My children are no longer children – they are teenagers. In fact my daughter will be Sweet 16 in a matter of two weeks. I still remember the day she was born so vividly, and now she’s old enough to get behind the wheel of a car and get a job. Sigh… My “baby” (my son) will be 14 in the fall. He was a preemie. He weighed 2 1/2 pounds and was 14.5″ long when he was born. Now he’s about 130 pounds and around 5’7″ (if not taller).
As my kids get older it gets harder and harder to find fun activities to do together. My daughter rather hang out with friends and my son rather get lost in the world wide web. We used to do everything together. Now we’re only able to get the kids to have a Family Movie Night with us (depending on the movie), an occasional board or Wii game, going for a long walk some place scenic or a picnic. Other than that there is not much we can convince them to do with us. I guess it’s just not “cool” to hang out with your parents when you are a teen.
A while back I was asked to review the Vivitar iSing Karaoke Sound System from Sakar. Karaoke is such a popular activity that I thought perhaps I could make a Family Karaoke Night with my family. I realize that our music tastes are vastly different, but that is what makes it so much fun.
For the record no one in my family can sing. 🙂 We’re all pretty bad but that is OK because Karaoke is meant to be fun. We’re not looking to become the next Partridge Family.
The great thing about the Vivitar iSing Karaoke Sound System is that you can use it with most devices including an iPad, iPhone, iPod, Kindle Fire, tablet, computer or CD. These days most families have at least one of these devices, if not more.
The iSing Karaoke Sound System is a lot like a docking station. You attach your device on to a plastic “clip” that holds it in place. The clips hold most devices. The part that your device clips on to swivels 360 degrees so you can see it at just about any angle. The unit also has built in speakers (which were pretty impressive sounding). It also comes with a really cool microphone that is very professional looking. I think my kids were most impressed with the microphone.
I use the iSing Karaoke Sound System you need to download the Karaoke Anywhere app. This app has a pre-existing library of up to 30,000 sounds. You are sure to find plenty of songs the whole family is familiar with. You do get 50 songs to start off with. Sadly many of them my family was not very familiar with. You are able to purchase more songs for $9.99 (5 tracks).
We have not tried it yet but I believe you can use just about any Karaoke application with this device, so you are not limited to the Karaoke Anywhere app. If you Karaoke often and have a favorite app you should be able to use it with the sound system.
I was rather impressed with how well the speakers and sound were. Even without playing music my kids had a fun time using the microphone to amplfy their voices. My son used it to drive our dog bonkers because he couldn’t understand how our son’s voice was coming through the “box”.
The whole set up is super easy. My kids figured it out without me telling them how. It’s pretty much self explanatory. The unit is also light weight and very portable. You could easily take it camping with you, to a friend’s house, in your backyard or your child could even take it on a sleep over.
Sadly my kids didn’t want to have a Family Karaoke Night, and my husband didn’t want to sing with it at all. As for me, I didn’t care. I know I can’t sing, but that is OK. That is part of the fun.
My kids keep this in their room. I suspect that they do use it when we’re not at home. Occasionally they are home by themselves for a bit. I don’t know if they use it together or when they are each home alone. All I know is that I see the microphone moved around as if it was used.
As much as I would have liked to have a Family Karaoke Night, as long as my kids are using it and enjoying it that is all that matters to me.
If you are looking for something fun to do this Summer with family and friends a Karaoke Night would be a lot of fun. You can follow up your next backyard barbecue with a little Karaoke. I think that would be a lot of fun. 🙂
Compared to other Karaoke machines the iSing is A LOT less expensive.
For more information please visit www.Sakar.com.
Kimberly
*I received a free product sample in order to do this review. There was no compensation. The opinions expressed are my own and not influenced in any way.
Olivia Rubin says
I love how you can attach the ipad to it. Yeah maybe in a couple more years your children won’t care about being embarrassed by their parents even if nobody else is there and will do some Karaoke with you. I have never done karaoke, but I do have an ipad and would enter a giveaway to win this machine if there was one.
christina v says
ohhh. my daughter would love this. very neat. we love to sing in this household. 🙂