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New Phone Service Promises to ID Songs

Coolnat2004 writes "Ever get a song stuck in your head, but you missed the DJ announcement of the song name? That's the idea powering a new cell phone-based service called 411-SONG. Just call 866-411-SONG, and hold your phone up to the speaker. 15 seconds later the call ends and the information on your song is displayed on your phone's screen. This comes at a price, though. 99 cents for your first 5 songs, and then 99 cents a song after that. However, nbc4.com reports that a subscription model may be coming soon. Wouldn't this technology be great for fixing up all those ID3 tags?"

261 of 354 comments (clear)

  1. Uh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    So... now it costs as much to figure out what a song is as to buy it? No thanks.

    1. Re:Uh by commodoresloat · · Score: 5, Funny

      Nope; that's just normal slashdot user conversation. You must be new here.

    2. Re:Uh by ag0ny · · Score: 3, Funny

      So... now it costs as much to figure out what a song is as to buy it?

      How could you buy it if you knew what song it was?

    3. Re:Uh by justdweezil · · Score: 1

      You fail to take into consideration how infrequently this happens. I would definitely pay a simple dollar to find out what some mystery song is.

    4. Re:Uh by ag0ny · · Score: 4, Funny

      Ooops...

      How could you buy it if you didn't know what song it was?

      (Note to self: first coffee, then Slashdot)

    5. Re:Uh by AstroDrabb · · Score: 1

      I agree. How many people are going to be willing to pay $1.00 USD to find out just the name of a song? This looks like a "company" that just wants to spend some venture capital. I would like to know what venture firm invested in this crap. I have some great land opportunities in the Florida Everglades (Disclosure: I live in Orlando). The Everglades are becoming "the" place to live in Florida. If you have some venture capital to spend, please contact me at your@an.id10t.com for further details.

      --
      If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land,
      it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy. -James Madison
    6. Re:Uh by AstroDrabb · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Hmm. Most major online music "stores" out in the wild allow you to do a very cool thing called search. So if you knew even a small part of the lyrics, you should be OK. Also, most of the major online music stores are taking a hint from Amazon. They are looking at your past purchases and recommending content. IMO, Amazon, has been on-the-money. Every book that Amazon has recommended to me, has been somthing I have wanted and as such, have purchased.

      --
      If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land,
      it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy. -James Madison
    7. Re:Uh by tepples · · Score: 2, Insightful

      You must listen to a lot of instrumental music. What I do for vocal music stations is just listen closely to the lyrics and then type key phrases into Google.

    8. Re:Uh by rluberti · · Score: 3, Insightful

      for me is already crazy to see people pay for ring tones.....same people will probably use that service... I guess after knowing the music name...the same service will try to seel you the ring tone...

    9. Re:Uh by GermanShorthair · · Score: 2, Funny

      "Big Ol' Jed had a light on"

      --
      Karma: Bad
    10. Re:Uh by QuaZar666 · · Score: 3, Funny

      Thats better than the books that I get recommended. Amazon.com thinks I'm a lesbian and recommends oral sex books.

    11. Re:Uh by dukeisgod · · Score: 3, Funny

      Amazon couldn't be further off the mark for it's suggestions to me. I've bought some school books on amazon before, and it constantly recommends similar books. They must think I read that shit for my health.

    12. Re:Uh by SeventyBang · · Score: 1

      Most of the new radios & stereos have a crawl which show you the title of the song, the artist, the genre, and the station. (obviously requiring the station in question to transmit that information) That would more or less flatten the need to pay for the same information in a vehicle, and if you call a radio station and ask them what they just played, they'll gladly tell you.

    13. Re:Uh by Simonetta · · Score: 1

      How many people are going to be willing to pay $1.00 USD to find out just the name of a song?

      And after you do pay the cost for the song title, how do you know that it's correct?

      I suspect that they have a couple people who know nothing except pop music on their staff. Some guy (never a woman) just listens for about 10 seconds and say's what he thinks is the name of the song.

      The idea that they have some giant database and DSP algorythm that can identify a snippet of recorded pop music from a sample is simply too much for me to believe.

    14. Re:Uh by lunakyoshi · · Score: 5, Funny

      I am a lesbian, and amazon recommends "The All-American Male's Guide to Getting More Pussy."

      --
      Meep.
    15. Re:Uh by soft_guy · · Score: 1

      "Big Ol' Jed had a light on"

      Oh! I'm so glad you pointed this out. I always thought it was "Bingo Jed kept a light on!"

      --
      Avoid Missing Ball for High Score
    16. Re:Uh by Sexy+Bern · · Score: 1

      http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/shows/ross/playlist.sh tmlRadio 2 has a reviewable list. Jonathan Ross does play some pretty obscure music sometimes.

    17. Re:Uh by dolmen.fr · · Score: 2, Insightful

      So if you knew even a small part of the lyrics, you should be OK

      This service works also if the music has no lyrics.

      Most major online music "stores" out in the wild [...]

      Thanks to this service you don't have to be online to get the title of a song. So it should work instantly everywhere you hear music: in a night club, in a "old world" music store, in a train station or with your TV.

    18. Re:Uh by SpaghettiPattern · · Score: 1

      So if you knew even a small part of the lyrics, you should be OK.
      You know, since a couple of years I have this tune in my head. It's a tunes from "The Incredible Toon Machine". The lyrics go like "ta ta ta tata, ta ta tata, ta ta tata ta tata ta tata, tatata tata taa...". It's a classical tune, probably from Paganini... Nice melody but no lyrics :(

      --

      I hadn't the slightest objection to his spending his time planning massacres for the bourgeoisie... (P.G. Wodehouse)
    19. Re:Uh by biglig2 · · Score: 1

      Why don't people just pry open your radio and ask the tiny elf inside what she just played?

      (The idea that they have a giant metal rod that sends invisible music thru the air is simply too much for me to believe.)

      --
      ~~~~~ BigLig2? You mean there's another one of me?
    20. Re:Uh by bps7j · · Score: 1

      Yeah, I love the time Amazon showed me "People who buy music from blahblah also buy clean underwear from the Gap."

    21. Re:Uh by prodangle · · Score: 1
      How many people are going to be willing to pay $1.00 USD to find out just the name of a song?

      Possibly the same crazy demographic who are willing to shell out £2 or more for a sequence of beeps or a midi file on their phone. Their are millions of them!

    22. Re:Uh by prodangle · · Score: 1
      I suspect that they have a couple people who know nothing except pop music on their staff. Some guy (never a woman) just listens for about 10 seconds and say's what he thinks is the name of the song.

      Yeah, your car is powered by thousands of hamsters under the bonnnet, there's a little man inside your TV when watch the news, and whenever you browse the web tiny fairies inside the monitor are holding pieces of paper up to the screen!

      Really, it does exist. They've had it in the UK for years.

    23. Re:Uh by SysSupport · · Score: 1

      What about "Baking carrot biscuits"?

    24. Re:Uh by mattspammail · · Score: 1

      SOLUTION: Don't listen to the radio. Get an XM radio. It tells you the song, plus you can rewind the last 30 minutes. Find a friend who has an XM radio and get them to add yours for $6.99/mo.

      --
      Now accepting PayPal donations!
    25. Re:Uh by GotenXiao · · Score: 1

      Wow. You guys are behind the times, the UK's had this for...Oooh, months at least. 8520, changed names to Genie not too long ago IIRC.

      --
      Goten Xiao
    26. Re:Uh by ABaumann · · Score: 1

      You must listen to a lot of Popular music.

      I made it a habit of typing in notes on my cell phone whenever I heard a song that I liked. Then I'd go home and try typing it into google. This works some of the time, but not all.

      A lot of the music I listen to, such as music on a local indie radio station, is pretty rare. Thus, the lyrics cannot be googled. The DJ's are all stupid high schoolers, so they can't tell you the song title if you could sing the whole thing for them.

      I tested out the service this morning and it does fairly well. Not all of the rare songs that I tried work, but it did get a fair amount of them. (It also got Axel F, which I thought was cool) It doesn't do a really good job on parody music, as one might think, but other then that, it's pretty good.

    27. Re:Uh by poot_rootbeer · · Score: 1

      Most major online music "stores" out in the wild allow you to do a very cool thing called search. So if you knew even a small part of the lyrics, you should be OK.

      This assumes a few things:
      1. The lyrics from the music are published.
      2. The online music store allows searching on the lyrics.
      3. The song has lyrics to begin with (ie, tens of thousands of hours of instrumental music are left out).

      Remember that publishing rights for lyrics and for phonorecordings are handled separately; that makes assumptions 1 and 2 more and more unlikely. Do you know of any music stores that actually support searching by lyrics?

    28. Re:Uh by FuzzyBad-Mofo · · Score: 1

      "You don't need a pinhead just to hang around.."

    29. Re:Uh by Compulsion · · Score: 1

      As opposed to what? Dirty Underwear?

    30. Re:Uh by Lord_Dweomer · · Score: 1
      Unfortunately, searching by lyrics is almost completely useless with electronic music. I'm actually quite curious as to how well this would be able to distinguish songs during a DJs set.

