This weekend I had the immense pleasure of testing out the Griffin iKaraoke. It's been a long wait--I think I first heard about this gadget in September--but it was well worth it. I brought the iKaraoke to my friend's birthday party, and most of the guests were skeptical at first, but soon they were crooning away to their favorite songs. (See me in action after the jump.)

The best thing about the iKaraoke is that since you hook it up to your iPod, you get to choose from your own collection--undoubtedly better than the selection at your local karaoke joint. And you can choose to mute out the main vocals too, so only your voice is heard. The one big drawback though, is the lack of lyrics. When I tried a few Tom Petty songs (one of my favorite artists), I realized I didn't know the words as well as I thought I did. Onscreen lyrics would be a great pie in the sky feature. (Update: you can get lyrics on newer iPods! Read my step-by-step post on inputting lyrics in iTunes.) And you can easily switch the vocals back on if you really get stuck.

Of course, the whole point of karaoke is performance, and singing into your earbuds just ain't right. . .