Karaoke Forums

I've been seeing the old cassette(with graphics) karaoke tapes for sale on ebay.....I have many, and I figure the value of them is about 0. Now here's my question....Say someone had a ton of these, and then had the corresponding songs as mp3gs on a hard drive. Would they have the, never declared legal, one to one format shift, that most of us have morally accepted as legit?.....

You couldn't add graphics to them legally, but if you had the tapes & wanted to use them on the hard drive in the same 1:1 ratio (keeping the original tapes for reference) I wouldn't see any difference.

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Before SC made CDG discs they tested a format called SuperK cassettes that contained graphics on them. You need a special karaoke player to get the graphics. They would have to be recorded via a video capture card just like you would with LaserDiscs.

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The difference is that tapes have a limited life span, that is, that they can only play so many times before they are toast. CDs on the other hand (according to the manufacturers I contacted while I was researching copyright issues) do not wear out in the normal act of playing.

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From everything I've read, cds do break down, some faster than others. Sure the laser doesn't touch the cd, but spinning in air molecules, and sometimes minute dust particles, as well as acids form your hands and fingers cause deterioration. They first thought that some cds might last up to 100 years, but experts now have doubts. Of course a nice big scratch, can end a life immediately, and don't count on SC having a 5 dollar replacement. Besides, take a brand new cdg and let some of these kjs play it in there machine....... you'll notice.....somethings making contact with that cd...

I would think in court it would work on the 1:1 ratio.

How about if you copied it to a HD and made a PPS show for the words?

Just wouldn't have them changing colors.

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It is common to find current hits on youtube where people have superimposed lyrics on the screen. If this was taboo, wouldn't the powers that be have pulled these due to copyright infraction? These are not like sweep lyrics but just 2-3 pages of lyrics so you can read the lyrics while the song plays.

As far as I know about Youtube, they get copyright materials pulled off their site ALL the time.

Sometimes the artist decides they dont want their songs going out for free other times they dont seem to care. But a lot of stuff is pulled quickly.

Just because you see a video with lyrics does not mean it is legal.


As for the tape topic, I doubt it is legal unless you can demonstrate you obtained the song on the hard drive from the tape itself and not a CD or download. I don't think this would be very easy compared to ripping a CD. I dont even know where to look for a data cassette tape recorder that could send the info to the computer, although I knew they were made and used commonly 25 years ago.

You would need a SuperK player (rare and hard to find) and a video capture device to import it in, much like having to have a laser player to import laserkaraoke discs.

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The Line Array Experiment is over. Nothing to see here. Move along.

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You would need a SuperK player (rare and hard to find) and a video capture device to import it in, much like having to have a laser player to import laserkaraoke discs.[/quote]


Even then you would have some format of video, not MP3+G like you can get from a CD or downloads.

I seriously doubt you can get a digital MP3+G version of the song (especially the graphics) from an analog tape, without completly re-making the graphics file from scratch.

The product you can get "busted for" Ie an illegal copy of a DIGITAL media would not be covered if you own an ANALOG copy of the same media, as they are different products.

You would need a SuperK player (rare and hard to find) and a video capture device to import it in, much like having to have a laser player to import laserkaraoke discs.[/quote]


Even then you would have some format of video, not MP3+G like you can get from a CD or downloads.

I seriously doubt you can get a digital MP3+G version of the song (especially the graphics) from an analog tape, without completly re-making the graphics file from scratch.

The product you can get "busted for" Ie an illegal copy of a DIGITAL media would not be covered if you own an ANALOG copy of the same media, as they are different products.[/quote]
SuperK is a format of cassette tape that has a video much like the old Music Maestro CD+G's with the black box that shows up on the tv from a video out of the superK player.

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The Line Array Experiment is over. Nothing to see here. Move along.

They sell vinyl record players that convert the songs to mp3......I don't here anyone complaining. I can take my superK and with a few steps, make the songs mp3+g........I don't need to(I own quite a few cdgs), and I'm no computer genius. I really don't care to have an opinion on the legalities, but if I were a Judge, and from everything I have read, any format shifting is illegal. Many cdgs say "not for commercial use", and many cdgs out there have songs without the artist's permission. If you buy a stolen product, even from a well known company, do you legally own it? For some strange reasons, our laws tend to side with big business, so if they can make money over the time and money spent prosecuting any minute fraction of the copywrite infringement......they will.... jmo....