With “American Idol” making news by drawing upwards of 40 million viewers, it’s no wonder that “The Singing Bee” and “Don’t Forget the Lyrics!” jumped on the musical television bandwagon. It’s not simply that Americans are keen on choosing the next singing sensation; rather, they have aspirations to BE the next music superstar. That’s why the latest trend in hot gadgets is to turn MP3 players and MP3 downloads into personal karaoke machines.
The concept is simple but ingenious. With specialized MP3 players, users can buy MP3 downloads, load them into the player, and input the lyrics of the songs – the original lyrics or their own versions. They can then remove the voice track from the song and record their own voices over the music while reading a display of the lyrics. After that, they can listen to their own voiceovers and share them with others.
The advantages of these types of players are obvious. For one thing, you don’t have to wait for a Karaoke Night at your local watering hole to sing your favorite tunes. For another, you actually have the opportunity to record your own voice and...