      I can't even count the number of times I've wanted to know what a cool track was and had absolutely no clue and no way to search to find out.

      --
      Buy Steampunk Clothing Online!
    31. Re:Uh by Anti_zeitgeist · · Score: 1

      Or you could just google a few words from the lyrics of the song. Keep the words in quotation and type lyrics right after it. Works for me.

      --
      If it wasn't for C, we would be stuck using BASI, PASAL and OBOL.
    32. Re:Uh by AstroDrabb · · Score: 1

      Oh Please... Don't try to be such an "AOL tease". You know you are really just some lanky (male) geek in his momma's basement wanting to feel popular by all the /. "friends" you get. ; )

      --
      If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land,
      it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy. -James Madison
    33. Re:Uh by AstroDrabb · · Score: 1
      True. However, how exactly is a service going to be able to tell you about some custom made track by a DJ? The only thing a service like this can do is tell you about main-stream published songs. And I will bet you that the service is limited to the mainstream crap for the last 10 years or so.

      I would love to see one of these services pick out one of my old favorite Cure tracks or Stone Temple Pilots or Poor Righteous Teachers(I grew up in Trenton) or CCR or ... There are tons of songs that these services just won't grab since the song is not part of the main-stream teeny-bopper crap that is floating around. Personally, I don't see the point unless all you car about is main-stream crap. If you like to dance to Brittany, then this just might be the service for you!

      --
      If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land,
      it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy. -James Madison
    34. Re:Uh by DeadChobi · · Score: 1

      I'd just like to point out that The Cure and Stone Temple Pilots have been part of the main stream at one point in time.

      --
      SRSLY.
  2. UK has Shazam Already by dan_polt · · Score: 5, Informative

    This type of service been available in the uk for a few years now with shazam, it works reasonably well for currently popular songs, fairs a bit oddly with some older stuff though.

    I have actually used it for mp3 tagging too :)

    1. Re:UK has Shazam Already by cyklo · · Score: 1

      The last few times I've used it I've received no reply back, not even a failiure message. I've even tried it in front of my hifi as a test. I've given up on it now.

    2. Re:UK has Shazam Already by Mwongozi · · Score: 3, Informative

      I've found it to be quite accurate even with old/obscure stuff.

      The web site is really horrible, but you don't need to use it. Just dial 2580 (UK networks only) and hold the phone up to the music for 30 seconds.

    3. Re:UK has Shazam Already by indicavia · · Score: 2, Informative

      This kind of service has been available here in the small country of Norway for a while too! Trough the largest phone provider, Telenor.

    4. Re:UK has Shazam Already by pete6677 · · Score: 5, Funny

      Yep, its pretty accurate. I called them up, farted into the phone, and it gave the name of some Backstreet Boys song.

    5. Re:UK has Shazam Already by Phantasmo · · Score: 1

      Fido and Rogers in Toronto have had this for some time, too.
      I'm guessing it's just MusicBrainz hooked up to the cell network.

      --

      The US Army: promoting democracy through unquestioned obedience
    6. Re:UK has Shazam Already by Sinus0idal · · Score: 1

      Yup not only that, but so has the 'listen to' and 'identify' id3 tagger mentioned... oh well. http://www.musicbrainz.org/

    7. Re:UK has Shazam Already by nosleep_tolkachi · · Score: 1

      if it works, this would make a sweet, small party circle game. so here's the break down-
      everyone has 1) a cell 2) access to a good music collection 3) optional liquor/beer
      susie picks the song and bobby calls, if susie's song gets ident (bobby gets charged a dolla), but susie has to pour / buy bobby a drink.
      so susie's not only putting her liqour on the line, but her musical taste as well-

    8. Re:UK has Shazam Already by rainman_bc · · Score: 1

      Didn't Sony also come out with something like this a couple years ago? IIRC it was dirt cheap too - like $20 or so...

      --
      09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0
    9. Re:UK has Shazam Already by pete6677 · · Score: 3, Funny

      Wow, I didn't realize there were Backdoor Boys fans on Slashdot with mod points tonight. I must have struck a nerve.

    10. Re:UK has Shazam Already by SeventyBang · · Score: 1

      It's been available in the US for a few years as well. Advertised as, "if you're driving down the road, hear a song on the radio, dial your cell, and hold it up to the radio..."

      I suppose someone decided their "approved" count was 0-for and they wanted to take a swing with the bat.

      I suppose duplicating information across a couple of years is better than repeating the story across a few weeks, eh?

    11. Re:UK has Shazam Already by mo^ · · Score: 1

      oooooh a bar?!? how exciting.... a strictly regulated establishment where the owners have the power to kick you out at any time... must rush t one right away

      --
      bah!*@%!
    12. Re:UK has Shazam Already by moon-monster · · Score: 1

      I found it did pretty good on obscure stuff. It correctly identified three different slayer songs that *I* couldn't differentiate between. It also got stuff by the Ozric Tentacles. It didn't recognise Current 93, or me singing happy birthday though.

      --
      "Pokey, are you drunk on love?" "Yes. Also whiskey. But mostly love... and whiskey."
    13. Re:UK has Shazam Already by HaydnH · · Score: 1

      It's been around for ages but the onlt time I've heard of anyone doing it was when it first came out as a novelty, that quickly died off.

      Haydn.

      --
      Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so. - Douglas Adams
    14. Re:UK has Shazam Already by vortigern00 · · Score: 1

      you can say that again. Why is it all european web sites seem to have the picture of a very european (i.e. wussy) looking guy on the front. Don't you think they would be too embarrased to put one of their silly faces up there?

    15. Re:UK has Shazam Already by Howie · · Score: 1

      Only if you consider "musical taste" to be directly proportional to obscurity, which is pretty weak.

      --
      "don't fall into the fallacy of believing that Perl can solve social problems. Maybe Perl 6 can, but that's a ways off"
    16. Re:UK has Shazam Already by nosleep_tolkachi · · Score: 1

      considering the absolutely stagnant billboard charts , i would say that there is some relationship. given the shear percentage of crap on the radio / clear channel / mtv, it is my (working) opinion that if it isn't being played on the mtv, and someone is buying it (i.e. economical to distribute through normal channels), probability says it's good stuff. so is this how i find music? poking through record stores, and buying on tangents and whim? sure is. does this dictate my musical taste as being superb? no- but it is.

    17. Re:UK has Shazam Already by deaddrunk · · Score: 1

      As opposed to the stereotypical grossly over-weight American?

      --
      Does a Christian soccer team even need a goalkeeper?
  3. Old news by Guspaz · · Score: 2, Insightful

    There have been services like this around for years. When I got a new cell phone a few months ago it came with advertising for just such a service, and I had heard about such services ages before that.

  4. FTS by FLAGGR · · Score: 1

    Wouldn't this technology be great for fixing up all those ID3 tags?"

    Not at .99$ a pop. I'm surprised google hasn't done something like this, though.

  5. Been there, done that .... by Paul+Lamere · · Score: 5, Informative

    Wouldn't this technology be great for fixing up all those ID3 tags? MusicBrainz

    1. Re:Been there, done that .... by yakhan451 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Am I the only one that doesn't have good luck with MusicBrainz? I've tried it many times and it rarely gets it right. Maybe it only works with really common stuff, but my tastes aren't too off the wall.

      I've seen people asking for bulk retagging using MusicBrainz for my favorite music player, but boyhowdy, if I sent my collection through it, I'd never be able to find anything again. =]

      In short... if this service is anything like MusicBrainz I hope they offer refunds.

    2. Re:Been there, done that .... by MankyD · · Score: 1

      Music Brainz first checks the audio fingerprint before checking ID3 tags. It only uses the ID3 tags if it can't find a matching fingerprint. If anything, I would assume this would be less accurate, as sound quality over phones is less than that of even low-encoded mp3's.

      --
      -dave
      http://millionnumbers.com/ - own the number of your dreams
    3. Re:Been there, done that .... by mister_tim · · Score: 1

      No, Music Brainz looks mainly at the length of the track in milliseconds - at least, that is my understanding.

      I imagine this service would compare the actual wave form of the sound played to it through the phone with the waveform of sounds in it's database. I don't believe that Music Brainz does that, as it would essentially require a copy of every matched song to be present in its database.

      I may have some of my terminology wrong, but I hope it's clear what I'm getting at.

    4. Re:Been there, done that .... by Nasarius · · Score: 3, Interesting
      No. MusicBrainz uses fingerprinting of the waveform (a kind of one-way hash, so it doesn't store the actual music). I find the track length on ripped songs usually varies by a few seconds anyway, so the exact length is really only useful in identifying the original CDs, which MusicBrainz can also do.

      In my experience, it works fairly well and only gets confused when the same recording has been released on multiple albums ("best of", remasters, etc).

      --
      LOAD "SIG",8,1
    5. Re:Been there, done that .... by mister_tim · · Score: 1

      Thanks for the correction there - that's helpful. I find Music Brainz to be pretty good, but not perfect - apart from the multiple releases issue, sometimes I just get completely wrong recommendations.

