Karaoke Store

Wow, do I get to be the first to say how incredibly cool that is? I'd thought about asking JoCo to do that, but it seemed like such an outlandish request that I never did. And now, here it is! Thank you!!

This is the greatest thing ever. Right before I loaded this page, I said to my wife, "Wouldn't it be great if JC had Karaoke CDs?" Then, the site loaded and my jaw dropped!

BTW, the link to the karaoke store from the Songs page is broken, I think.

Why did the YouTube demo video get taken down?

Put it up at Blip.tv instead...

Ho-Hum. One must have QuickTime to view the demo? I'm a bit wary of that...I just uninstalled QuickTime because I couldn't figure out any other way to make most internet videos work.

It's great to see the project is up and running at full speed. I must say, that Bob was one of the reasons I decided to draw the rest of the TAWs. Bob asked me to do some art for some of the songs and I began drawing them more detailed than he needed them to be. Thus, the VTAW was born!

Wahoo! :)

This is more amazing than I had imagined! Thank you JoCo for even more wonderous things with which your good news can be spread. Now hopefully I can get some of my friends to go out karaokying with me at some point in the near future :)

Shruti - there will be a flash version soon.

I'm glad to see the Karaoke section up. I gotta say it was a labor of love making those tracks. It was especially fun "beta testing" the results down by my local Karaoke Bar. Reactions ranged from "WTF is that, it's really cool!" to just "WTF is that?!?" :-)

'Code Monkey', 'Creepy Doll' and 'Big Bad World One' were especially well-received... and you obviously can't go wrong with First of May in a bar full of drunk people.

One note about the mp4 iPod format files: if you have a Windows box, installing Quicktime is probably necessary in order to have the proper codecs installed on your PC, but once you have those codecs you *will* be able to play the files on Windows Media Player; you won't have to use the Quicktime player if you don't want to.

How about having a "Buy the whole set" link like you do with the rest of your albums? I'm sure someone will want it and won't want to click each song individually to buy them.

I can't sing, but I might have a go.

If you want to view QuickTime files but don't want to install QuickTime, just grab "QuickTime Alternative" (google that string and the first hit you get will be it) which will just give you the codecs. Then you can play them in any media player you want...

One comment about the karaoke is that if you want people to be able to sing it who aren't really strong singers you really should have the melody somewhere in there... :) In the "Code Monkey" chorus if you aren't really familiar with the tune you end up singing along with the backup and it sounds pretty strange... :) Just a thought...

Very Cool!

I can't believe how badly, and in how many different ways, I can screw the song up singing it on my own!

So... These will play in a standard Karaoke machine if I take it into a bar? Could be a lot of fun - and yes - I'm thinking "First of May", as someone else mentioned above...

Enigma (http://www.enigmata.org - not the pop group) is already planning a major karaoke bar takeover in West Los Angeles.

The pricing's weird though. Code Monkey costs $4, some others cost $2, though most cost $1. They gotta get with the Steve Jobs program -- everything for a buck!

Huh?!? I bought 20 MP3+Gs for $20. Code Monkey included.

> So… These will play in a standard Karaoke machine if I take it into a bar?

Short answer: Yes. I have personally made discs that I was able to play

Long answer:

There are 3 types of karaoke systems that you might find in a bar.

One is Laser Disc based, although you hardly ever see that anymore. One is hard-drive based, where all the songs are stored on a hard drive jukebox and those are not too common, usually only in the "do it yourself" karaoke places where you rent a room to sing for just your friends. These first two systems are not systems you'll be able to use these files on.

The third type of system is the one that's most common and uses CD's that are in a special format called CDG or CD+G (CD plus Graphics). The player they use is called a CDG player. It's basically just like a regular CD player except it also has a Video Out jack. This third type is the type of system you wil be able to play on.

If you get the MP3+G format you can use those files to burn a CDG disc that is exactly the same as the discs a Karaoke DJ uses.

There are some caveats however....

In order to burn a CDG disc from MP3+G files, you need software specifically designed to do that (most CDG burning software requires a different format file, .bin, which isn't available at the JoCoKa Store because the file sizes are much much larger, like the size of a .wav file), *and* your CD burner has to be compatible with burning CDG discs. Almost any Plextor drive should be compatible.

Here's a link to a software product that can burn a CD+G disc from MP3+G files: http://www.powerkaraoke.com/src/prod_powercdgburner.php

Here's a link to a list of compatible burners: http://dartpro.com/support/devices.asp#CDGRecorders

A link to a page with more info on checking the compatibility of your burner: http://karaokebuilder.com/kbdrives.php

Spiff: Double-check the quantity column on the left. You may have clicked on more than one of some titles. I somehow managed to do that by accident myself.

Awesome. Just in time for the anime convention. And at anime conventions, open mic karaoke is mostly all memorized to begin with. I just may drop The Future Soon on them.

This also allows me to work on my parody of Millionaire Girlfriend. Yes, I know that's kind of redundant, since one couldn't possibly ADD to the humor of Millionaire Girlfriend, but let's just say it'll be a different take on the idea.

> This also allows me to work on my parody of Millionaire Girlfriend.

I've been contemplating a mash-up of "Millionaire Girlfriend" and Stephen Lynch's "A Month Dead" as a tribute to Anna Nicole Smith. :-)

Hmmm... I haven't heard A Month Dead, but something tells me that tribute will not be terribly flattering. But appropriate.

Yes yes yes yes YES!

I have wanted this for so long I actually thought of asking you personally, but now...NOW!

YES YES YES!

Yes, yes, yes! I don't normally do karaoke, but when the music clubs at school do their karaoke nights, I just might have to join in with Skullcrusher Mountain. It'll be brilliant!

Er--the store seems to be missing something. A certain je ne sais chansons, I guess. Maybe an error?

I realize this page is over 6 months old, and maybe I'm just to lazy, but I would certainly buy these Karaoke files if they were sold as working CD-Gs.

I love karaoke however I am not an all-in-one musicisian like JoCo. I have setup a small site somewhat like JoCo's but his site is really superb in all respects. Powerkaraoke link here helped me a lot.

I successfully made a CD+G disc from purchased MP3+G tracks using Padus's Disc Juggler application. (http://www.padus.com/products/discjuggler.php)

I didn't see that program mentioned here, so I thought I should mention it. Disc Juggler is a $50 commercial program. It has a bit of a learning curve, but it works well for making CD+G discs. I am in no way associated with Padus, aside from being a satisfied customer of version 4.60 (an older version - the first version to support CD+G ripping and copying. The current version is 6.00).

OMG awesome. I so want to buy these. Love your songs.