Customer Reviews

I-Sing - MP3 Karaoke Player

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

First of all, the software wouldn't run on one of our computers, which was frustrating. I am not sure why, since it running XP. I installed it on a different computer and it ran fine.

It's definitely NOT user friendly. It DOES work, but it's not fun to figure out how. It's not exactly difficult, but it's just not so much fun. It's kind of drudge work. Still, it works just as it says it will.

The Lyric creator that it comes with is pretty easy to use, but you have to enter lyrics line by line (like the other reviewer said), so it takes some time and I'm not sure you'll want to enter more than a song or two at a time. But, it is a nice piece of software and it is definitely easier if you find the lyrics online and then just copy and paste (and correct where needed) rather than typing it yourself.

When it comes time to USE the iSing, you just turn it on and run it in karaoke mode. Press the voice button to remove most of the vocals, use the included microphone and sing away (although, if you have a better one, you might have more fun). The voice button is a great feature but if you have layers of vocals on your tracks, it won't remove all of them. This is good if they are background vocals, but it's less desirable if there is another track of lead vocals. This track will still be heard. Also, it seems as if the machine removes some of the instrumental track, too. Not much, but I think it's noticeable a bit.

We haven't tried record mode since we still need to get a SD card. I can see this would be easy to use, though. There is a record mode, so you would record on the card and you'd upload it to your computer and save the file as an mp3 (which you could then burn).

So, this product is first generation. And, I'm not sure it will be popular enough to cause the company to improve it for a second time. But, it's a pretty good product. I bought it for my 15 year old (an aspiring vocalist/songwriter). She loves to sing, but was put off by this system. I spent this morning figuring it out and putting a few songs on it, creating lyrics, etc., and trying it out. It IS a great thing, but the prep work required to use it as it's designed is NOT fun. It's not difficult, just not amazingly user friendly and not fun.

Using it, though, IS fun. It comes with clear instructions, a usb cable, microphone, line in and out audio cable and earbuds. If you plug it in to a speaker system (with the included audio cable) rather than the earbuds, you can have a great time taking turns and singing with others.

This is an awesome child's MP3 player! The function of displaying lyrics makes it even more fun, and educational uses are endless. You can use it for learning languages, etc. My I-Sing is purple and has a Hannah Montana logo on it, and it comes with one Hannah Montana song pre-loaded. If out of stock on this site, try amazon's UK site. I got mine from there, sold by Niche Gift Shop and fulfilled by amazon. Shipping is fast and not that expensive.

I have to warn you, the instructions are really lacking. I'm normally pretty good at setting up electronics, but this User Manual left me scratching my head. It seemed like there were pages missing! Don't think you can have this out of the box and ready in a few minutes. Plan for a nice chunk of time...

So, if you have a Mac, you don't need a driver. Just plug in, and the Mac recognizes it like any other flash drive. Drag and drop your songs into the drive labeled I-SING! This Hannah Montana version comes with 1GB of memory. This one does not have a slot for a memory card. The battery recharges when it is plugged into your computer. In the box are a cheap microphone, earbuds that are too big for a small child's ears, a USB cord for transferring files, a cord that is supposed to connect to your stereo, and a CD for you to download "Lyric Creator" software. Downloading it was tricky, and I never could get the visual playback function to work. The software does help you to create a *.lrc file. In order to have lyrics display on your I-Sing, you must have a *.lrc file stored on the I-Sing whose name exactly matches the song file. So I found that it takes just as long to use the Lyric Creator software as it does to simply make a file manually in Word and then save it as an *.lrc file! My I-Sing came preloaded with one Hannah Montana song and the matching .lrc file. You can use it as a template. Basically, your file needs to look like this with the time stamps.
[01:40]Heal the world
[01:43]Make it a better place
[01:46]For you and for me
[01:49]And the entire human race
In other words, you don't absolutely need the software. And you cannot get around the pain of creating lyric files. Also, like another reviewer said, the function of cancelling out the vocal track to hear own voice better does not work as well as expected (maybe it's because most of my songs are hijacked recordings, I don't know). It seems to just lower the volume on the vocals and also on some instruments. My daughter gets a kick out of keeping the mic on and hearing her own voice through the headphones. She is six and a half years old and loves to sing. This was a great present for her. She absolutely loves her I-Sing! Shipping was very fast from the UK to the USA.
Good luck

Downloaded the firmware from the PC, but just does not want to turn ON even though the battery is fully charged.
For now, it's just an expensive paperweight

Too complicated to even use the first time. Not user friendly at all. Do not waste your time or money.

I got this for my daughter for the holidays. We struggled figuring out how to work it at first, so she let me try. I was really confused as to how to put the lyrics on the thing, but once I did everything was set. The bad thing is you have to insert a line of lyrics and match it with the time, but its pretty fast and easy once you figure it out. After all the lyrics are in, its pretty fun. My daughter is happy singing her own songs, unlike traditional kareoke where you have only the songs they choose.