The Karaoke Player
In his book “Don’t Stop Believin’,” author Brian Raftery outlines a few basic rules to karaoke. First, you will look better if you sing a bad song, such as Paper Lace’s “The Night Chicago Died,” Bill Wither’s “Ain’t No Sunshine When She’s Gone,” Garth Brook’s “I Got Friends In Low Places” or Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline.” Secondly, avoid songs that are too long. Many performers falter halfway through Lynryd Skynyrd’s nine-minute “Free Bird,” Don McLean’s eight-minute “American Pie” and Led Zeppelin’s eight-minute “Stairway to Heaven.” Fast songs are always better than slow songs, group songs are always better than solos and staying within your key is crucial to success. Now that you know the basics, you’re ready to get your own karaoke player and start practicing for the big day!
It seems everyone is claiming to have “the best karaoke player on the market.” With so many contenders, it can be hard to choose. Today, karaoke songs can be played on portable systems, DVD players, CD players, PCs and Playstation consoles. The smart karaoke system consumer should first be honest with him or herself and ask, “What am I going to use this thing for?” If it is for killer karaoke parties, then an all-in-one machine like The Song Station is the ideal choice. This amazing karaoke system has been featured in Rolling Stone Magazine, People Magazine and on NBC, and enjoys high Epinions ratings. Ranging between $207 and $259, the system has 53,000 built-in tracks from around the globe, but also accepts DVDs, special karaoke CDGs, CD+Gs, VCDs and MP3s, and plays all in high-quality Dolby Digital.
Consumers receive two free microphones, a pedestal karaoke song search unit, large speakers and additional amplifier connections. Up to ninety-nine songs can be scheduled, just like at a karaoke club, and sixty favorites can be stored for quick retrieval. This product can be purchased at www.thesongstation.com.
For people who throw a lot of parties and have secret ambitions of pursuing an amateur music career, Numark has been a leader in turntables, speakers and other DJ equipment. In 2006, they released the impressive KMX02 DJ Station, a user friendly, all-in-one karaoke player that boasts features like Key Change, dual karaoke CDG drives, three microphone inputs, tone control, echo effects, cross-faders, video outputs and easy-to-use controls. This karaoke machine can be found at www.numark.com/kmx02 for $449.95 or for $300 at www.audiolines.com.
Some people forego the stand-alone karaoke player altogether and opt to turn their computer into a karaoke system. WinCDG Pro 3 by Tricerasoft ($60) is the most popular karaoke software, which enables users the ability to save and store their karaoke songs, while also recording and mixing their own renditions. There are more primitive editions for less, but the latest model includes direct CD+G creation and VCD playback, as well as MP3 creation and playback. This program works along with the Windows Media Player to show karaoke lyrics. Then aspiring artists can share their original karaoke hits on social networking sites like Myspace and Facebook!
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