Karaoke Music

When you think karaoke music think CD+G. By far the largest selection of karaoke song titles are found on CD+G discs and in the computer CD+G format called MP3+G. CD+G is NOT video and does not contain video backgrounds. NEO-G and SCDG discs both contain CD+G song tracks. Professional karaoke hosts use primarily CD+G song tracks.

There are only a few companies currently producing karaoke music but that is enough to keep up with many of the latest hits. The best way to buy these songs is through a pay-per-song download site like Karaoke Version. This allows you to buy only the songs you want without having to buy a disc that may contain many other songs you don't want.

By performing karaoke at home you avoid a lot of the legal hoops that karaoke hosts must jump through to perform karaoke in public. You don't have to worry about the format shifting controversy. You are free to purchase your music from a variety of sources.

Discs or Files?

This is a decision you need to make. Will you play karaoke discs or will you use a laptop and play karaoke files? Karaoke CD+G discs can be purchased at music stores, department stores, online stores, auction sites, and even on sites like Craig's List. With the proper software, CD+G discs can be created from downloaded MP3+G files.

The fact is that a huge percentage of the karaoke discs that have been released by now defunct companies are nowhere to be found. The tens of thousands of songs from these discs survive solely as MP3+G files in private collections. People do share these collections and you can access them, and new releases as well, with a system like the MP3+G Download Guide.

If you decide to use a laptop as your player you will be playing MP3+G files. If you already own karaoke CD+G discs you can easily rip the songs from them to MP3+G files with the proper software. See the Transfer CDG Song Tracks to a Hard Drive page for details.

Be Wary of LimeWire and Torrents

You can locate some karaoke music with the LimeWire client or Torrent sites. I recommend you avoid these sources, but if you insist on using them, be sure to scan the files with a good anti-virus program before opening them. I've had too many reports of people who have messed up their computer with these.

Be sure to visit the Put Your Karaoke System Together page.

Article by Richard Wise.