Need KARAOKE SOFTWARE

Hi bleggee

Like you, all of my karaoke software is pretty old.  Karafun dating back to 2008, Karaoke Builder "CD+G Player v2.2.29" dating back to 2008 (newer ones here: http://www.karaokebuilder.com/download.php), a 2007 version of van Basco Midi Karaoke Player (also plays *.KAR files), and so on.

I'm just curious about something.  Are you trying to actually create your own karaoke lyrics and sync them to an existing "backing track", or do you already have a bunch of karaoke tracks and just need a player for them?

The reason I ask is that I discovered some strange behaviour a long time ago with the free VLC Media Player by VideoLAN.  I sometimes save lyrics in .TXT files alongside the MP3s that they relate to, and in order to keep them right next to each other I have used exactly the same file name as the MP3.  I started getting strange messages as I opened the MP3 in VLC Player to the effect that the text file wasn't compatible, or there was no decoder.  I realised that VLC Player was looking for a lyrics file in some format because it had found a partner file of the same name as the media file.

I had a bunch of old "Legends" series MP3 + CDG files from CDs I had bought ages ago on eBay along with a full version of Winamp and VirtualDJ (licensing infringements I'm sure), and discovered that VLC Player will automatically open and display the synchronised lyrics and prompts from the *.CDG file when the MP3 is opened, and does so without any additional plugins.  Here is confirmation of this fact:
http://addons.videolan.org/kb/Karaoke+CD%2BG+format%3F/?kbid=841

I'm sure that there is nothing special about the actual MP3, but you couldn't just substitute another MP3 version of the same song and expect it to sync, because the CDG file will have been edited against that particular MP3.  I have experimented by opening one of these MP3s in Audacity and resaving at a higher bitrate, and as long as the CDG file has exactly the same name as the MP3, it still synchronises with it.  If you mess with the MP3 any deeper than this, for example exporting it at variable bit rate rather than constant, it doesn't load the CDG file.

Here's an example of a "Legends" Karaoke track converted to YouTube video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhPJ0SpyCmI
There may be some sync issues caused by the conversion, but generally the MP3/CDG sync is pretty good and there aren't too many spelling mistakes and erroneous lyrics.
Here is the MP3/CDG combo in a zip file.  Example-MP3-CDG.zip  So, if you have MP3 + CDG karaoke songs, give VLC Player a try.

People have written loads of plugins for VLC Media Player, and one of them which I haven't tried is Mini Lyrics:
http://www.crintsoft.com/
http://techverse.net/display-song-lyrics-vlc-media-player-windows/
You might want to have a look at this, and have a search through the VLC Player FAQ and Forums to see what else may be available.
VLC Player is very versatile, as can be seen in this useful exploration of some features:
http://www.unixmen.com/22-things-you-can-do-with-vlc/