      Anyway, this over the phone service won't be fingerprinting a whole song, since it needs to work by only hearing a small sample. Whatever it will do, it will be different than the way Music brainz works.

    6. Re:Been there, done that .... by blechx · · Score: 1

      Too bad there are only versions for macOS and Windows, I havnt been able to find any _working_ taggers for gnu/linux at all.

    7. Re:Been there, done that .... by MoonBuggy · · Score: 1

      MusicBrainz does work very well (not perfect, but very well) at what it does. What is lacking, however, is content in the database - we need more users submitting info to make it a truly useful service.

    8. Re:Been there, done that .... by swillden · · Score: 1

      Too bad there are only versions for macOS and Windows, I havnt been able to find any _working_ taggers for gnu/linux at all.

      % apt-cache search musicbrainz
      amarok - versatile and easy to use audio player for KDE
      libmusicbrainz-ruby1.8 - Ruby interface to musicbrainz
      libmusicbrainz2 - Second generation incarnation of the CD Index - library
      libmusicbrainz2-dev - Second generation incarnation of the CD Index - development
      libmusicbrainz4 - Second generation incarnation of the CD Index - library
      libmusicbrainz4-dev - Second generation incarnation of the CD Index - development
      libtunepimp-bin - libtunepimp simple tagging applications
      libtunepimp-perl - libtunepimp perl bindings
      libtunepimp2 - MusicBrainz tagging library and simple tagger application
      libtunepimp2-dev - MusicBrainz tagging library -- development files
      python-musicbrainz - Second generation incarnation of the CD Index - library
      python-tunepimp - libtunepimp python bindings (default package)
      python2.1-musicbrainz - Second generation incarnation of the CD Index - library
      python2.2-musicbrainz - Second generation incarnation of the CD Index - library
      python2.2-tunepimp - libtunepimp Python 2.2 bindings
      python2.3-musicbrainz - Second generation incarnation of the CD Index - library
      python2.3-tunepimp - libtunepimp Python 2.3 bindings
      libtunepimp1 - MusicBrainz tagging library and simple tagger application
      libtunepimp1-dev - MusicBrainz tagging library -- development files

      Of course you did emphasize "working", so maybe you've already looked into these? I've never had a need for tagging tools.

      --
      Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
    9. Re:Been there, done that .... by glesga_kiss · · Score: 1
      I find the track length on ripped songs usually varies by a few seconds anyway, so the exact length is really only useful in identifying the original CD

      IIRC, the "TRM" identification used by MusicBrainz only uses the first 30 seconds of the track, so I've seen it match tracks that were two secs longer/shorter on my machine than the DB has listed.

  6. Well by pHatidic · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Wouldn't this technology be great for fixing up all those ID3 tags?

    Well with google you can already do this for free. However, the catch is that you need good enough pitch to know what the notes are. But if you can get them (or close enough), then you can type them in to get the song.

    1. Re:Well by fredistheking · · Score: 1

      Or you can simply type some of the lyrics.

    2. Re:Well by Infinityis · · Score: 1

      Really? How do you tell Google what the notes are?

      I've been considering setting up a audio search website where you actually just hum, sing, or do whatever into a microphone and it'll match up the closest audio file. To support such a service, I'd set up an affiliate account with Amazon or iTunes or something, if the match can be made with a commercial record, and the person wants to buy it, there's a small, steady stream of income from that.

      Then, when Google says "Hey! That's cool!", they buy it up for a few million, and I get to spend the rest of my days coding big things instead of writing something to pay the bills from month to month.

      -David

      P.S. Google, I'm still a student, so if you want to hire me and/or buy the idea from me, I'd love to work there!

      P.S.S. If Google and/or Amazon isn't interested (yet), anyone else interested in forming a start-up?

    3. Re:Well by dnixon112 · · Score: 5, Funny

      Thanks for the idea!

      Sincerely,
      Google

    4. Re:Well by bluegreenone · · Score: 1

      Can you please give an example of how this is done?

    5. Re:Well by RedCard · · Score: 1

      P.S.S. If Google and/or Amazon isn't interested (yet), anyone else interested in forming a start-up?

      Everyone is always interested in forming a startup. I'm interested, you're interested, half the people here are interested. If you're interested in keeping your idea, though, broadcasting it to a million programmers may not be the best way to go about it.

      Do you really have the time to devote to it... or at least something, though? If so, I'm right here.

      redcard411@XgXmXaXiXlX.XcXoXm ...remove X to reply

    6. Re:Well by Dominic_Mazzoni · · Score: 3, Informative

      People have been working on this problem for a long time. Check out papers published at ISMIR (International Symposium/Conference on Music Information Retrieval) for the academic work. The algorithms and technology are there, no question - the problem is the business model and the licensing. It seems simple, until you try to talk to record executives who don't want to license you access to their music catalog. It seems counterintuitive, since in theory it would make them more money, but they apparently don't see it that way.

      Also, while it's technically feasible, it does get significantly more difficult computationally when you want to search an entire library of songs.

      Here's an example of a free site that has the technology implemented, just without the database of popular songs (it works great for classical melodies).

      Not trying to discourage you - the point being, either go into this because you think the tech is cool but don't expect to make money, or if your goal is to get rich, become a business major and be prepared to spend all of your time meeting with VC execs and recording industry leaders, rather than building cool tech.

    7. Re:Well by Infinityis · · Score: 1

      Thanks for the link...I was unaware of it's existence, and now that I know about it, I feel a bit less inclined to do it. Part of it was just the novelty of the idea, that searches should not be restricted to text-based media. The business end of it, I wasn't thinking too much about, simply if it would be feasible to make money doing it.

      I wonder though how hard it would be to "crawl" through Amazon and collect the 30 second song clips---Yeah it might not give a complete enough picture, but it'd be a start.

      Thanks again for the link!

    8. Re:Well by eddeye · · Score: 3, Informative

      Wouldn't this technology be great for fixing up all those ID3 tags?

      Well with google you can already do this for free.

      I'll do you one better: musicbrainz recognizes songs by music fingerprint. The API is rough around the edges but it works pretty well. I cobbled together a python script to tag my 1300 mp3s and it identified all but a handful correctly. I'll throw a copy up on this page later for anyone who's interested.

      --
      Democracy is two wolves and a sheep voting on lunch.
    9. Re:Well by Nasarius · · Score: 1
      I'll throw a copy up on this page [eddeye.net] later for anyone who's interested.

      Please do! It'll probably save me lots of time trying to write a decent tagger from scratch.

      --
      LOAD "SIG",8,1
    10. Re:Well by eddeye · · Score: 1

      Done (depending on your definition of "decent" :).

      --
      Democracy is two wolves and a sheep voting on lunch.
    11. Re:Well by omeomi · · Score: 1

      I've been considering setting up a audio search website where you actually just hum, sing, or do whatever into a microphone and it'll match up the closest audio file

      Something similar to this (pdf link at top of page)?

      http://www.gersic.com/static.php?page=static050315 -041917

      and this?

      http://www.gersic.com/static.php?page=static050327 -010011

      It's actually not too hard to do with a small data set, but it gets really difficult to give accurate results quickly with a big dataset (especially since many songs have similar melodies).

    12. Re:Well by Infinityis · · Score: 1

      Something similar, but I'd probably also try to figure out how to match it up with more than just midi files. But yes, the concept is the same...

    13. Re:Well by omeomi · · Score: 1

      The system compares monophonic audio files, not midi files. The audio files are transcribed and quantized to MIDI notes (Middle C = 60, etc.) to make the comparison process more efficient.

    14. Re:Well by mo^ · · Score: 1

      i believe similar technology already exists in Japan for finding the karaoke song of your choice (hum the song, the karaoke machine finds it). so pre-existing patents are guaranteed.

      not sure of this so if any japanese geeks know more, please inform me...

      --
      bah!*@%!
    15. Re:Well by xerxesdaphat · · Score: 1

      And how much of my mp3 collection has lyrics/words/singing at all? I have more than 20gig of jazz/classical... not everybody listens to commercial pop music. Although I'm not sure how accurate this system would be identifying non-recent/commercial music anyhow...

      --
      The Shoes of the Fisherman's Wife Are Some Jive Ass Slippers
    16. Re:Well by clickety6 · · Score: 1

      ..and unless the song is an instrumental just look up "lyrics" and "...a phrase from the song..." on Google or your favouriteb search engine and you'll get the song name from one of 100s of lyrics sites... !!

      --
      ----------------------------------- My Other Sig Is Hilarious -----------------------------------
  7. AT&T already did this by Logic+Bomb · · Score: 4, Informative

    AT&T Wireless did this a year ago. See http://www.mobilemag.com/content/100/340/C2723/ for a typical summary

  8. Old Hat by civman2 · · Score: 3, Informative
    I believe that ATT Wireless has been offering a service like this for over a year. The only difference is that their service is only a three digit number and you don't need to pay out of the nose for it.

