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).
Continue reading ‘How to unzip a ton of karaoke tracks (Mac / Linux)’
Song books are important, but making them can be a pain in the neck. Here’s the simplest way to make a karaoke songbook on Windows, using either PyKaraoke or Winamp.
If you’re starting from scratch, PyKaraoke will be the simplest: just add your music, and go to File -> Print Song List.
If you’re using Winamp, just import your music (unzip all .zip files first), sort by Artist or Title, drag into a playlist, select all, and hit Ctrl-Alt-G. This will open up a browser window with your playlist rendered as HTML. Print it.
If that was hard to follow, keep reading for step by step instructions…
If you’re using a Mac, see this post: The easiest way to make a karaoke song book on a Mac
Continue reading ‘The quick and dirty way to make a karaoke song book on Windows or Linux’
Published on
January 1, 2009 in
Karaoke Setup and Karaoke Software.
Tags: advice, cdg players, free software, Karaoke Software, karaokenight, kj, kjams, linux, mac, pykaraoke, setup, winamp, windows.
I’ve got three posts on the subject. But the winners are kJams (Mac), Winamp + CDG plugin (Windows), and PyKaraoke (Linux).
If you use both Mac and Windows, t’s a tough call between kJams and Winamp. If you’re going to be actively updating your library and your song books, kJams is it.
If you want to set things up once, never think about it again, and spend your karaoke night hitting on people, use Winamp.
Now, without further ado, the verdicts:
The best karaoke software for Mac OS X: kJams
The best karaoke software for Windows: Winamp
The best karaoke software for Linux: PyKaraoke
Winamp isn’t even karaoke software. That’s probably what makes it so awesome.
Battle tested in the dormitories of our youth, on the Pentiums of yesteryear, Winamp + CDG plugin is lightning fast and un-fuckwithable. Also, everybody knows how it works, making it easy to enlist helpers (or let singers browse on their own). Here’s how to get it running…
Continue reading ‘Best karaoke software for Windows’
