Support Our Site
Get Better Gear!
- Kensington Windshield/Vent Car Mount with Sound Amplified Cradle for iPhone from Kensington, $39.99
- SigFx Energy iPhone Case Contains Smart Battery from SigFx Energy, US$69.95
- NAVIGON AG - True GPS Software for the iPhone from NAVIGON Inc., 89.99
- Tweetie 2 from atebits, $2.99
- Snood: Flawed Casual Play from Electronic Arts, US$3.99
Premier Sponsors
Top 5 Free Apps
iTunes New Music Releases
Top 5 Paid Apps
Discover New Music
- Bauhaus
Go Away White is an album I've been waiting more than 20 years to hear, and the good news is that it was worth the wait. The latest -- and last, no...for real this time -- album from
- Rush
- We all know it, right? Well, ya just gotta have it. 2112 finally showed Rush out on their own, doing their own thing, and doing it well, IMHO.
- Chicago
For those of you who don't know, Chicago didn't always suck, and everyone in the band didn't always play a keyboard. When the band started off they were pioneers of rock and jazz fusion, and guita
An Evening with George Shearing & Mel Torm�
- Mel Torm� & George Shearing
- Of the three men who taught me how to sing, the last was Mel Torme. Apparently, Mel Torme is a joke to anyone more than a decade older than me, a living parody of a Vegas crooner. But I stumbled on th
- Miles Davis
- The jazz album to end all jazz albums. Miles Davis and John Coltrane and Cannonball Adderly and the list goes on. The who's who of who's who in jazz have assembled for this monumental record. Get this
Reader Specials
Visit Deals On The Web for the best deals on all consumer electronics, iPods, and more!
In-Depth Review
iKaraoke
Friday, May 18th, 2007 at 1:00 AM - by Bob LeVitus
Do you sing in the shower or in your car? If so you'll probably enjoy iKaraoke from Griffin Technologies, a clever but ultimately flawed device that combines a microphone with digital signal processing so you can sing along with your favorite songs as they play on your iPod.
The microphone has its own play/pause, forward, and reverse buttons so you can control your iPod right from the mic. iKaraoke has a built-in FM transmitter as well as a 3.5mm Line Out jack, so it's easy to listen to your performance through most home stereo systems.
When iKaraoke is connected to your iPod (it supports any iPod with a dock connector), a new set of menus appear on the iPod screen. These menus let you select an FM frequency, set the level of the music (low, medium, high, or off) in relation to your voice, adjust the built-in reverb effect (low, medium, high, or off), and select FM or line out for output. There's also a "vocals" on/off switch that ostensibly reduces the volume of the lead vocal without affecting the instruments or backing vocals.
iKaraoke would rock if everything worked well, but almost every aspect of iKaraoke is flawed in some way. For example, the FM transmitter is flaky. Sometimes it wouldn't work at all; other times it would only work if I moved my iPod within inches of my FM receiver. But when I did that, the microphone was too close to the speakers, which resulted in horrible feedback.
While the line out jack worked better than the FM transmitter, I was disappointed to discover that there was no audio cable in the box. And unfortunately, the only cables I had here were too short, resulting in frequent feedback.
Furthermore, while the vocal reduction circuitry does a decent job of suppressing the lead vocal on most songs, more often than not it also makes the instruments and backing vocals sound really muddy.
Another issue is that iKaraoke is powered by your iPod battery. That's nice, but you'll soon discover that your iPod battery runs down a lot faster when you use iKaraoke.
The Bottom Line
iKaraoke is flawed in many ways but if you like to sing along with recorded music you'll probably enjoy using it in spite of its issues.
You may be asking yourself why I would give iKaraoke a 3-microphone rating if it's as flawed as I say. The answer is that in spite of all the issues iKaraoke was still fun to use. The reverb effect makes your voice sound kind of professional, and while the backing tracks often sound muddy, they still sound good enough to sing along with.
Just The Facts
Pros:Reverb makes you sound professional, microphone doesn't suck.
Cons:FM transmitter flaky, no audio cable included, drains iPod battery quickly, expensive, vocal suppressor muddies backing tracks.
Recent Headlines
- Apple TV 3.0.1 Update Fixes Missing Content Bug
- Taiwan Leak Shows Verizon UTMS/CDMA iPhone for Q3 2010
- iPhone Moves Into RadioShack
- Dictionary, Dictionary, Dictionary, And More
- The Latest App Store Games: Gravity Sling, RocketBird, Ground Effect, Checkers!
- iPhone Game Developer Sued for Collecting User’s Cell Numbers
- Apple May Be Bringing RFID to the iPhone
Post Your Comments