    "The new "#ID" music service is provided by San Francisco-based Musicphone in cooperation UK-based Shazam Entertainment, which operates a propriety recognition database of more than one million recorded songs. AT&T Wireless customers can trial the music recognition service at no charge beyond standard airtime charges when they first dial "#ID." Afterwards, the service costs $.99 cents, plus standard airtime charges, each time they use it." -mobilemag.com


    unless this is a year old news story...
    1. Re:Old Hat by Mr2001 · · Score: 1

      The only difference is that their [AT&T's] service is only a three digit number and you don't need to pay out of the nose for it.

      AT&T's more expensive, not less. The service in TFA is $0.99 for the first 5 uses (~20 cents each), then $0.99 per use afterward (same price as AT&T's).

      --
      Visual IRC: Fast. Powerful. Free.
    2. Re:Old Hat by swiftstream · · Score: 1

      Afterwards, the service costs $.99 cents, plus standard airtime charges, each time they use it.

      Uh, it looks to me like the price is the same.

      Does ATT not take it out of the nose, then, but some other bodily cavity?

      --
      Be a PATRIOT--because the only thing we have to fear is the lack thereof.
  9. Think of the marketing possiblities by davidwr · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Think of the *insertevilnesslevelhere* possibities.

    They know your phone #, they know what song you are listening to, the probably know what radio station is playing the song, and they can find out your address and probably your name.

    If they don't have a good privacy policy, I won't be using their service.

    --
    Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
    1. Re:Think of the marketing possiblities by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      So THIS is where the tin hats are being handed out at in this discussion, great! I've been looking for one.

    2. Re:Think of the marketing possiblities by jam3s · · Score: 1, Funny

      Yes .. we have been foiled again!

    3. Re:Think of the marketing possiblities by niteice · · Score: 1

      My God. That is the worst worst worst WORST WORST pun I have ever seen.

      --
      ROMANES EUNT DOMUS
    4. Re:Think of the marketing possiblities by jrockway · · Score: 1

      > Birthday: 659368320

      $ date -r 659368320
      Fri Nov 23 07:52:00 CST 1990

      Damn 14 year-olds on slashdot... epoch times aren't that cool....

      --
      My other car is first.
    5. Re:Think of the marketing possiblities by utexaspunk · · Score: 1

      yes, good god! the phone company might know your phone number! they might know where you live! your name! heavens- they might even send you a bill!

    6. Re:Think of the marketing possiblities by niteice · · Score: 1

      1) I felt like inserting the epoch time.
      2) It was actually 8:52.

      --
      ROMANES EUNT DOMUS
  10. Great? by saskboy · · Score: 1

    "This comes at a price, though. 99 cents for your first 5 songs, and then 99 cents a song after that. However, Wouldn't this technology be great for fixing up all those ID3 tags?""

    Ahh, yeah? Brilliant if you own stock in AT&T maybe...

    --
    Saskboy's blog is good. 9 out of 10 dentists agree.
    1. Re:Great? by saskboy · · Score: 1

      There's also The Hum Line. You phone a weekend radio show on CBC [Basic Black] and hum or sing a few lines of the song, and the pannel of 3 people has a week to come up with the name of the song, and some details about it, and they review the answers the next weekend.

      --
      Saskboy's blog is good. 9 out of 10 dentists agree.
    2. Re:Great? by saskboy · · Score: 1

      People call throughout the week, and it's a radio show that is only a segment of the longer show, and only on Saturday [replayed Sunday on CBC 2 I think].

      --
      Saskboy's blog is good. 9 out of 10 dentists agree.
  11. Old news? by balamw · · Score: 1

    AT&T Wireless has had its own version of this for a while now, #ID. http://www.wirelessweek.com/article/CA521810.html. Looks like this offering is from MusiKube as mentioned in the linked article.

    Note that from a PC you could always use http://www.musicbrainz.org/ if you're trying to fix those ID3 tags.

    B
  12. XM Radio by taped2thedesk · · Score: 4, Insightful

    For $13 a month, I'll just stick to XM Radio... it shows me the title and artist of the song I'm listening to. It can even record that info so that I can go back to it later and buy the song or album when I get home. Sure, it won't identify arbitrary music (just the song currently playing on the tuned station), but it seems like the only time I try to figure out the name of a song is when I'm listening to it on the radio.

    1. Re:XM Radio by mvdde_xh · · Score: 1

      I think I will stick with regular free radio that displays the artist and title. Almost all the stations in the US are sending this info. You just need a radio that can display it. Just look for the RDS logo.

  13. And after they charge you $.99 for IDing the song, by Stephen+Samuel · · Score: 2, Funny

    The RIAA will send you a writ of suit asking $30,000 for violating their copyright.

    --
    Free Software: Like love, it grows best when given away.
  14. Fixing ID3 Tags by Gamzarme · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Wouldn't this technology be great for fixing up all those ID3 tags?"

    Well, another great way to accomplish this is to just have one piece of information, such as the artists name or song name, or even album and type it into Google. But if you are really desperate, you can just Google the lyrics or a catch phrase in the lyrics. It's simple, really.

    --
    Pat
  15. Service for slashdot by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    I am waiting for the service that allows you to hold your camera phone up to your computer screen and it tells you if the slashdot article is a dupe. (which this one is)

    1. Re:Service for slashdot by mshiltonj · · Score: 1

      I am waiting for the service that allows you to hold your camera phone up to your computer screen and it tells you if the slashdot article is a dupe. (which this one is)

      Or, if it's a slashvertisement. (which this one is)

    2. Re:Service for slashdot by lordofthechia · · Score: 1

      Or how about a 411 service that really works with your camera phone. Snap a picture of an attractive girl at a bar and have it return her name and phone number (also if it gave you the name of her old high school and 12th grade english teacher that would be a plus!).

      On second thought, that would be kinda creepy... nevermind.

      --
      Georgia Tech, the leader in Chia(tm) technology.
    3. Re:Service for slashdot by whoopass · · Score: 1

      Most guys would just ask her for her number rather than architect a system to atomatically get her phone number from a camera phone photo

      Oh, what's the point?

    4. Re:Service for slashdot by Cougem · · Score: 1

      If you don't know if it's a dupe, then surely it doesn't matter?

    5. Re:Service for slashdot by MauricioC · · Score: 1

      Here's the code for the service:

      int
      main(int argc, char** argv)
      {
      printf("This article is a dupe");
      return 0;
      }

  16. Only for popular songs. Bah-Humbug! by SeaFox · · Score: 4, Insightful

    While a service like this is truly incredible, as people from the UK (who have had it for a few years) have pointed out, these services usually only work on "popular" songs. Songs that probably get played twenty times a day on U.S. top-40 radio, with oppertunities to find out the name quite often.

    The branches of music this would be most useful for (Indie Rock, Electronic, Jazz and Classical) are unfortunately the ones the system will rarely recognize.

    1. Re:Only for popular songs. Bah-Humbug! by Cocodude · · Score: 1
      While a service like this is truly incredible, as people from the UK (who have had it for a few years) have pointed out, these services usually only work on "popular" songs. Songs that probably get played twenty times a day on U.S. top-40 radio, with oppertunities to find out the name quite often.
      I disagree. I've had Shazam work extremely well with some old 70s songs right through to some heavy trance songs in clubs that aren't really played much on UK radio. It didn't work with theme tunes though, which is unfortunate, and I've heard it doesn't work with classical tunes either.
    2. Re:Only for popular songs. Bah-Humbug! by soliptic · · Score: 1
      You've got +5 insightful, but I don't know why, because your post is pure unfounded speculation.

      I played Shazam some obscure rare groove tunes off my 1970s vinyl (pitched/sped up to plus four, no less, just to really test the technology) and it identified them.

      If it knows one-hit wonders from the funk of 30 years ago, it'll probably do perfectly ok with something like "indie rock", which is scarcely 'underground' at all.

  17. cheap solution by jeffy124 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    easy and free: figure out a few words in sequence, enter them into google using quotes, add the word lyrics outside teh quotes, and you can usually get the full song info quite easily.

    if the song is stuck in your head, lyrics should be little trouble

    --
    The One Rule Of Chess You'll Ever Need: Don't play someone who carries a kit in their bookbag.
  18. the brits have this already... by ogleslurp · · Score: 1
  19. This has been around for a while by apoKalypse · · Score: 2, Informative

    Up here in Canada, both Rogers Wireless and Fido have been offering #DJ (#35) from your cell phone to look up songs. It will text message you the song, and also allow ringtone downloads if they are found.

  20. Slashvertisement. by winkydink · · Score: 1

    nothing more.

    Also, I didn't see where the cost was free if it mis-identified your song, or how to request a refund, for that matter.

    --

    "I'd rather be a lightning rod than a seismometer." -Ken Kesey

  21. Huh... by Teja · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I know this may sound redundant but wouldn't it be much easier to just GOOGLE the lyrics of the song and wait for results? While you may not always be near a computer with internet access (well with more and more cell phones offering internet access, it is much easier) that maybe the time where that service come useful for one.

    --
    - Teja
    1. Re:Huh... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      > I know this may sound redundant but wouldn't it be much easier to just GOOGLE the lyrics of the song and wait for results?

