra gig of Ram for £60.00 if needed.
As it would be left at the venue I wouldn't be using it for anything else.

[jfbiii]

Probably. And besides, you did say that I can convert my original .ktp files into CD+G's with Producer (if I understood you correctly) which any KJ can play.

Even then you're back to talking about "most" KJs. If someone shows up with a CDG at my shows now, they're out of luck. I don't bring a drive with me anymore. You'd have to put the files on a USB memory stick for me to be able to get them...but only if you show up before the show gets started. I hate to not be able to accommodate people, but I hate introducing unknowns into the middle of a show and having everything grind to a halt even more. Before the show I'll mess with it until I get it to work or run out of time. But there's enough going on during the show that I don't have the clock cycles to mess with potentially troublesome extras. And, there's still plenty of songs to choose from.

[dave]

1 gig of ram

see System Requirements
but you should probly get your RAM from a third party, Apple is notorious for marking up the RAM that they sell by like 400%. you can get 4GB for $63
and you're not going to find a LightScribe that will fit INSIDE your mac mini, but you can get an external one, be sure it's FireWire and not USB.

[dave]

most KJs

yes, but personally i'd never run a show without a CDG drive. people love to bring in their own discs, with their best songs, that typically are not available at the venue. there's nothing to "mess with", and it's not an "unknown". You stick the disc in and play the track, end of story. IMHO, anyway.

[Brendan]

I always use an external drive for my freinds if they want to play their own CDG's . I have never had an issue whatsoever. Really, there is nothing to "mess with"

[Sedge]

you're not going to find a LightScribe that will fit INSIDE your mac mini

Hrmm. Perhaps. But here's a good link to replacement drives that HAVE worked inside a mini - it will take a wee bit more research (looking at the actual data sheets) to suss out true CDG compatibility, but the first two that came up, a TEAC and a Plextor, may be good bets.

Here's a link: http://forums.xlr8yourmac.com/drivedb/s ... vedb.lasso
Here's what I fed the search with:
Drive type: DVD+R/RW + DVD-R/RW Drives
Interface type: IDE
Mac Model: Apple Mac Mini Intel CPU
(leave everything else blank)

Perhaps someone can check the models listed against the known compatibility lists in the Wiki.
(Yeah, I'm a bit of a hardware geek - I may end up checking myself)

UPDATE: Guess I'll be nice and toss out the three models that came up:
TEAC DV-W28SLC (Supposedly same as Sony AD-7640A)
Plextor PX-608AL
NEC-Sony Optiarc AD-7630A (This does support CD-RAW writing?)

Update 2: pulled what data sheets I could find, results completely inconclusive.
* All drives show CD-TEXT compatibility
* According to Wiki, Optiarc drives don't work (so that would be a black mark against everything but the Plextor
* Plextor's data sheet does NOT show CD+G, but is in a new format than the examples listed in the Wiki
Conclusions: It's fair to say any of these 3-4 drives has the potential to work, but quite possibly might not. Most can be had for about $50 if you shop around. They aren't difficult to install into a Mac Mini (but be careful, these are PATA drives, and a new Mac Mini *may* have gone to SATA drives? not sure on this - if so, a little more research is needed) - So, I would buy the Mini and a known good external drive, and take a stab at one of these internals (after pulling it apart to check SATA/PATA, perhaps) - if it works, great. If not, return the drive and try again. I don't like admitting defeat on hardware compatibility - I've found that at some time, something has usually been made to fit almost any requirements, it's just a matter of hunting it down and testing.

[Sedge]

Another major annoyance of the compatibility lists out there - they aren't recent enough? to include DVD drives, for the most part - and who, in 2-0-0-9, is going to *upgrade* their system to anything that doesn't write DVD? Really! Perhaps I will hunt down newer compatibility lists, although I doubt I'll have much luck.

[dave]

gosh, thanks for that info. Feel free to let us know what else you find.