If you have a console you may be familiar with the concept of singing to score points on specific games. Games like Lips (for Xbox 360) and Singstar (for PlayStation) require you to firstly own a console and secondly, to buy the peripherals that are associated with the game.

If the thought of buying a console is too much, why not try a browser based version of the popular console titles; KaraokeParty. KaraokeParty is predominantly a flash based website and has nearly 400 songs for you to sing along to.

When you visit the site, the home page displays what you need to do to get into the fun aswell as displaying a list of tracks that you might want to choose to sing. The songs listed are not the original tracks but are very good cover versions (I guess this keeps royalties lower when users sing an artists song).

When you have decided what song you wish to sing, the song page will load and you will be presented with a Flash popup asking for your permission to access your computers microphone. When I tested this site, I was using my laptop which has a built in microphone, and the website recognised it easily.

When you have selected your preferences, and clicked “Start”. The song will load. Options are built in to have the lyrics sung as you sing or you can attempt to sing-along to the instrumental version. As the music plays and the lyrics are shown, a small bar will be present indicating your ability to follow the words closely.

The above example displays Hotel California by The Eagles, when words are sung into the microphone, the bars above the words are the visual sign you are matching the correct wording and pitch of the original song. The more you fill these bars, the higher score you will achieve.

Conclusion

KaraokeParty has a huge amount of songs available for you to choose from and sing along to for free. In an attempt to secure a decent business model, users can also sign up to become “Stars”, a service that gives premium users the chance to sing songs before other users, the ability to sing songs local to them (in their own language) and are treated to a site free of advertisements (which are resident for all free visitors).

KaraokeParty really does bring a lot to the table considering it is browser based, it boasts nearly all the features that it’s dedicated console brethren possess. If the creators can get people to sing up for their premium service, you may see more new and interesting features added in the future.