Karaoke players (like Winamp or VLC) can’t read inside .zip files, so you need to unzip all your karaoke to use them. Turns out, if you have a big library there are just too many files to use the unix wildcard *.

And you get an error like: -bash: /bin/ls: Argument list too long

Here’s how to move your huge library of karaoke songs to one folder, and unzip them. It’s well worth the trouble to be able to use Winamp (which is super-simple and solid for karaoke nights).

Open up Terminal. Type “cd Music/Karaoke/CDG” or whatever to get into your karaoke folder.

To copy to one folder:

mkdir ../onefolder/

find . -exec cp “{}” ../onefolder \; -print

To unzip all:

cd ../onefolder/

find . -exec unzip -o “{}” \; -print

To delete all (careful with this! If you’re not careful you could delete your entire hard drive!)

find ../onefolder/ -name “*.zip” -exec rm “{}” \; -print

If you don’t understand how terminal commands work, just use Finder and Spotlight to do the last step.

(almost none of this stuff is necessary) photo by…

Running a karaoke night is cheap and easy. Here’s all you need:

1. Laptop
2. Songs
3. Karaoke Software
4. Songbooks
5. Microphones and a PA
6. Old computer monitor

5 & 6 barely count. You can get clunky 17″ monitors for free on craigslist or freecycle. Most venues have a PA w/ mics. Got friends who play in a band? They can help scrounge something together.

So that leaves us with a laptop, songs, karaoke software, and songbooks. I made simple guides to cover each step. Spend a little time now, and next week you’ll have a working karaoke setup.

If anything seems confusing, just find a computery friend to help. They’ll know how to do all of this stuff.

1. What you need for a karaoke laptop
2. How to download Karaoke songs
3. The best free karaoke software for Mac, Windows, and Linux
4. How to make karaoke songbooks

Next up… tips on running a karaoke night!