KARAOKE FOR "WINDOWS.."-PART 2 There are four recommended software applications for playing karaoke song files on a Windows computer: GoSing vanBasco's Karaoke Player, Karafun, and PyKaraoke The first three software applications only run on Windows computers. "PyKaraoke runs on both Windows and GNU/Linux computers.

"GOSING" FREEWARE APPLICATION Of the three freeware karaoke applications, "GoSing" is the simplest to use. "GoSing.exe" runs from any local drive and does not need to be installed into your computer. It is great for testing the capability of a computer to play karaoke. However, it fails to display the lyrics of some karaoke files. "GoSing" is a free software application that runs in any version of Windows from Windows 95 and later. "GoSing" has a Web site at http://www.gosing.com GoSing has many strange and wonderful characteristics. GoSing was created by a Brazilian company called i.Tech tecnologia da Informacao Ltda. All information about this company appears to be in Portuguese. When you download this software, you get a file called "gosing.exe". You do not need to install this file into your computer. You do not even need to store this file on the hard drive of your computer. It can be stored on removable media such as a CD-R, a DVD-R, or a floppy disk.

If you store it on removable media, you can insert the media into any computer and run GoSing in any computer that has Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows NT, Windows 2000, or Windows Vista. When you double-click on GoSing.exe, it will take up the entire screen of your computer monitor. In this way, it does not behave like a normal Windows application. To run GoSing, locate the gosing.exe file and perform a double-click on it.

Ignore any error messages that show up in the "Title bar" at the top of the "Windows Explorer" or "My Computer" or "Computer" window.

* Note that GoSing has covered up your entire desktop with an image. This image can be changed by downloading other image files from the GoSing Web site.

Read the information in the middle horizontal third of the help screen, to learn the optional keyboard shortcuts for controlling GoSing. You cannot play any songs while this help screen is displayed, so click on it's "Close" button.

Now you are left with the image screen of GoSing. Use your RIGHT mouse button to perform a single click anywhere on the image.

Click on "Play" if you want to play the last or default song that you played earlier. Click on "Open Song File" if you want to fish around on the various drives of your computer to select a karaoke song file. You can store both gosing.exe and song files on removable media such as a floppy disk.

Double-click on the desired song file. In this example, I double-clicked on "songsungblue.kar". When it is time for you start singing the words that are changing from yellow to magenta, the stoplight in the upper left hand corner changes from red to green.

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To stop the play of the song, either hit the "ESC" key of our keyboard, or perform a right click anywhere on the image screen to bring up the menu.

After you try GoSing, you will discovered that it is a most amazing software application !!

"VANBASCO'S KARAOKE PLAYER" FREEWARE APPLICATION "vanBasco's Karaoke Player" is the best freeware application for most Windows computers. The two software developers reside in Germany. It will run in Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows ME, Windows NT 4, Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Vista. Using an "compatibility" installation, it can be installed in "Windows 7" and "Windows 8". "VanBasco's Karaoke Player" has a Web site at http://www.vanbasco.com The current version of this software is 2.53 which was released on March 12, 2004. We are amazed at how good this version is, compared to prior versions. It provides you with all of the functions of a karaoke machine that costs thousands of dollars. When you start "vanBasco's Karaoke Player", seven windows opens up and it looks like this.

* Start off by closing the "Welcome to vanBasco's Karaoke Player" window. You are then left with six windows:

The window in the upper left corner is the "Main Window". The blue Window that is just below the "Main Window" is the "Karaoke Window". The window in the upper right corner is the "Playlist Window". The window that looks like the keyboard of a piano is the "Piano Window". The window in the lower left hand corner is the "MIDI Output Window". The window in the lower right hand corner is the "Control Window". To add a karaoke song file into the "Playlist", drag and drop it from the right side of the "Playlist" window to the left side of the "Playlist Window". Or, drag and drop it from any "Windows Explorer" window to the left side of the "Playlist Window". To start the play of any karaoke song file that is shown in the left side of the "Playlist Window", perform a double-click on the desired file. To adjust tempo, key, or volume, pull the corresponding slider in the "Control Window". To make the "Karaoke Window" expand to the full screen of your monitor, double-click inside it:

To restore the original size of the "Karaoke Window", perform a double-click anywhere on the full screen. To get online help, press the F1 key of your computer keyboard.

"KARAFUN" FREEWARE APPLICATION "Karafun" has a few non-critical but absolutely wonderful features that most other software applications do not have. "Karafun" runs well in "Windows Vista", "Windows 7", and Windows 8". However, "Karafun" runs marginally with timing errors and tone/pitch distortion in Windows XP. (Their Website erroneously claims that "Karafun" will run in "Windows 2000" also.) Since it is totally free, you might wish to try it anyway, even if you have a "Windows 2000" or "Windows XP" computer. "Karafun" has a Web site at http://www.karafun.com/download_en.html The software developer is located in France. When you start Karafun, it looks like this:

The Karafun player window is actually three windows that open and move together. Each is stacked on top of the other. The top window has the main controls. The middle window is a sound mixer and the bottom window is a file manager and browser so that you can locate the karaoke files on your computer's hard drive(s). According to the Karafun Web site at

http://www.karafun.com the free Karafun software application is described as follows: <Start of quote> Free MIDI and MP3 karaoke player Turn your PC into an interactive karaoke machine with KaraFun free karaoke software for Windows. More than a karaoke player, KaraFun offers a complete solution for playing and creating your karaoke at home. Fun and exciting, it plays nearly every karaoke file: KFN, KAR, CDG, KOK, LRC, AVI, MPEG... User-friendly, the KaraFun editor enables you to create, quickly and easily, your own karaoke songs from Audio and MIDI music files : MP3, OGG, KAR, MID... Based on a powerful and evolutive 3D animation engine for animated lyrics and background, your karaoke party in full screen has every chance of being a success! <End of quote>

"KARAFUN" PROBLEM WORKAROUND "Karafun" has one slight annoyance: It sometimes forgets to play the melody of karaoke files. This is no problem if you sing for an international opera company or with the Torrance Civic Chorale. However, some of less-talented folks need to hear the melody before we can sing along with a karaoke file. Here is what you can do to bring back the melody, if "Karafun" forgets to play it: Start "Karafun". Then, start playing a karaoke file:

Click on the "Control Window" button. It is the second button to the left of the lower right hand corner of the "Player Window". This button looks like three vertical sliders. A "Control" will pop up.

* Click on the "No Guide" button. It will turn into a "Guide Melody" button.

You should now hear the melody being played by your speakers. Close the "Control" window. Start singing and quit complaining !

"PYKARAOKE" FREEWARE APPLICATION "PyKaraoke" runs well in just about every operating system including “Windows 98”, “Windows XP”, "Windows Vista", "Windows 7", “Windows 8", Mac “OS X”, and GNU/Linux of various flavors. "PyKaraoke" has a Web site at http://kibosh.org/pykaraoke/ The software developer is located in England.

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When you start “PyKaraoke”, it looks like this:

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