Going Solo with Soulo Karaoke for iPad

by Jamie Wiersma

My kids love to sing. They love to sing into microphones. We have great family times hauling out the drums, guitar and microphone and playing on the Wii.  But what about those times that you don’t want to go through the hassle of getting everything out to play?  Soulo Karaoke for the iPad is a great alternative. With Soulo, your iPad is your stage and your studio. You can add special effects to your voice like echo and reverb, record a song, create a video and upload it to YouTube.

Soulo Digital Wireless Mic for the iPad is super simple.  Simply plug in the mic receiver into the iPad, turn on the microphone, open up the app, and have fun!  My 2 ½ year even knows how to make the app work! There are 10 songs that you are able to download for free. You can purchase more songs for 99 cents each.  There are a ton to choose from!  If you want to create videos of you singing to download onto YouTube, that’s super easy as well. If you have a YouTube account, just follow the prompts and you are good to go.  If you want your video to be really cool you can add backgrounds.  A few backgrounds are included and you can purchase more for 99 cents. If you want an even better sound experience, you can add Soulo speakers (sold separately.)

One of my favorite features of the Soulo app is the ability to connect to iTunes and sing along to the songs in your own library. Though there are usually not lyrics attached to these songs,  you probably already know most of the lyrics anyways. Obviously, these are the songs that we enjoy singing the most. Due to copyright issues you are not allowed to record or upload these songs to YouTube.

Pros:

1. The set-up is simple.
2. There are a lot of songs available to download.
3. It is very user-friendly.
4. I love the fact that you can sing to the songs that you have in iTunes.

Cons:

1. If you have your iPad in a protective case that is not easily removable, it can be a pain. The receiver is too large to plug in unless the iPad is out of the protective case. This is a bummer since my kids are playing with it and I want to protect the iPad.
2. The 10 songs that you download for free are picked for you. It would have been nice to be able to choose your own songs based on your own musical preferences.
3. I think they should include more than just 10 songs to download for free.

A Mom’s Perspective:

Overall, all three of my kids enjoy playing with Soulo Karaoke. (Their ages are 8, 6, and 2 ½.) It is a good alternative to your more expensive karaoke games for Wii, PlayStation, etc. It is nice that it is so user-friendly. The kids can have fun with it without a whole lot of help from me. The youngest likes singing to the songs even without the mic which is nice because then I don’t have to take the iPad out of the case. If you are a novice just looking to have a little fun singing, you will enjoy Soulo. If you are a hard-core Karaoke fan that wants fantastic sound, you should keep looking.

Soulo Digital Wireless Mic + Karaoke App is available for purchase on Amazon.com for $73.66 with free Super Saver Shipping. Occasionally  Soulo offers free songs.  For Christmas we found that Soulo offered several free downloads including my 2 1/2 year old’s favorite, “Stinky Bells” a.k.a. “Jingle Bells.)

*  I was given Soulo Digital Wireless Mic in exchange for my honest review.  All expressed opinions are my own.