      Doesn't seem to work with my Dave Brubeck CD's, strangely enough...

    2. Re:Huh... by wyldeone · · Score: 1

      I know this may sound redundant but wouldn't it be much easier to just GOOGLE the lyrics of the song and wait for results?

      That's great if your songs have lyrics. But what about instrumental pieces? I listen to a lot of celtic, swedish, old-timey, etc. fiddle tunes which do not have those handy indentifiers.

      --
      In the beginning the universe was created. This made a lot of people very angry and is widely considered as a bad move.
    3. Re:Huh... by mikis · · Score: 1

      How do you "Google" for songs with no lyrics?

      But you can always try... Like one guy who asked on the forum: what is the name of that French song with accordeon which goes, "Tur-lu-tu-tu-tu"?

      (A: In Grid - Tu es foutu :))

    4. Re:Huh... by esconsult1 · · Score: 1
      Remembered I was travelling once and heard a great classical piece on NPR. I would have died to know what the title was and it is forever lost to my imagination. Would have been great to source it, as the announcer just cavalierly skipped introducing the title.

      This service is just great for those one time uses.

  22. Who needs this service? by lcnxw · · Score: 1

    Sure, there have been times when I've wanted to know the name of the song I was listening to. Usually I just jot down some of the lyrics and if I really cared I google for the song later. For free. and in the rare case that the song isn't online (indie band) then I highly doubt 411SONG will know it either.

    I can only see this as a bad thing. How many people will end up in car accidents because they pull out their phone while driving and reach to hold the phone to the speaker, then look at the phone and read what it is. Its likely that most people won't care that much and will hear it again on the radio. I doubt this service will be able to ID songs that aren't in the top of their respective charts.

    Unless the advertise this on MTV or another popular TV station, I can't see this service really taking off. I have a feeling most people would rather buy the song off iTunes than find out who performs it for the same price.

  23. 99 by SeaFox · · Score: 1

    Then again, you could take that 99 and use it to buy the song on iTunes and own it legally.

    But you have to figure out what the song is first!

  24. ridiculous by bluegreenone · · Score: 1

    They will never be able to build a big enough user base charging $0.99 just to identify a song. If they were smart/could get the rights they should set it up so that the service IDs the song and *sells you a copy* for something like $1.50. That makes the transaction way more useful and fun for the user, and the service gets to keep the 50 cents convenience fee. Doing this way in my opinion is a recipe for failure and probably isn't financially viable.

  25. Tommy Twotone by Laebshade · · Score: 1

    It would've been more appropriate for them to buy 8675309...

    Stewie: Ok now home number... oh yes. 8675309.. *ring ring* Wait that's not it. DAMN YOU TOMMY TWO TONE!

  26. a couple of things.... by yagu · · Score: 4, Insightful

    A couple of things: (I actually had been thinking about this service the other day -- I had seen it demo'ed on TV quite a while ago. I thought it was interesting and had just been wondering what had happened to the concept. I never missed it, just thought it was interesting, for a couple of reasons:

    • I tried to think how many times I've encountered just that need to identify a song -- turns out, at least for me, not that many. I do have a good ear and memory for music, but I can only think of once or twice in my life where I really felt the NEED to have this kind of service. I wouldn't pay anything for it regardless.
    • Do we really need yet another distraction from driving? While I can sympathize with most cellphone users it becomes almost (almost!) a necessary evil to occasionally talk on a cellphone while driving (though I do think it a bit over used and abused and probably has contributed to an accident or two), I cringe at the thought of people fumbling for their phone not only to dial up and "use" this service, but to do it under the auspices of a deadline, i.e., before the song ends on the radio. I think this just asks for trouble!
    • How accurate can this really be? The demo I saw was impressive, but for the songs I need ID'ed, they are much more obscure and the stats and performance of the demo I saw (let me emphasize I'm not totally positive it was one and the same as referenced here, but how many of these can there be?) the accuracy was good for most, but fell a bit for the less mainstream stuff -- which is the stuff I need ID's for.
    • How good is it for: Jazz; Classical; ID'ing specific rendition of a song (cover vs. original recording)?

    Bottom line for me -- I don't need it.... Sometimes I feel like we're turning into a world that's a microwave oven with 100 power level settings! And just how many power level settings do we really need to live healthy, productive, and fulfilling lives?

    1. Re:a couple of things.... by pherthyl · · Score: 2, Interesting

      It's not about what we need. It's about what people will buy.
      If the bottom line is that you don't need it, then don't use it. I can never understand people complaining about technology they think is useless. Exactly what impact does it have on your life if they make a microwave with 100 power levels?

      I'll tell you, NONE. But for the dude around the corner, it's what he's been looking for, and more importantly, what he'll shell out a couple bills for.

      Concerning the song identification, I think it's pretty neat. My cell phone carrier, Fido, has had this for quite some time (#DJ) and it works impressively well. Musicbrainz is similar for tagging MP3s, but I haven't had much success with it. It quite often misidentifies songs. What I really want is some sort of program that you could run that performs the analysis on whatever is being put out on the soundcard and then tries to guess the song title from that. Now that would be cool for figuring out the title of songs streamed from the internet, or in movies.

    2. Re:a couple of things.... by ANeufeld · · Score: 1

      Considering that cell phones use highly optimized VOCODERS to compress *voice* down to 8k (or 13k) bps, most *music* will fail the coding process. Try it for yourself - call your home phone from your cell, hold the cell to the radio, and listen on your home phone. You'll hear *words* with little or no music - the amount of music coming through depending on the instruments and the specific vocoder.

      To have a good change a determining what the song is, you'll want to have your 15-second snippit during the a lyrics portion, not an instrumental portion.

      For purely instrumental music, such as classical, I can't imagine much hope of identifying it.

    3. Re:a couple of things.... by srleffler · · Score: 1
      I call B.S. That's not how compression works. Yes, the phones are probably optimized for the best possible voice reproduction in a limited bandwidth. No, that does not mean that music is not also transmitted.

      Have you ever been put on hold? Did they play music? Case closed.

  27. Ear worms by lheal · · Score: 1
    Apparently "ear worms" is the scientific term for a musical cognitive itch. An ear worm comes from knowing a little bit of a song, causing your brain to demand to know the rest.

    There are two known ways to get rid of them:

    1. Google the lyrics, buy or download the tune, and learn the whole song well enough for your brain to be satisfied.
    2. (My personal favorite is to) sing or hum just enough of the song to give them to someone else.
    --
    Raise your children as if you were teaching them to raise your grandchildren, because you are.
  28. Perhaps I should ask /. by Senor_Programmer · · Score: 1

    How the hell can I get funding for my dumnbass ideas???

    "idea powering"?
    this idea couldn't power a mouse to lick his ass.

    The idjits obviously never bother to listen to the radio. The DJ doesn't say, "and now feast your ears on this latest from Captain Beefheart"
    No, he waits until the end of play or maybe a few plays and then announces, "you've just heard Blind Willy McFee singing 'Short Irish Girl Blues'. which was preceeded by Roy Rogers and Dale Evans singing that old favorite 'Trigger Braunsweiger, It Be da Best' and preceeding that the Opossum Brothers instrumental version of 'Wild Wood Weed'".

    But if you can't waut for the DeeJay, pray tell, how the hell is the service gonna distinguish between the 103 different covers of Ring of Fire or 88 covers of Ghost Riders in The Sky???

  29. No, I'm New Here by New+Here · · Score: 2, Funny

    No, I'm New Here

    1. Re:No, I'm New Here by WhatAmIDoingHere · · Score: 2, Funny

      How do you find every single "You must be New Here" post and reply so quickly?

      --
      Not a Twitter sockpuppet... but I wish I was.
    2. Re:No, I'm New Here by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny
      > How do you find every single "You must be New Here" post and reply so quickly?

      Heh, this guy must be new here too!

    3. Re:No, I'm New Here by lolocaust · · Score: 1

      1. Change view to -1, nested.

      2. In firefox type "you must be new here".

      3. ???

      4. Proft!!!

      --
      Why does my post history abruptly stop? I want to laugh at the stupid things I posted as a kid.
  30. I can name that tune in 3 notes! by stinkpad · · Score: 2, Funny

    Gee... they could have made a game show of that.
    Oh... wait...

  31. id3 tags? by E+IS+mC(Square) · · Score: 1

    Well, Media Tagger works wonderfully well with freedb.org. But yeah, for those rest 10%, this may be helpful.

  32. An alternate approach by 3770 · · Score: 1

    I believe that they are using some type of sound recognition system.

    An alternative approach would be to have your central server tuned in on all the radio stations.

    And then when a caller calls in all the server has to do is find the channel that matches the song that comes through the phone. That can probably be done with very good precision.

    I'm not sure, but I believe that most radio stations have lists of all the songs they play and when they played it. So then you can find the song.

    Some radio stations also send out the song title for display on special radios. I forget what that technology is called (sorry).

    This is possibly so simple that it could be set up by a private person without a lot of financial means.

