.kar files are midi files *without* the melody track. Both kinds can include syncronized lyrics.

Commercial midi/kar files generally have good quality, but some midi file sellers make more sophisticated orchestrations than others. The quality of the files that can be found on the the web is much less homogeneous. There are very basic ones, but some have a quality comparable to commercial ones.

-- José.

[This message has been edited by matias (edited 04-22-2002).]