Notice: All the information on this page is for educational purposes only.
There are several sharable karaoke file formats around. In my opinion, the only "real" format is the MP3+G. These are typically created by ripping tracks from the brand name karaoke CDG discs. See the <a href="mp3g.html" style="font-weight: normal; font-size: 12px;">MP3+G Information</a> page for further details.
One of the most common karaoke related search engine search phrases is "free mp3+g downloads". You may have even found this page with that phrase. Most likely you found a bunch of sites that offered MP3+G downloads at a "price per song" rate or after a paid membership.
You are unlikely to find many web sites that offer free MP3+G downloads as these sites would be quickly shut down by the CDG manufacturers. So where do people download free karaoke MP3+G files? Typically, one of three places.
P2P Applications
Programs like LimeWire and BearShare that access the Gnutella file sharing network will often find those sharing karaoke files.
Newsgroups
Some newsgroups, like alt.binaries.karaoke, have karaoke files posted by users for download.
IRC File Sharing Channels
The most popular of the three, these channels are where virtually every karaoke song ever released can be found and downloaded. Most of these channels require that every member have a working file server and are actively sharing files.
The <a href="http://www.karaokeinfo.com/secure/shop/affclicks.php?pid=wiseguy" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" style="font-weight: normal; font-size: 12px;" onmouseover=" window.status='KaraokeInfo'; return true" onmouseout="window.status=' '; return true">KaraokeInfo website</a> sells a guide, with step by step instructions and required software, that makes downloading free MP3+G files easy. They teach you how to set up an IRC client (included) for file sharing and downloading. This can be a daunting task on your own. Especially for someone who is not computer savvy.