The new-for-2012 WOW Videoke product line is an incremental improvement to the year 2011 product line. The new product line includes the top-of-the-line WOW Concerto Pro 2 (TKM-370P), the enhanced midline WOW Mabuhay Wireless (TKM-360P), the regular midline WOW Mabuhay Plus 2 (TKM-340P), and the budget WOW Fiesta DVDKaraoke (WF-220).
WOW Concerto Pro 2 (TKM-370P)
The WOW Concerto Pro 2 (TKM-370P) still retains the same look as the previous generation TKR-320MR but the improvements are seen beneath the skin of the product. While it still uses the same operating system as before, there are new features and improvements such as the Medley function, the Fanfare/Event function, new and more-popular K-Pop music video backgrounds, and of course, new songs including K-Pop music. While I am not actually a K-Pop fan, I appreciate the fact that WOW is listening to product trends. Including K-Pop music to the product is a very huge plus especially considering how strong the Korean pop culture is here in the Philippines.
The Medley function features club mixes of popular songs which are actually well executed. Just plug the unit to a good sound system and you will feel like you are in the club. The mixes include the disco fever Funky Town/YMCA/Diana by Lipps Inc./Village People/Paul Anka, the catchy Poker Face/Bad Romance/Telephone by Lady Gaga, the contemporary pop Pyramid/Billionaire/Baby by Charice feat. Iyaz/Travis McCoy/Justin Bieber, the ballroom I Will Survive/Sway/Livin’ The Vida Loca by Gloria Gaynor/The Pussycat Dolls/Ricky Martin, and the Filipino de facto Sumayaw, Sumunod/Annie Batungbakal/Bongga Ka Day by Boyfriends/Hotdogs. Sadly, these are the only mixes included with the machine but I am hoping that they will release a song pack that includes more mixes (or exclusively filled with mixes) since I can see a huge potential with these mixes. However, I was informed that the mixes takes up a lot of space since they use the Multiplex format so hopefully they can do something about it.
The Fanfare feature, which are standard music tracks for events such as weddings, birthdays, and many others, sees limited use but it’s alright that WOW added it. The problem with this feature is that they did not put any title on the fanfare selection. So if you want to play the wedding march fanfare, chances are you’ll select the one for graduation or the one for whatever type of children’s party background music since the tiles are written as FANFARE 1, FANFARE 2, EVENT 1, EVENT 2, etc. – except for the Happy Birthday fanfare which is explicitly written.
The songs included with the TKR-370P are fairly recent – songs such as Alligator Sky (Owl City), California King Bed (Rihanna), Don't Wanna Go Home (Jason Derulo), Hey Daydreamer (Someday Dream), Last Friday Night/T.G.I.F. (Katy Perry), Marry Me (Train), Lighters (Bad Meets Evil Feat. Bruno Mars), Rolling in the Deep (Adele), Run The World (Beyonce), Smile (Avril Lavigne), Look At Me Now (Chris Brown), and many more are pre-loaded in the unit. All of these songs, unlike the competition, are licensed and reproduced at a quality WOW Videoke is known for. Even though some of the songs are recorded in MIDI, they almost resemble the original songs without additions of unnecessary tones.
The video backgrounds are also improved. While they are not HD quality given the limitations of the standard RCA output of the unit, they only exhibit very little digital compression artifacts; the quality is much like a DVD video. The same thing goes with the lyrics where the letters are smoother compared to the older versions (and way smoother than the competition).
So the question is… should you buy one? If you have the older TKR-320MR, these new features are not actually much of an upgrade assuming that the new songs and video backgrounds can be added to the existing unit by purchasing expansion packs (song packs, music video packs). The Medley playlist, while it’s a nice feature, is not worth the upgrade due to the fact that it has only five mixes in the playlist – and I can see that it’s possible to put them in a song pack.
If you don’t have one, I recommend you to buy it.
The TKM-370P is like Apple’s iPad 2. If I have the 1st generation iPad, I will not buy the newer version. But if I don’t have an iPad then I’ll buy the iPad 2.
WOW Mabuhay Wireless (TKM-360P) and WOW Mabuhay Plus 2 (TKM-340P)
The value-packed Mabuhay series comes in two flavors – the traditional, wired mic-equipped Plus 2 (TKM-340P) and the wireless main mic + wired duet mic-equipped Wireless (TKM-360P). The 2012 Mabuhay models share the same housing as the 2011 Mabuhay model. The differences, like the Concerto Pro 2, are mostly incremental.
The Mabuhay Wireless can be equated to a “Concerto Lite” because of the wireless mic included in the package. The operating system is the same for both Mabuhay models as well as the Concerto model. Video backgrounds of both units are the same as the Concerto but in less quantity due to smaller memory capacities compared to the top-of-the-line WOW Premium model. Both Mabuhay models also feature 5 medley songs like the Concerto Pro 2.
I think the Mabuhay Plus 2 is a good buy given the features you get for the price. The Mabuhay Wireless is just like Mabuhay Plus 2 but with the convenience of a wireless mic which is very useful if you will use the unit at a large venue or if you plan to take your WOW with you when you go out of town and you would not like to deal with too much wires. In the end, it's all about your preference. Some would like the convenience of wireless so they will take the Mabuhay Wireless. Others would like a value-packed unit that is reasonably priced so they will take the Mabuhay Plus 2.
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