Karaoke Forums

Does anyone know what the status is on the lawsuit against that store in Ohio called lightyearmusic.com, karaoke kandy store, cheapkaraoke.com, and many other names they seem to go by?

I have purchased 2 cavs jb199 karaoke computers off lightyearmusic.com and spent thousands of dollars with them. The first unit with over 13,000 karaoke songs cost me over $4,000.00. I am not rich, so that's a lot of money for me. This company basically promised me the world and you know what I got in the end? nothing! I had to send my unit into the manufacturer and come to find out directly from the manufacturer that I was sold pirated windows xp software. There are many kj's in my area that are being sued by the karaoke manufacturers and I have since learned that lightyearmusic.com is being sued for pirating music, and that the libraries in both of my machines, that I bought from them, are likely not legitimate. No discs came with the systems, and it seems like there are lots of people out there that bought the same machines from them with the same problems. This company seems to change their name regularly too. They were Karaoke Kandy Store when I purchased the 1st. unit, and then lightyearmusic.com for the 2nd. They have other names like cheapkaraoke.com and a bunch more. I don't know if they think that because people within their company come and go, that they have the right to distance themselves from the promises they make their customers when they drop thousands of dollars on equipment and music?

At any rate, one of my machines does not work now and I supposedly had lifetime service and was to get a loaner for a flat rate. When I called to talk to a tech I was told that the guy that worked on those machines was no longer employed there, they didn't really sell my model anymore and I was better off going to the manufacturer directly. Ultimately, my feeling about this company is that I am not getting what I paid for, and what I did pay for was not theirs to sell. Then I overpaid about $5,000 for pirated material? All I know is I never got one original karaoke disc and both units were loaded with about every karaoke manufacturer out there. Gosh, I would of never even known about the pirated software if I had not been forced to go back to the manufacturer to begin with. What's a honest KJ to do?
So basically I overpaid them thousands of dollars when I could of got pirated music somewhere else for free. The biggest insult is that they made so much money off me and had the gull to also stiff me on service. How is this industry to ever survive with such outright chicanery permeating it from the inside out? My eyes are open to this now as I see many bad reviews about this company.

ANYONE with any experiences with any of these companies? I welcome your feedback...

If you didn't get discs with the system then you are not legal. You must have a 1:1 ratio of discs to music on your machine whether it be CAVS or computer.

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The Line Array Experiment is over. Nothing to see here. Move along.

WOW!!! You got ripped off by a pirate?????? and you're surprised???

You got a full setup with 13,000 songs for $4,000 and you had no clue that it MIGHT BE a little bit crooked?

If it's too good to be true, it probably is. You paid roughly thirty cents per song for music that regularly sells for 2 dollars per track and you're shocked that you got screwed over?

I'm sure Sound Choice has your name on one of their "to do" lists.

Good Luck getting any satisfaction from the Kandy Store.

Dear Brucefan4life.

I do not wish to get in debates with people on here. I am not as aggressive as one might need to be.That was a bit rash to write what you did. If you allow me to shed some more light on this. When I went into the karaoke business, I bought equipment and then when I did research on the cavs jb-199 units. They were being sold for $1,800.00 with 17,800 songs in them all over the internet. When I contacted that store, they had the same unit with only 13,000 songs for $4,400.00. They were the ones that told me the cheaper ones were pirated and theirs was custom, and that CAVS systems, by virtue of their 'locked in' file format were 'anti-piratable'. So please forgive me if I feel you kind of jumped all over me a bit. I am not your enemy, so please be nice. I never knew what things should cost to begin with. I bought them when I started my business. For you to tell me that sound choice has me on a to do list is also hurtful. I paid $2,600.00 more for their unit because the information I had at the time suggested they were legit. I did not buy a full outfit from them, I bought just the unit. So please do not treat me like I should have known, the onus is not on the buyer when all indications are that you are doing things correctly. If I had wanted to be shady, I could of bought the $1,800 one
and stolen all of the music off of the internet for free, like all of my shady competitors do. I just got shafted and do not wish anyone to lump me in with the pirates, that's just not fair. I paid good money for all of this in GOOD FAITH!

Have some decorum, please... I am not a thief!
HRKJ

Unfortunately that 'good faith' may come back to bite you. You will probably be able to settle & buy the original from the manus like the Gem series, and maybe the sets from Chartbuster. And most likely delete the rest you cannot find/do not have discs for. Possibly be able to sue the store that sold these to you as well to comp you for the disc replacement cost - that would be a new twist on these lawsuits!
Sound Choice has stated since 98 on many forums that anything loaded onto and sold on CAVS (cheap/expensive or otherwise) has never been legal through them.

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Bruce there's a ton of folks in the same situation, it's why SC is taking it's anti-piracy campaign on a case by case basis.

Considering it's only their first post, it's obvious they haven't had years of wisdom to glean from you here at karaoke scene.

Which is why it was said many many many moons ago "Buyer beware". Unfortunately a very expensive lesson learned. People may (@$%&#!) about legalities debated on these boards, but in all cases, consult with an attorney who specializes in Copyright/Trademark law. Pay a little now or a whole lot later.

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You can be strange but not a stranger

I don't understand it though even those of us fairly new to the business (and internet) were still very aware of the legal and performance issues surrounding the CAVs players. Just about every site I have ever visited had a blurb about one issue or the other with the CAVs units. My supplier even warned me to stay away from the CAVs unit for a variety of reasons, legal issues being one of them and they sold the units.

I don't think the CAVS units themselves were the issue, it was the ones that had any music loaded on them without any discs being supplied to back up what was on the hard drive. I remember a couple retailers that sold CAVS, they eventually started pulled most of the music off and included the discs that remained on the drive.

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I remember there being several issues with one CAVs unit or the other from lyrics swipe problems to screen color issues to legal problems, it was enough to scare me away from them!

Lagging lyrics were always an issue, what initially turned me off on them.

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