Myspace Karaoke

Chances are you've noticed that MySpace is becoming much more than a "personals" type of website. Keeping up with friends and family has been the main priority of MySpace users, but it is a great site for entertainment purposes as well.

The newest concept comes in as a Karaoke player, enabling users to pick a song and sing along as the words appear on your computer monitor. You can record your own, save it, share the link to your recording with friends and family, or just sing for the love of music. There are a couple of requirements, so let's get to those first before we get into the details.

Requirements

First, you're going to need speakers to hear your favorite song. Most likely, you already have speakers plugged into your computer, so you're halfway home. If not, I highly suggest going to a local electronics store to purchase a set of speakers. They don't need to be expensive, just a basic set that plugs into the back of your desktop or laptop.

Second, you're going to need a microphone. There are many different types of microphones on the market, but if you're serious about the way you sound (to millions of people who can access your songs) then you should probably invest a little more into your microphone. Personally, I can recommend a microphone that uses a "USB" connection that plugs directly into your computer. USB microphones are fairly new, but they allow a direct connection into a USB slot on your computer, eliminating the need for pre-amplifiers and other professional equipment.

I purchased a USB "M-Audio" microphone, which came with recording software for use outside of MySpace. Best Buy currently has it on sale for $99, which is a great price considering it comes with the microphone, stand, protective case and recording software. It is a solid microphone that sounds great. It doesn't pick up background noise like many cheaper mic's I've used, so I highly recommend this microphone for MySpace Karaoke, podcasts and anything you need to record your voice. Not bad for the all-in-one setup that can provide your family with hours and hours of entertainment. Its name is the "M-Audio USB Producer".

Karaoke!

After setting up your speakers and microphone according to their instruction manuals, it's time to log onto MySpace, assuming you already have an account.

As soon as you log on, look under the entertainment section on the left hand side. Scroll down and click on "Karaoke" to access the system. You can browse performers, recordings and songs under each respective section. You can find all the newly released songs at the bottom right, if you're looking for something new. Click on a song and you'll be directed to your choice. MySpace will require you to install "Ksolo" which enables your computer to access the karaoke player. It's quite simple from here, as you can hit the "Record" button and show what you're made of.

As far as saving your song, just remember to hit the "save" button if you'd like to share it with the MySpace community. Each song displays the users who saved their performances that allows you and others to listen to their recording. If you don't save it, no one will be able to listen to it.

Troubleshooting

From time to time, it seems as if my Windows Vista PC encounters an error while trying to access the karaoke system. It reads a message "error initiate plug-in". I am able to uninstall the "ksolo" software, reinstall it by going back to the MySpace karaoke player and using it successfully once again. I don't know what causes the error on Vista, but my Windows XP laptop has had no problems with this error message. Hopefully we hear about this issue from MySpace sooner rather than later.

Now get out there and have some fun! Thanks for reading.