Our daughter asked for a Karaoke system for her birthday and because we have never previously been exposed to Karaoke ourselves (true!) we did a bit of research prior to settling on this system.

What we wanted was a portable stand-alone system, i.e. a system that:
– accepts Karaoke CDs and DVDs;
– allows for an MP3 player / iPod to be connected;
– has internal speakers (rather than a system that needs to be connected to a stereo); and
– features a screen for displaying the lyrics (rather than a system that needs to be connected to a TV or external monitor).

This system was one of the few that met all of the above criteria plus it came with two microphones so two people can sing together (the microphones have 8′ long cords and can be controlled individually for sensitivity which is great for reducing the impact of dad’s droning voice). A feature we did not look for but our daughter loves was the adjustable echo function.

It is correct that the system has a hum / buzzing noise when it is switched on but keep in mind that we are not talking about a professional piece of hifi equipment here – the system is intended for recreational use at home. The noise has never bothered our daughter or her friends. The microphones are of reasonable quality and the volume goes beyond what most people would consider adequate in a residential home.

The system itself is relatively lightweight but appears to be robust. While dancing to a song, our daughter accidentally pulled the unit off the shelf with the microphone and it came crashing down from 3′ onto a wooden floor with no damage whatsoever – I couldn’t even find a scratch!

So as long as you can accept the system’s limitations – it is made for occasional recreational use at home (it won’t work in a hall) and it does have a hum – it should work for you. The system we bought was an Amazon return for half price and well worth the investment – it certainly made a 9 year old girl very happy.

EDIT: 1/9/13

As others have mentioned, which I neglected to mention in my original review, this machine does have a slightly obnoxious buzzing noise when not singing, and while it is not noticeable when you are singing, it is very noticeable when you are not, especially if you have the volume up pretty high. This is a design flaw, but can be helped by adjust the mic and television volume. Just keep this in mind when considering purchasing this product, other than that, it is an awesome machine!

ORIGINAL REVIEW:

I bought my first karaoke machine 6yrs ago, it was a monster with a 13inch TV screen, and weighing in at about 50lbs. It did have a camera on it to record, but it did not have a USB port, and certainly not the ability to plug in an iphone, and was not even able to record an audio track of you, and when I bought this machine it was a top of the line machine, one of the best you could get. So, for me, getting this machine was like a gift from God, its light, it may have a small screen, but it is color (I also also had a machine with a screen 6inches size 4yrs ago, but it was black and white, had no extra functions on it and cost about ) and it is clear, very clear, I can read it from a distance, but I normally hook it up to my tv, and it works great.

I supposed, being that I have a lot of experience with older machines and they cost around the same amount as this one not more, and they had far more bugs than this one does (for I have yet to have an issue with any of the equipment on this machine), I guess I feel this is one of the best karaoke machines you can buy for its price, it really is.

It is an amazing machine, it weighs no more than a few pounds, is easily transportable, and very durable. I took it all over the place with me, and it was even yanked around by children; never once stopped working at all. I found the sound, in terms of the music to be quite loud, the mics themselves, at times however, don’t go as loud as I would like, but I sing so loud, it isn’t a big deal for me, or any of my friends, but I suppose if you had a quiet singer, it would be a con.

The only other thing that might be a con would be that if you have a burned disc of songs, it may or may not play it, even if the disc is fine, that is the only real issue I actually found with the machine itself, it isn’t a big deal since I put my songs on a usb drive anyway, so I don’t really see that as a big deal.

If you have had karaoke machines in the past, you know how expensive they with far few functions, and weighing ungodly amounts, if not, you may not actually be able to appreciate just how amazing this little machine is. It really is a great machine, even with a few minor glitches, I wouldn’t get any other machine for a small portable machine with its own screen, you just can’t do any better.

God Bless ~Amy

We celebrated my son’s 7th B-Day some weeks ago. So among the party gifts he received was this karaoke machine from his grandparents. They asked me to order it online, and with so many different and opposite comments I was confused and tempted to give up. My son loves it and so did his peers at his party, they were enchanted to use the microphones (2 come with the machine). PRO’s: I ordered it a Sunday afternoon, it arrived on Tueday in perfect condition and it was standard shipping. The screen is LCD 7" color, the sound is great, and it comes with a control remote so you can use the equalizer and even choose among the other options as "Mode": church, concert, personalized, etc.), it can be connceted to your TV screen or your home theater. CON’s: I have not found the button for volume in the control remote yet, so I had been doing it manually (Maybe I need to read the manual, hi, hi). The 2 CD’s included are nice, but have church, christmas carols, traditional american songs; so get ready either to get your MP3 music or CD-g’s (Luckily I already had some at home). I was surprised to find it advertised as "a toy" in some huge store in the USA. Suggestion for the manufacturers: Hopefully you can include the mode "battery operated" in the futur models.
Aside from that, this machine simply rocks, and it is great for children as well for adults (12/13/2012)