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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+gTM.
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
TM - 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
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