    --
    The Internet is full. Go Away!!!
  33. Get a device that will do it for you by cureless · · Score: 1

    The Neuros (audio computer) will do it for you. When you listen to radio on it, hit the record button. When you sync it'll id the song for you (using MusicBrainz or something similar).

    cl

    --
    Reply . . . let's get it over with.
  34. They're confident! by Bifurcati · · Score: 1
    While I'm inclined to believe it will probably work just as well as the image recognition software posted a few weeks ago (i.e., not very well), if they're getting you to pay for it (and as much as a song on iTunes, no less!) then they're obviously confident!

    I wonder if you get your money back if it can't identify the song, or if it identifies it incorrectly? I can see it being a bit of a minefield for customer satisfaction unless they really do have a top class product...

  35. A song I can't find anything about... by Stormwatch · · Score: 1

    The song title is "Sexual", by a band called "Goddess".

    I've never found the lyrics for it. All I can find is GnR's "Buick Mackane", neopagan/tantra/whatever stuff, and pr0n.

    1. Re:A song I can't find anything about... by pyrrhonist · · Score: 1
      The song title is "Sexual", by a band called "Goddess".

      I'm replying, because I know how annoying this can be. I checked 10 of the top lyric search engines, and the song just doesn't exist (at least to them).

      This is the only information I found on that song.

      Good luck!

      --
      Show me on the doll where his noodly appendage touched you.
    2. Re:A song I can't find anything about... by Stormwatch · · Score: 1

      Thanks! (will someone please mod him/her +1 informative?)

  36. UK have had this for a while! by SilentSheep · · Score: 1
    We have had this in th UK for at least a year now. Dial 2580 hold it up near a speaker, it automatically disconnects after 20 seconds. A minute or so later u recieve an SMS with the name of the song and the artist.

    Its great when u want to cheat in a pub quiz.

    I've always wondered how it works, pretty damn clever if you ask me!

    --
    .
  37. ATT wireless had this... by chevybowtie · · Score: 1

    ...over a year ago. Worked everytime; surprised me. I don't know if they still have it since being swallowed by Cingular.

  38. Just and idea... by krin · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Instead of paying a buck to figure out the name of the song you just heard on the radio.. you could try calling the station and asking. I have called a local station a few times in the past and they've been more then happy to tell me the name of a song they just played.

    You could try their website as well, a lot of stations are putting their playlists up on their sites now; as long as you have a good idea of when the song was played it should not be to hard to figure it out.

    And of course as others have mentioned, the almighty Google.
    I just can not see anyone paying a buck to figure out a song title.

    --
    There is no spork.
  39. Release the hounds! by Slavinski · · Score: 1


    Oh no! Preparing for the rush of Giligan's Island jokes...

  40. Flawed by bryan8m · · Score: 1

    What if I'm not quick enough to get my phone up to the speaker? It would be more convenient for me to hum/sing a few notes from the song and then get the title/author.

    1. Re:Flawed by Colourspace · · Score: 1

      if you cared you would be quick enough.

  41. I submitted this as a story over a year ago. by AugstWest · · Score: 1

    Suddenly it's news. Huh. Too bad it wasn't accepted then.

    Slow news day? :]

  42. Lazy. by P0ldy · · Score: 1

    I guess I'm just oldfashioned to type a few of the lyrics into google with "lyrics" attached to the string and figure it out that way. And Metadata is a quicker and more efficient way for tagging mp3s anyway (considering the 15 seconds of each track that would have to be played for each song).

  43. Audio watermarking? by nurb432 · · Score: 1

    Is this using the same technology that is supposed to ID a song 'out on the net' and autogenerate a take down letter/suit?

    --
    ---- Booth was a patriot ----
  44. Moodlogic by mikis · · Score: 1

    I used MoodLogic, and it was really good. Only thing is, you either have to pay for using it, or gain "points" by helping create "profiles" for music you have. But it works really, really well.

    1. Re:Moodlogic by Greg@UF · · Score: 1

      Moodlogic was pretty good when it first appeared.

      It's unfortunately pretty much abandoned now.
      No significant code or database updates in years.

      It's a real pity, because it did have a lot of promise, and it just didn't ever live up to that promise.

      --
      -- You can't give it, you can't even buy it, and you just don't get it!
  45. In addition to everything else suggested, by olegm · · Score: 1

    try typing a line into google in quotes with the word lyrics and you can find just about any song .

    --
    Mac os X, Beautiful, elegant, Unix. Need I say more?
    1. Re:In addition to everything else suggested, by bryan8m · · Score: 1

      Most of the time when I can't find a song name, it's because I either don't know the lyrics of there are none.

  46. Re:musicbrainz by szyzyg · · Score: 1

    Surely this is kind of pointless - if you haven't downloaded the tracks then you've most likely ripped them, which means you probably know what the track is ;-)

  47. certainly cheaper, probably better, not perfect by Xtifr · · Score: 1

    That assumes A) the song has lyrics, and B) the lyrics are at all comprehensible (i.e. doesn't work for a lot of rock).

    > if the song is stuck in your head [...]

    If the song is stuck in your head (as opposed to, say, playing on the radio), this service isn't going to do much good, unless it's able to figure out the song when you hum a few bars, which seems pretty unlikely. :)

    Google is pretty good at finding song lyrics for you, but not 100% reliable. Especially if you're mishearing the lyrics - for example, I was trying to find what turned out to be Leadbelly's Linin' Track a while ago, and the closest match I could find was Aerosmith's Hangman Jury, because what I heard as "lie on the track" was, actually, "line 'em track".

    But in general, yeah, Google's pretty good at identifying songs if you have some lyrics. Whereas this new service is likely to be next-to-useless for most purposes. Especially for my main need - identifying tracks on concert recordings I get through Etree.

    I wonder if you get your money back if the service can't identify the song? I could probably stump it over and over and over again with random songs from the Internet Archive's Live Music Archive. :)

    1. Re:certainly cheaper, probably better, not perfect by YrWrstNtmr · · Score: 1
      Especially if you're mishearing the lyrics

      The Archive of Misheard Lyrics to the rescue.

  48. yesnet! by DonniKatz · · Score: 1, Funny

    there is a company called yesnet www.yes.net that has been doing this for radio stations for a few years now. It's what radio station such as Providence's WBRU www.wbru.com (look at the very top) have been using on their websites and such. The only problem is when we (the djs) deviate from the playlist and the program director finds out by looking at the yesnet printouts.... DAMN YOU YESNET!

  49. Already available by ccharles · · Score: 1

    This type of service has been available in Canada from Fido for some time now.

  50. Married with children by isny · · Score: 1

    Does anyone else remember the episode of 'Married with Children' where Al gets a song stuck in his head? I was thinking that this would be useful for that. I tried the google trick, but I couldn't remember the lyrics, either.

  51. Not New by Wireless+Joe · · Score: 1

    AT&T Wireless (now Cingular)has offered this since April of last year.

  52. Moodlogic by speeDDemon+(nw) · · Score: 1

    This is something I havent seen metioned before, Last time I checked (When I paid for my 10,000 song subscription) it was ONLY win32, but it was BRILLIANT at getting the names, id3 tags right on my assorted collection of mp3's. Named about 75% of a 20Gb collection no problemos.

    try it at
    http://www.moodlogic.com/

    really kewl stuff

  53. Singapore too by nigham · · Score: 1

    In some Singapore radio stations, you can SMS a query to the radio station and they'll reply with the name of the song for about 20 US cents.

    --
    I don't want to read /. I want to go home and re-think my life.
    1. Re:Singapore too by citog · · Score: 1

      Can't say I've ever used that service, maybe it's because they play the same shite over and over so it's not needed :) Power fecking 98 and their ilk.

  54. I just call... by Brad1138 · · Score: 1

    Dick Clark, he knows every song ever recorded and only charges me $.50.

    --
    If you could reason with religious people, there would be no religious people
  55. Just google the lyrics by Jtf · · Score: 1

    Just google the lyrics, this will work, unless the song is instrumental. I wonder if radio stations post their song schedules...

  56. Help me by 3770 · · Score: 1


    This might be a long shot. But can anyone help me find the name for this song. It goes something like this:

    Nana... Nana... Hmmm Hmm boom boom ne na na na chi chi chi kapow.

    And then the chorus:

    Na ne no na na na na oooooh ooooh bidi bidi badaaang.

    Please let me know.

    --
    The Internet is full. Go Away!!!
    1. Re:Help me by Vegeta99 · · Score: 1

      No, Sir General, I will not help your son smuggle in $48.6M US DOLLARS of stolen oil money.

      Not today.

  57. Didn't work for me by TheOtherChimeraTwin · · Score: 1
    I've had the same song going around and around in my head for days. When I dialed the number and held the phone to my ear, it didn't even give a guess for the song.

    This service is totally worthless for earworms!

  58. doesn't work by quokkapox · · Score: 1
    It gets Cypress Hill mixed up with Dusty Springfield.

    Nice idea for a CAPTCHA tho...

    --
    it's a blue bright blue Saturday hey hey
  59. I have it with Virgin as well by deansfurniture5 · · Score: 1

    I've got the same service with Virgin Mobile on my cell phone. I'm pretty sure the cost is the same, but I used the free trial once and it seemed to work really well.

