Even though the files on our server are in KAR format (*.kar), some versions of Internet Explorer will change them to midi files (*.mid) when you left-click on a song link to play it, or right-click on the link and choose "Save Target As" to save it on your computer. (The extensions on KAR and MID files [*.kar & *.mid] are interchangable, in a very loose sense. KAR files are simply MID files with an additional track for lyrics, which is not normally read by midi players - thus, the need for a karaoke player.)

Here is some more information:

Internet Explorer Changes KAR Files to MID
Some versions of Internet Explorer automatically change KAR (*.kar) files to MID (*.mid) when they are opened or downloaded from a Web site. For example, all of the karaoke songs in this section are KAR files, but when opened or downloaded with some versions of Internet Explorer, they will be played or saved as MID files. This means that after downloading a file you will have to rename it with the KAR extension. (Example: "this_song.mid" would be changed to "this_song.kar")

An alternative solution is to use a different Web browser to download the files. Firefox, for example, will play the files as karaoke songs right from the Web site and also properly downloads them as KAR files.

We apologize for the inconvenience but it is out of our hands. This is a Microsoft issue; we can only assume they do this as part of their (often strange) security "features," and as per normal, is something that only Microsoft chooses to annoy us with.

We may be making the entire MIDI Karaoke Song collection available as a zip file download. This would also end the Internet Explorer problem. Stay tuned.

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