If you are a karaoke participant but don't know how to get started with computer karaoke, I hope I can be of help to you! And if you are a computer user who hasn't discovered "Computer Karaoke", then hopefully this page will help get you started. We can't all be pop stars, but where better to start trying than the comfort of your own home.

Karaoke can be played & viewed on your pc using nothing more than the Midi decoder on your sound card & the Original "Windows Media Player" Simply Download the "Windows Media Player Plug-in" & follow the installation instructions in the "readme.txt" file. The original "Windows Media Player" is normally located in your Windows directory & called MPLAYER.EXE. Click the link below for full instructions on installing & using the plug-in.

There are a number of commercial Karaoke programs available, the one of the more popular being "Real Orche". Please visit our Karaoke links page for more Computer Karaoke resources.

The main Karaoke file formats are:-
.kar	Probably the most popular format, certainly the easiest to find on the net & in newsgroups. kar files can be played using most commercial programs including "Real Orche" & the Windows Media Player Midi Karaoke Plug-in. Kar files are Standard midi files with the lyrics encoded into it using a special program. these files can also be played as standard midi files by renaming the extension to ".mid".
.st3	A widely used format, originally developed for a Player called "Star Player" which is the older 16 bit version of "Real Orche".
.mid	Similar to kar files but the text is encoded in a different way, used by some players. Also the extension of standard MIDI files so they are easily confused.
.MP3+g	MP3 +g have appeared more recently. These are MP3 files ripped from CDG karaoke disks in which the music & graphics are saved as 2 different files. These can then be decoded & played back by certain programs on your PC. Because this software is pirated, Nightowls Karaoke do not condone this practice