Glee iPhone app brings social karaoke to the iPhone, social networks

Karaoke has always been an intensely social experience, but usually it requires a group of friends to get together in the same room for maximum fun. Now, Smule's new Glee iPhone app takes the social aspects of karaoke and brings them to the mobile Internet in some really interesting ways.

As you'd expect, the game lets you sing along to selected songs from the hit Fox TV show (more are released every week) using the iPhone's microphone, complete with the requisite backing beats and on-screen lyrics. What sets Glee apart from similar karaoke games and apps, though, is the myriad ways it offers to share a recording of your performance.

Most intriguing is the abiltiy to start a "virtual Glee club" and digitally combine separate performances into a single, harmonized performance. But there are also widgets that let you share your vocal performances with friends via Facebook, MySpace or e-mail.

Or, if you're feeling braver, you can upload your performance to the Glee Globe to be heard on Smule's web site. A quick spin around the site today shows a lot of auto-tuned awfulness being submitted (the App provides built-in "Harmony and Pitch Correction"), but there are a few gems if you dig around -- check out this excellent rendition of "No Air," for instance.

Considering that an app with the Glee name attached could have easily been a quick cash-in, we're impressed that Smule seems to have put some real thought into making their karaoke app truly unique and social.