  60. 'DJ' service been out over a year (not new) by muonzoo · · Score: 1

    Not at all new. Fido (aka Microcell) now part of the Rogers family launched '#DJ' service last year around this time.

  61. Why not do it on your phone for free instead? by swoopx · · Score: 1
  62. This is a great example of.... by i_want_you_to_throw_ · · Score: 1

    Just because you can, doesn't mean you should. Like Pets.com. Sure pet stuff by mail seems like a good idea but are people really going to go for it? Will people REALLY pay for shipping on a 25 lbs bag of food? Does it fill THAT much of a void? Probably not.

  63. Lawsuit? by PipOC · · Score: 1

    Any bets on how long it takes 411 to sue these people?

  64. Well.... by servoled · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I just tried it with a song which I have been trying to figure out off and on for awhile. 411-song failed on two attempts, which I suppose isn't too suprising. On the bright side they claim that I won't be charged since they didn't identify the song.

    Moodlogic as suggested by other people seems to want me to identify the artist and song title before it will tell me the artist and song title which seems about as worthless as anything.

    If anyone wants to take a crack at it, it is the second song played in this rm file: Glen Jones Radio Programme April 3, 2005

    --
    "I have a porkchop, you have a porkchop. I have a veal, you have a veal".
    1. Re:Well.... by servoled · · Score: 1

      Wrong link, try here: http://www.wfmu.org/listen.ram?show=14706.

      Sorry

      --
      "I have a porkchop, you have a porkchop. I have a veal, you have a veal".
    2. Re:Well.... by prbt · · Score: 1

      I think it's "When Everything Was Perfect" by The Alarm. (It sounds like Mike Peters' voice, and I took a stab at the title, and lo, that song exists - that'll be 99c please :)

  65. Awesome song... by dantheman82 · · Score: 1

    I've just heard this great song about Sarcasm and I'd be happy to pay $.99 to find out the name and another $.99 to download it. I really don't trust Google to find the song based on the lyrics...

    --
    This sig donated to Pater. Long live /.
  66. It's also available in Canada by bcore · · Score: 1

    Originally with Fido, now also with Rogers (since rogers bought Fido). You just dial #DJ on your phone.

  67. Deja Vu? by Sparr0 · · Score: 1

    Hasn't Sprint PCS offered this service as part of their 'Vision' package for like a year now? At no extra cost?

  68. Um, so who cares? by skomes · · Score: 1

    This has been available in Canada through the partnership of rogers and national music network, muchmusic, for over a year now. This is old technology.

  69. Lady Mondegreen by tepples · · Score: 1

    Because of amiright.com, kissthisguy.com, and various blogs, such commonly misheard lyrics will probably already have been thought of by someone else and indexed by Google. In any case, pick phrases that you're most sure of.

  70. do you get charged if by krunk4ever · · Score: 1

    they aren't able to id the song or if they provided the wrong info?

  71. For classical music (without lyrics)... by rdwald · · Score: 1

    ...you can use the Classical Music Seach site. Just type in the melody (any key; it auto-transposes), and it searches for classical songs with that melody. It won't help you with jazz, but if you can't recall the name of a classical piece, this site can help.

  72. Testing by Lullabye_Muse · · Score: 1

    It actually seems to be pretty good at nailing obscure songs, even instrumental tracks.

  73. Lets be honest about this for a second... by merc · · Score: 1

    How often do you have a song in your head and you can't identify the artist? Sure it happens, maybe once in a great while. To be honest when it does happen I'm usually adept enough to google lyrics, and it's as easy as that. Once in a great while an instrumental or unintelligibly enunciated song will stump me.

    At 99 cents for your first 5 songs what they're really asking for $1 per hit. The other 4 songs will probably not be used (and I'll wager there's a time limit on how soon you must use the other 4 songs).

    While the progenitors of this creation get points for originality I have doubt that it has real market value.

    *grumblecakes*

    --
    It's true no man is an island, but if you take a bunch of dead guys and tie 'em together, they make a good raft.
  74. Does anyone really listen to FM radio? by Infonaut · · Score: 1
    I don't mean this as a troll, but in my area there is a serious dearth of anything resembling decent radio programming (according to my tastes, of course). Bubblegum pop, boot-scootin' country, and rehashed rock dominate the dial. I've given up on terrestrial radio a long time ago, and now I learn about and listen to music primarily through other means.

    Maybe this has already been done as a poll, but I wonder how many geeks get their music through FM radio these days.

    --
    Read the EFF's Fair Use FAQ
    1. Re:Does anyone really listen to FM radio? by swordgeek · · Score: 1

      Check out CKUA. I listen to them on broadcast FM, but they also do streaming audio. They don't suck. They occasionally play genres that get coverage on other stations, but they play the rare good stuff in those genres.

      Give 'em a try.

      --

      "People who do stupid things with hazardous materials often die." -- Jim Davidson on alt.folklore.urban
  75. Huh? Just listen to the lyrics by Spacejock · · Score: 1

    If I hear a long-forgotten, once-loved song from the eighties and can't remember who sung it or what the hell it was called, I just listen carefully and scribble down a unique sounding line from the song. Hit google with 'lyrics "some line from the song"' and there you have it. You have to filter out the cheesy 90's remake versions, of course :-) And it's hell with instrumentals and those 'sounds like' guessing games.

    For some reason they rarely announce title & artist on my local stations these days. Probably to stop people running off and downloading it before it's even finished playing.

    1. Re:Huh? Just listen to the lyrics by swordgeek · · Score: 1

      Hmm. Maybe you need to listen to a better quality of radio station. :-)

      Here's a blatant plug.

      My station of choice not only plays fantastic music, but lists _all_ of their playlists online afterwards. They also provide streaming audio feeds, and don't play top 40. It's like campus radio that's grown up.

      No affiliation, but they're great.

      --

      "People who do stupid things with hazardous materials often die." -- Jim Davidson on alt.folklore.urban
    2. Re:Huh? Just listen to the lyrics by Spacejock · · Score: 1

      Do they reach all the way to Australia?
      :-)

    3. Re:Huh? Just listen to the lyrics by swordgeek · · Score: 1

      The streaming feeds do. :-)

      --

      "People who do stupid things with hazardous materials often die." -- Jim Davidson on alt.folklore.urban
  76. 99 cents for a wrong answer? by MidnightBrewer · · Score: 1

    So do I pay 99 cents even if it gets it wrong? Sounds like a pretty sweet deal. I should start up a competing service myself. Of course, people might start getting suspicious when every song seems to be limited to whatever I've got currently loaded on my iPod...thank goodness for shuffle mode!

    --
    "Give a man fire, and he'll be warm for a day; set a man on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life
  77. ID3? by Trogre · · Score: 1

    Didn't that go out with MP3?

    --
    "Nine times out of ten, starting a fire is not the best way to solve the problem." - my wife
  78. Stupid idea by inkswamp · · Score: 1
    Yet another example of the way feature bloat infects everything in technology.

    <sarcasm>Gosh, too bad there wasn't some search engine out there where you could type a line of lyrics and find info about the song that way.</sarcasm>

    --
    --Rick "If it isn't broken, take it apart and find out why."
  79. You can find out what music they play in NPR shows by Optic7 · · Score: 1

    Yeah, NPR plays a lot of great music in between segments of their shows. You can find out what songs they play on their site though:

    http://www.npr.org/templates/music/

    Also, they even have a show dedicated to that same great music:

    http://www.npr.org/programs/asc/index.html

    Maybe you'll be able to find what you were looking for. Good luck.

  80. Does anybody know the technology behind this? by anubi · · Score: 1
    Do they have some sort of fancy digital signal processor and recognition system?

    Or did they hire a bank of really knowledgeable people and have them type back?

    If this is technological, I am quite impressed! Must be one helluva correlator.

    --
    "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]

    1. Re:Does anybody know the technology behind this? by anubi · · Score: 1
      Thank you! Great links!

      "Fingerprinting algorithms", eh?

      With as much music out there as there is, combined with the distortion of the sample we would give them to compare to, I am very impressed they can do this.

      --
      "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]

  81. Hah! I'm an expert at this! by Rolyat69 · · Score: 1

    I work in a fairly common music retail chain. You'd be surprised just how many random people call us, sing horribly into the phone, and ask us to identify the song/artist/album, and then want the sheet music for said song. It's always totally amusing. I kinda hope this whole service doesn't catch on widely. I'll miss the entertainment!

    --
    Hi. I'm Jenn... and I'm addicted to poppy seeds. Now give me my damn everything bagel with creamy cheesy!!!!!!!!!
  82. Their database actually sounds pretty large by Optic7 · · Score: 1

    "The Shazam database has almost 1.6 million tracks on it. This is more than twice what you'll find in the UK's largest music store - and it's growing every day."

    Which is also more tracks than any of the online music stores out there. But I agree, the Electronic and other instrumental tunes will probably be underrepresented. I have a few songs that I got on a CD from an aquaintance, and have been having a hell of a time finding out what they are. I will have to try this musicbrainz that everyone keeps mentioning here.

