,, I wouldent say they are that rare, i think in japan they can still be had for a fair price. To be honest though unless your a diehard collector i wouldent really bother as they cant really be used outside of japan.
but if you ever saw one at good deal don't pass up. I got my never used mint box set for just 1000 yen off Yahoo Japan! that's like $10 for a brand new box set... probably not as cheap on the shop though... bit of hassle to brought with me as onboard luggage on my return trip however...
believe it connect to Sega's server to d/l songs and you cannot connect from overseas - well apparently there's a loophole but it's not something easily done...
Not a loophole, all it takes is registering an ISAO account. Not difficult if you go about it properly, a friend and I have had ISAo accounts for awhile now and use them for Sakura Taisen Online, PSO JP, etc - an ISAO account is basically what you need to access any of the DC's (or indeed any of SEGA's) online services in Japan, inc. Karaoke.
I must have explained this 100 times by now The dreamkara can be used anywhere in the world as long as you set up a Japanese ISAO account like id-republix mentioned. The Dreamkara connects to the Sega Karaoke Network that's been in service for over 10 years. real karaoke studios use this service as well as Sega Karaoke for PC and of course Dreamkara for Dreamcast. You connect to the server via 56kbps or Broad band which is highly recommended. The Dreamkara can store up to 5 tracks in it's memory WITH REAL Mpeg Video until you switch off the power. If you download more than 5 songs then the song in the number 1 slot automatically gets deleted to make room for the next song. You can always down load the 1st song again anyway if you want. The first song takes about 3 minutes to download via BB (full song plus words and real video) after that you can download more tracks while others are singing the ones in the Dreamkara's memory so you never really have to wait again. This works just like a Karaoke box in Japan. I have no idea how shitty the loading times are via 56kb but I can guess they'll be very slow. There are 3 options as far as I remember for the music. 1 and best but you really need BB is the full set up with music words and video. Next is music words and still pictures for the back ground, 3rd is music words and no images. The Dreamkara also has many many many cool features such as a duet option even though only one is singing. The Dreamkara will simulate the male or female (you choose) from your voice. Also change your voice to the opposite sex There are also ranking games that you can play with it to see who really is the best or in my case, worse singer. Yakumo
Whoa! Thanks for the explanation. Sounds like a pretty sweet system. Also...Change the gender of your voice? Sort of remembers me of "How can I sing like a girl", by TMBG...
FYI, I bought one of these in Japan (Chameleon Club) mint and as far as I could ascertain complete for 2000 yen, after it had been sitting on the shelf for 2 weeks... so I guess they are not only not rare in Japan, but also, not very much in demand.
do you uneed to be in Japan to set up this account then? also using BB you are connecting through the internet, right?
I know this is a VERY old post. But I've heard something about the service has been take down? Is it still in service? Or has it been taken down for good?
Damn, do you know of anyone who's set up private servers for hosting content, or someone who has a solution to it?
