Enjoy Karaoke On Your PC - Tips and Advice on the Best Karaoke Software Around

There are a number of ways to enjoy karaoke using your PC. Most of them require the use of one or other type of karaoke software. If you attempt to play karaoke tracks using basic jukebox software such as windows media player, you will get the sound but no on-screen lyrics. Therefore the very first thing that you need to consider is which karaoke player software to install. Most of the karaoke software is available as freeware or shareware, so you can try before you buy. You can then either play karaoke discs or download karaoke songs from the internet.

As you read through this - don't forget if there is anything you don't understand check the Karaoke Glossary.

Karaoke Discs

A karaoke cd is known as a cdg or cd+g disc, with the g standing for graphics. The difference between cdg and an ordinary cd is that there are graphics programmed into the subcode of the disc - this produces the on screen lyrics.

When I first attempted to play a CDG disc on my PC, for some reason I just expected that the PC would be able to read and display the lyrics!! Not surprisingly it couldn't - the disc simply played the music via windows media player as if it were an ordinary cd. There are 2 things you need to play cdg's on your computer.

1) A compatible cd drive which is capable of reading the subcode.

2) Karaoke player software which will play the music AND display the lyrics on screen.

Compatible CD Drives

It is usually not sufficient to have a simple cd-rom drive in order to play cdg's. However I discovered that although my cd-rw drive was not compatible, my dvd drive could read the subcode. Most drives manufactured by Plextor and a significant number by Yamaha, HP and Sony are compatible. It is the manufacturer who decides whether or not to support cdg. You can either check with your manufacturer and if necessary invest in a new drive, or concentrate on other file formats such as mp3+g.

Karaoke Players

There are numerous karaoke players on the internet. Quite a few of these are free but beware!! In my experience there is no such thing as a free lunch -especially on the world wide web. I have found many of the free players are complicated to use or are too big or too small for my pc's monitor. The other main thing to bear in mind with karaoke players is the type of files that are supported. Obviously if you have CDG karaoke discs the karaoke player needs to be capable of playing these (assuming your drive is compatible). However, for a number of reasons you may want to consider a number of other formats....

mp3+g - if you wish to store a lot of songs on your pc, it will probably be better to use mp3+g as cdg files take up a huge amount of space. The answer to this is to convert the audio part of the cdg file to mp3 while the graphics portion remains as a cdg or g file. In order to work the 2 files (mp3 and cdg) must have exactly the same name except for the extension (the bit after the dot). Having an mp3+g player also allows you to download a massive selection of karaoke tracks from the internet.

.mid - this is a karaoke version of a midi file and is sometimes in .kar format. The upside of midi files is that there are huge selections of files available on the internet. However the downside is that midi is a computer or synthesised method of producing the music. In my view the music is generally tinny and awful!! But if midi is your thing you will need a player with .mid and/or .kar capability.

Some karaoke players will also play vcd (video compact disc), although there is not sucjh a great choice of songs available in this format.

In addition most of the main software companies have developed their own file formats which usually save on disk space, but will only work with their software.

Other things to consider....

Is the karaoke software capable of altering the pitch and the speed of the backing track? Pitch control is very important as it allows you to change the key of the song in order that it can be sung more easily. Similarly you may want to change the tempo of a track to suit your style.

Do you want the facility to record your voice? There are quite a few software programs which have the facility to record your efforts. These are great for sending your singing masterpeices to far flung corners of the globe. On Valentine's day imagine being able to send a recording of yourself singing a tender love song via email rather than one of those hilariously unfunny ecards!! You could if your karaoke software included a record facility.

At the top end of the home karaoke player spectrum and by far the best PC karaoke playing software I have used is WinCDG Pro 2 by Tricerasoft.

This plays CDG's via your cd drive, mp3+g, midi, vcd's and Tricerasoft's own kmf format. It features a whole host of features including pitch control,volume control, playlist building and more. It will even tell you if your drive is compatible. Definitely worth the price (around $40)! This is karaoke software at its best!

An Alternative To Karaoke Software.......

Streaming Karaoke does away with the need to buy software or a compatible drive!

Click here to find out more about Streaming Karaoke