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MTU New Registration Method

As of May, 2010 we put our new Registration system into use on all orders and upgrades. This gives existing customers as well as new customers new benefits. Read on to discover what they are.

1. When NOT accompanied with major New or Upgrade features, Bug repairs are now free to those who can install the last major release. When we fix only reported bugs in a release version, we set the install date to the same as the prior major release with those bugs. Thus, if you can install the prior major release, you can install the Bug Fix upgrade(s).

Exception to this rule: Following a major release, there are always some bugs that appear within the next few months. We try to not add new features until the bug reports have stopped or significantly slowed down, then these Bug Fix releases are free. However, there is a point in time where we start adding new features again. Once this happens, any bugs reported and fixed go into a release that is NOT free; i.e. we have spent significant time adding new features. For example, when we made our programs run on Windows 7, this was NOT a bug fix as some might think, but a NEW feature that was very expensive to add.

We choose to continue upgrading our products as Microsoft develops new Windows versions. Further, we make these upgrades available at a fraction of the retail price, unlike competitors who typically give you a 10% discount off the full retail price for ANY upgrade or bug fix.

2. Now when you order an upgrade, our  script converts your RegCode to install the latest release version for that Product. You no longer receive an Upgrade RegCode that required the prior version to be installed with your Original RegCode. Your original RegCode will now install the latest version, and those we release in the next 12 months from your upgrade order.

3. Ordering an upgrade gives you 12-months of new releases (our  policy for over a decade).

4. You can skip release versions. We don’t require you to buy every 12-months. Order the latest release when it and prior skipped ones contain new features you want.

5. Hoster’s Import database is included in your Hoster 12-month upgrade. If you watch our Download Site, you will see around the first of each month that the number of new DiscID-Track records increases between 5,000 and 12,000. Simply download the latest Hoster version and install it to immediately have the latest database.

We added FREE Live Chat to our web site that you can instantly chat with either Sales or Support. They are on-line Mon-Fri, on an as available basis between from 9:30AM and 5:00PM EST. MTU gives you free, quality support after your purchase.

FYI… Every company we buy software from charges us every year, some as high as $2,500 per year. With some we can’t even run the version we paid for last year until we pay the current upgrade price.  I doubt their development costs are much higher than ours, but we only charge from $10 to $70 for 12-months of upgrades and support.

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Pirate Websites Could Shut Down

The following article appeared on infopackets.com on September 21, 2010:

New Law Could Shut Down Pirate Websites For Good by Brandon Dimmel on 20100921 @ 10:15AM EST

For Hollywood and the music industry, there’s no greater foe than online pirate sites, places where users flock together to share copyrighted movies and songs. Now, a cadre of American senators are making an effort to essentially block these illicit websites by forcing Internet Service Providers (ISPs) into doing the work for them.

The proposed law is simple: if the United States Justice Department finds a domain to be engaged in the distribution of pirated intellectual property, it would file civil action against the site. The ISP of any offending domain found to be based in the U.S. would then receive an order to shut down access to the site.

Proposed Law to Protect Intellectual Property

“…. Earlier this summer Vice President Joe Biden received plenty of media coverage when he noted: “Piracy is theft, clean and simple. It’s smash and grab.” (Source: cnet.com)”

“For those in the movie and music industries, this was finally some commitment to the idea that owning, listening to, or watching an illegally downloaded digital file is the same as shoving a CD or Blu-ray inside one’s coat while walking through a brick and mortar retailer.”

Bill Extends to ISPs, Payment Processors, More

“The law doesn’t stop with U.S.-based sites, however.

Instead, the proposed bill would give the attorney general power “to serve the court order on other specified third parties, such as Internet Service Providers (ISPs), payment processors, and online ad network providers.”

In essence, the government could prevent suspect sites from being accessed by American web visitors or getting paid through credit card transactions and marketing deals with U.S. web firms.”

So, one has to wonder,  just how will this be implemented?  I for one, trust that when I go out, if the KJ is in business, they have the legal right to play the music I am listening to.  What’s a person to do, go ask the KJ for proof they own the music they are playing? This I fear,  is opening Pandora’s box.

The government being able to limit suspected “sites from being accessed by American web visitors or getting paid through credit card transactions and marketing deals with U.S. web firms.” sounds like “big brother” is really wanting to crack down.

Having said all this, MTU has never condoned, nor will we, using pirated files.  This means…if you don’t own the CD, you don’t have the right to play it.  Period.

Read the full article at: http://www.infopackets.com/news/piracy/2010/

This site contains facts, views, opinions, statements, and recommendations of third party individuals, writers, advertisers and organizations. Micro Technology Unlimited, Inc. does not represent or endorse the views, accuracy or reliability of any advice, opinion, statement, product or service displayed or distributed on this web site.


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Karaoke Pirate Amnesty Program at Sound Choice Studios

In the Sunday, August 15, 2010 edition of The News & Observer Raleigh paper, I was given a copy of this article by Jen Aronoff of The Charlotte Observer.  It talks about how their company has suffered due to people using pirated copies of their discs and what they are doing in response.  They have started a sort of amnesty program for people using pirated copies to make themselves legal.  If you’re one of those using an illegal copy of their music, you can get 6000 of the companies most popular songs in MP3 format.

MTU has long stood behind the legal use of music and has never condoned the use of illegal discs.  It’s important that when you are buying your karaoke music, that you buy it from a reputable company and ensure it’s an original disc before you make your purchase.  As the old saying goes,  if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is not legitimate.    I encourage all readers to operate honestly and with integrity.  That means making sure the tools you use for hosting your shows are legal copies.  This includes not just your music discs, but your software licenses as well.   It’s a lot cheaper to pay the price in the beginning than to take a chance of being taken to court and have the cost of legal representation and then end up paying a settlement as well.  As my mother always has said,  “Honesty is the best policy.”

Read the entire article at The News and Observer.

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Correctly Updating Windows for MTU Software

Greetings all!

Recently we’ve had quite a few calls from customers who have not updated their Windows® properly before installing an upgrade or new install of our software.  I just want to remind everyone that you need to do a custom update of your Windows®.

MTU Support is available to answer your questions if you have difficulty installing our software on your first computer.  Here’s the link for what to do to get your questions answered:  http://www.mtu.com/support/customer-support.htm

How To Correctly Perform Windows Updates
  1. Updates are found at http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com.
    IMPORTANT NOTE: You MUST use Windows Internet Explorer to gather your updates. You CANNOT use Netscape, Firefox, Opera, etc. or any other Browser.
  2. When the page above appears, click the Custom button. Your computer will be scanned for what updates need to be installed. DO NOT click the Express button as it will not fully update YOUR computer.
  3. In the left column, select (click) all items under Optional Software.
  4. Click Install to start the installation.
  5. Once the updates are installed, if you see a message to restart the computer, you must do this before continuing.
  6. Repeat these steps again until you see 0 items to be installed.
  7. If you had problems installing your MTU software, try again and it should now work.