CD+G
The karaoke CD+G (Compact Disc Plus Graphics), often referred to simply as CDG, is the most popular type of karaoke disc and is very similar to a standard audio CD. The difference lies in the graphic data (letters and images) that is embedded in the unused subchannel of the disk. The audio portion of a CD+G can be played with a standard CD player. A karaoke player is required to display the graphics on a monitor.
None of the commercial karaoke discs contain any background music or vocals performed by the original artist. This is one of the reasons why the quality of music varies so much between brands. The price does not always indicate the quality of a CD+G.
It is very important to keep your CD+G’s in good condition. They are more sensitive than standard audio CD. Fine scratches or even a fingerprint can cause chipping or blending of graphics. You will not be able to prevent damage that occurs from normal use.
However, you can minimize this by avoiding the use of a storage system that uses sleeves to hold the discs. Inspect your drive regularly for fingerprints and smudges. You can use water and a very soft cloth to clean them. Never use any type of mineral spirits based cleaner.
Scratches on the underside of a record can usually be buffed out with a compound designed for this purpose. Scratches on the label side cannot be repaired and will often make the disc, or at least the affected song tracks, unplayable.
DVD
Karaoke DVD discs typically contain song tracks with synchronized lyrics superimposed on a video background. These can be played with any DVD player.
MP3+G discs
MP3+G is a compressed version of a CD+G disc song track and is the standard format used by virtually all karaoke hosting software. Some karaoke music manufacturers offer their songs in this format on compact discs. Very few karaoke disc players will play MP3+G discs, although some newer players will play this format from a USB stick or SD card.
NEO-G
Since RSQ, this format allows hundreds of compressed CD+G song tracks (MP3+G files) to be placed on a DVD disc. You must have an RSQ NEO-G player to play these discs. The company offers a free program that allows you to create NEO-G discs from MP3+G files.
Super CDG or SCDG
This DVD multimedia disc uses a compressed CD+G-like format that allows you to put hundreds (possibly thousands) of karaoke songs on a single disc. You must have an SCDG player to play these discs and these players are currently only produced by CAVS.
The advantage of this format is that you will have fewer discs to store, fewer disc changes during a show, and the price per song. The downside is that you need a special player, the inability to update just a few songs, and the fact that if an SCDG drive becomes unusable, you’ll lose hundreds of songs at once.
VDC
Most non-English karaoke discs are in this format. These are CDs that typically contain video karaoke song tracks.