Originally Posted By: Guitarhacker
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I'd recommend that you export your songs and use a laptop or some other kind of player that lets you access the songs quickly and in varying order as needed. Carry a backup player in case of crashes and other such glitches.

Definitely carry a backup.

On stage, I have two computers up and running at all times. I only really need one. But the show must go on.

Since I started using a computer on stage in 2002, I've had to go to the spare twice.

1) The hard drive started making a mechanical noise, so I switched the USB to Audio Interface to the spare computer between songs, and nobody but Mrs. Notes and myself knew there was a problem. I had the drive replaced the next day and the tech even put my software back on.

2) I went to boot up the computer and the CMOS battery was dead. I didn't know at the time I could boot it up by manually entering the date. I plugged the USB into the spare and gigged. The replacement was $5.

Besides carrying a backup computer, I have all my songs saved as 192k mp3 files on a flash drive. If worse comes to worse, I can pick up a computer anywhere, plug the drive into the USB port, and let Windows Media player play the files.

Notes ♫

Bob "Notes" Norton smile Norton Music
https://www.nortonmusic.com

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