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During the era of recorded cassette tapes, recorder and players, was the time when karaoke was discovered. Sing-along was first known when tape players were able to play "Minus-One" cassette tapes. This means that the song could be played with or without vocals. The minus-one tapes usually had a copy of the songs lyrics. Most of the Minus-One tapes were a selection of different songs and not the original artists' recordings.

Recording studios then, did not have the technology to make minus-one tapes from original artists' recordings in the early 1980s.

Wikipedia states that, "AudioSynTrac and Numark Electronics were the first companies that combined to offer sing-along tapes and audio equipment to the rest of the world". It failed though to mention even just the decade when it was introduced. For this matter, it is still my personal belief that the Japanese and Filipinos were the first to come out with a real sing along system. It is Filipino Roberto del Rosario who was awarded the patent with the Japanese contesting it only after patent has been granted to the Filipino. The Minus-One was the household word for sing along in the Philippines in 1980s and many have the sing along machines with minus-one tapes in their homes and even cars.

The word karaoke is of Japanese origin the sing along machine is now better known by that name. The Japanese might not hold the patent for the machine but they were more advanced in technology having the ability to provide more quality. This could be the reason why it is now known as karaoke. The development from cassette tape to laser disc made the sing along system more known as karaoke. On the early days of the laser disc karaoke it was quite funny if not annoying to sing along with the lyrics as displayed on the television screen. A good number of words were misspelled if not totally a different word that only sounds like the original word. With the coming of laser disc sing along, karaoke bars mushroomed in the Philippines. Having managed a couple of those bars, many patrons have favorite songs. A hands down favorite by many is the song "My Way" and termed it as their "national anthem" in the bars. It has become so much of a favorite that maybe some got tired singing it in the regular way that they were able to sing the song with the lyrics in reverse. Like the first line, "And now the end is near . . . they would sing it as, "near is end the now and".

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