What Are Your Initial Thoughts About Esperance??

[Dj Buik]

Until now i didn't see any comments from the 'young' (20+) DJ's.
I think OtsAv isn't the tool they choose, and they are not on this forum.

OtsAv 1.85 suites my needs very well. I wait for an Esperance 1.9x or 2.0 and maybe i upgrade.

Thanks for sharing your age, because i was thinking i was an old goat between all the youngsters  ..... 
With all respect, just kidding.

[shdixon]

So, Esperance is for kids and the old version is for us heading to nursing homes...

I'm 62. I need one of those giant sized TV remotes. Heck, I don't need smaller buttons. I need the old OTS on a 40 inch screen!

[Jigger]

I find no problems with the latest version, I would not go back to 185.
I can understand some of the concerns some have, and at first it was a learning cureve but I soon got use to it, Oh and I am silghtly younger than Milky only by a month or two 62
Like may things in life things do change, some you like and some you don't but usually I don't look back.

[Darryl]

I'm nearly 38 (three days to go) and I find myself satisfied with Esperance - I do a little beat mixing but certainly not all through a gig - Ots AV has always handled itself superbly for unattended operation and I take advantage of that to go and converse with the guests early in the gig to get a feel for what they might want to hear.  Then later I let it take over when I join them on the dance floor to teach them the routines to the classic cheesy dances.

Once the ice is well and truly broken then I'll beat mix a little (if it's appropriate to the crowd) mostly with the Promo Only intro edits on the latest DVDs. 

Esperance has a couple of minor flaws (discussed here already): Size of fonts and controls for some users (large resolution laptop screens don't help users with poorer eyesight) and the scroll part of my trackpad doesn't work with the new list views.  I don't consider either of these to be show-stoppers, just inconveniences. 

All of the other features that you know and love are still present - they've just been moved about a bit.  Some things are considerably easier to do in Esperance with the keyboard, but again that doesn't suit all users. 

I suppose it comes down to the old saying - you can only please some of the people some of the time.

[Keith]

I have to agree with Dj Buik on the average user age that Ots would appeal too, every time a younger person comes to see what gear I am using I am more than happy to show them Ots but they just don’t seem to be all that interested? The first thing they want to see is how i spin the tunes like a vinyl record on a deck or to see what controller I am using, they get the fact that Ots is software but are put off because I do not use any external controller or even a mixer come to think of it.

I would like to see Ots come alive with more support for external controllers which I would then purchase, but I am happy to go with what I have for now…

PS Loving the new search functionality just took a bit of getting used to 

[Jumpin' Jeff]

Resurrecting this old topic...
So it's been over 2 years now since Esperance was first released. We had a single minor update that gave us quicker access to the cats (Ctrl + Q), and got some new list colors for those that detested the total blackness that made their eyes tired.

Of those that are still here, and have posted in this thread already, but did not upgrade to Esperance, my question is, did you finally make the move to Esperance and see the light? or are you still sticking to 1.85.

[DJArt (Baby Boomer DJ)]

Upgraded one computer to Esperance.  The other (backup) is still 1.85.  I prefer 1.85, but Esperance has some features that I like as well.

[clover-leaf-productions]

Went back to 1.85, and heard nothing to make me want to move forward.  1.85 meets my needs.  It's Ots, so it is bullet proof.  Until a real improvement comes along, I'm staying right here.

[DICEDJ]

Would still be with 1.85 except had to upgrade one computer and after trying to get a computer that I could return to XP was a real pain so had to upgrade computer (Win8) to Esperance.

With the help of JJ and his OMQL buttons made Esperance work for the wife.. Non computer friendly so a good person to test on.

With JJs alternative I have been testing Esperance and yes it works for me in a non 1.85 way.

Whether we want to or not we all will have to use Esperance if upgrading to Win 8 or later unless there is an upgrade that is backward compatible with Mickysoft and looks like 1.85.

If you think that's going to happen, it will, just after you win the jackpot on the lottery.....

Andy

[Ed]

I have been running Esperance since it was released and it runs like a tank on my Win 7 Sony Vaio. However, I will be using a HP win 8 laptop I recently purchased and that computer will be dedicated with only Ots on it, and all my music files 10,000 fit nicely on the 1 TB hard drive with a lot of space left.

[Jumpin' Jeff]

I'm glad you're liking the utility Andy! Is that the actual OMQL buttons script, or the new OMQry Picker?

[DICEDJ]

Herself is using the "Horizontal Buttons" and I'm playing with the Picker.

Still have two machines with 1.85 and I have used that interface for so long it's like the comfortable old coat and shoes, you know you should throw them out but they are soooooo comfortable.

I now use Esperance from a fixed booth with full size keyboard and mouse which make typing easier, my mobile unit is 1.85 with XP and being able to use mouse with preset query (&Rating>6&lastplay>28days) which I can paste into OMQL quickly and even modify it fairly fast. This is a 8 year old Acer laptop which will not be able to run Win8 so will be pensioned off when it decides to play up.

Pretty much like me, approaching 3 score years and ten and sometimes going out to a gig needs a family large crowbar to get me out of the door.


Hope you all have a good festive season and get all you want and more importantly want all you get. 

Andy

[Jumpin' Jeff]

Sweet!
And the same to you and yours!

[scott hanna]

I switched my 2 licenses that included the upgrade. I like it.  I like the updated search. I like being able to have songs listed by most played. Makes search and select quicker and easier.

However, I have not upgraded my other licenses, 3 that would cost about $600 to upgrade. There's nothing in the upgrade I found worth that, especially when I have to upgrade all 3 together.
I would have paid maybe $25-$50 a license, tops.  I don't expect them to work for free. I do expect value for my money.

It was less expensive to buy 2 copies of VDJ. Those can be used on 2 computers each. So $600 for 2 computers and back ups.....or $900 to cover those same 4 computers with ots. But I'm not one to buy something because it's cheaper. I owned PCDJ originally, but bought OTS  because it was simply better.  Today, most of our DJs wanted VDJ and its features over OTS. I still prefer OTS over VDJ, but hardly anyone else here does. It's hard to justify paying more for something they don't want.

Somehow, VDJ has been able to stay in business while offering free upgrades and use on a back up computer.

The over promise and under delivery of the amazing new "Esperian" experience was disappointing as well. It was a fine upgrade, but the 2012 "finest vintage" stuff, along with long delays, releasing a product incomplete, with only maintainence upgrades in the last 2 years took a lot of the shine off. The meaningless karaoke tab I see all the time keeps reminding me of the incompleteness. It also reminds me of the upgrade years ago that they claimed would change everything. The upgrade didn't have many new functions.....but would make new releases come out much quicker.  Didn't work out that way.

I still really like OTSav. I feel if they had dedicated some resources towards staying innovative in the DJ market, they could still charge for upgrades and make some money. But they've become an old shoe. Comfortable for those who have it, yet undesirable for someone looking for something new.
I don't pretend to know their business. They may be working very hard on some projects and could be growing leaps and bounds in other areas. But just looking at it from this DJ's perspective, they appear to be two dudes working on it occasionally whenever the surf isn't up.

I used to reccomend Ots to everyone. Today I don't. I do hope OTS decides to get back in the dj software biz some day. They were on the cutting edge before. They can be again.

I totally agree with the philosophy of not wanting to be everything for everyone. I believe in charging more than the average. But you must deliver much more value when you charge more. People who pay more..expect more.

[Audioot]

Just upgraded my PC from XP to W7 and still running OTS 1.85. Mostly because I still have the Classic + free upgrade version that includes the scheduling part . If I go to Esperance, that will be lost.
But still works fine for me.