  83. We've had this in Canada for AGES by IllogicalStudent · · Score: 1

    Fido, I know, at least is #DJ. Can't remember the rest. Rogers has it with their MuchMusic phone package. I think it was standard text messaging rates for a while too.

    --
    But Maaa! Everyone else has a .sig !
  84. Classical Identification by avium · · Score: 1

    I worked on an undergraduate school project to identify music as simply and as cost-effectively as possible using MIDI files. The concept is pretty basic--I spider the web for MIDIs, parse out the tonal data, and store it all in a big searchable database. I created a Java applet piano front-end for easy tonal input, but truth be told I think most people find the interface a little difficult to negotiate.

    I find that this approach works pretty well for classical, though not so much for other musical genres. (The vast majority of MIDI files out there on the Internet are classical owing to copyright infringement laws.) Check out the website at http://www.tuneteller.com/ if you have a care...

    1. Re:Classical Identification by avium · · Score: 1

      Nota Bene: The applet seems broken under Safari for OS X 10.4.

      Try a different browser. =)

  85. Just google the lyrics! by angryflute · · Score: 1

    I've done this on numerous occasion.s

    Once I was in a coffeehouse and the place's subscription servce was playing a song I liked. I took out my notepad, listened to the singer carefully, and wrote down some of the lyrics. Then I googled parts of the lyrics to find them on the Web to identify the song.

    I've done the same thing to songs I've heard featured on TV shows.

    1. Re:Just google the lyrics! by Esine · · Score: 1

      that's so true!
      Too bad you can't google for instrumentals though (those without lyrics).

  86. I heard about this from a VC friend... by IanDanforth · · Score: 1

    About four years ago a friend's dad pitched a group of us with this idea to guage reactions of the target demographic. We all said, "God No!" and told him that a really usefull technology would simply be a car radio that knew what each song was and could download/purchase any song you heard with the click of a button.

    Because of our reactions he passed, but obviously someone took a bite.

    Honestly it still sounds like a dumb idea to me, but maybe there are enough people out there who can't remember the lyrics long enough to look them up on Google for this to make money.

    -Ian

  87. And in Switzerland by PsyQ · · Score: 1

    This service has also been available in Switzerland for several years, at no extra charge. At least Sunrise have it as a service in cooperation with a music store, so you can just reply to the message you get if you want to order the identified single. Other providers might have it too.

    Not very revolutionary nowadays. It's the same technology that enables wristwatches to identify songs on the radio to track user listening behavior, which has been done for about a decade now. The people wearing those watches having agreed to the monitoring, of course ;)

  88. Simple alternative... by evilviper · · Score: 1

    This really should be very simple to do with some software on your computer.

    1. Digitize sound
    2. Run through speech-to-text program
    3. Search for small segment of it on a song lyrics website.

    (I hate underpants gnomes...)

    --
    Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
  89. How do they charge for 866 numbers? by frovingslosh · · Score: 1

    The public has long been trained that 800 numbers are free. And with the 800 number running out or exhaused the public is being trained to recognize other numbers as free, including 866 and 877. Other prefixes on the other hand are recognized to run up charges, such as 900 numbers. How do they manage to charge for 866 numbers, and more importantly why would the telephone industry want to subvert their toll free number system by letting them do this? Where does it stop? Can I get an 866 number and run it for some technical service (Microsoft problems come to mind) and then earn income off of all the saps that thought my 866 number was free?

    --
    I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
  90. Done that... by Habahaba · · Score: 1

    Old stuff... we had this here in Finland long ago (what was it 1-2 years ago? Does anybody remember anymore? I think it was Sonera or Zed.) Anyways, it was fun the first 2 times, but then... well I'm not sure if it's even available anymore.

    1. Re:Done that... by Anssi55 · · Score: 1

      Yea, we do, it is "Mikä biisi?" service of Sonera launched two years ago. It is probably still active, I found the following with Google:
      http://www.sonera.net/haunter/ohjehinnasto/mika_bi isi/kaytto.html

      It however requires that you're Sonera's mobile customer, which I am not.

  91. Interactive menu... by darkfnord23 · · Score: 1

    If your song was:

    4'33" by John Cage, press 1.

    Tape Dada by Merzbow, press 2.

    Schrei X by Diamanda Galas, press 3.

    The Second Dream of the High Tension Line Stepdown Transformer by Lamonte Young, press 4.

    I don't think this will work with my music collection.

    --Matt

  92. Congratulations by caino59 · · Score: 2, Funny

    You just got added as a friend by 75% of the slashdot crowd ;oP

    1. Re:Congratulations by dolmen.fr · · Score: 1

      Sorry, but I doubt 75% of the slashdot crowd are lesbian.

      Even 1% would be overrated as it would be even more than women coming here.

    2. Re:Congratulations by TeraCo · · Score: 1

      Sure, but the people doing the adding are guys, cos you know.. horny geeks are attracted by the thought of a woman who doesn't want to have sex with them.

      --
      Not Meta-modding due to apathy.
    3. Re:Congratulations by dolmen.fr · · Score: 2, Funny

      Yours too.
      Next time I try to be funny I will add smileys for you.

  93. RIAA's new profit plan by noidentity · · Score: 1

    1) Release mp3s without tags or filenames on filesharing networks
    2) Launch song ID service that charges $0.99 per song ($9.99 per album)
    3) ???
    4) Profit!

    1. Re:RIAA's new profit plan by Scarletdown · · Score: 1

      Easy way around that...

      1: Download one of those tunes on a file sharing network.
      2: Fire up your web browser and go to Google.
      3: Enter a memorable line from the song in quotes.
      4: Get title of song from your search results.

      --
      This space unintentionally left blank.
  94. read the question before you flame by cahiha · · Score: 1

    You misunderstood the question. The guy is looking for a tool for Linux that tags audio files based on a fingerprint using the MusicBrainz service. Id3 doesn't seem to do that (and id3 doesn't look like a program I'd trust anyway based on its web page).

    I believe there is a MusicBrainz Perl module, which one could perhaps use for constructing a simple command line tool.

    1. Re:read the question before you flame by Des+Herriott · · Score: 1

      amarok, a KDE media player, can use MusicBrainz to tag songs. Home Page. So far I've had good results with it, although I haven't needed to re-tag very many songs yet...

  95. It's called Shazaam.. by duncangough · · Score: 1

    and it's been available in the UK for at least a couple of years now.

    It's fun in that 'use it once or twice and then never use it again' way. Much like AQA which you'll probably be getting in about 2009 ;)

  96. MusicBrainz by darketernal · · Score: 1

    In response to the final sentence of the OP, if you're simply trying to identify music *files* on your hard drive, use MusicBrainz for that. The TRM audio fingerprinting system can identify any song in the database to within 4 or so matches (fingerprint collision does happen.)

    I wonder if the aforementioned service works if you hum the melody into the phone.

  97. Bazook by miaDWZ · · Score: 1

    We have a similar service in Australia, Bazook. In the few times I've used it, I've found it has worked well.

  98. Can I sing it too ? by thrill12 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Only then would it be of interest to me.

    I must warn though: I am not a very good singer...

    --
    Slashdot: stuff for news, nerds that matter, matter for news, stuff that nerd
  99. Had this for 3 years by gggggggg · · Score: 1

    Can't see how this made it to the headlines.
    Had it in Spain for over 3 years now!

  100. as usual, America is late by dascritch · · Score: 3, Informative

    This service exists since 2001 in France, branded under the name of "Yacast" http://yacast.fr/fr/index.html> ("service de pige musicale"). You can get a sms with the complete disc references, a ringtone, or sms news about the band.

    Why does Slashdot put this kind of retro newsfor USA but is rejecting geek news from Europe ? (ECS 50th Eurovision)

    --
    (Sorry my bad French) Je fais parler les Guignols de l'Info. Le pied, quoi.
    1. Re:as usual, America is late by commanderfoxtrot · · Score: 4, Informative

      This sounds rather like MusicBrainz software.

      Yes, this sort of service has been around in the UK and France for several years now.

      Giles.

      --
      http://blog.grcm.net/
    2. Re:as usual, America is late by dascritch · · Score: 1

      The recognition software, song database, ... is in "white name" (ie under different brands), but the company that created that and has IP about it is Yacast.

      --
      (Sorry my bad French) Je fais parler les Guignols de l'Info. Le pied, quoi.
    3. Re:as usual, America is late by pantherace · · Score: 1

      Juk (KDE' itunes-like player) also has MusicBrainz integration. ("Guess Tag Information... from Internet")

      In my experiments, it works decently well.

      Of course, This is for a slightly different thing than the phone, as this generates a signature, that only works for files on your computer. How often are people playing music they don't have tagged, or at least guessable better by name/directory? Once per song, and that's only for those ripped without the aid of cddb.

  101. This service is OLD! by cpdsaorg · · Score: 1

    This service has been available here in Switzerland for years! 1) dial number. 2) hold phone up to speaker for 10-20 seconds. 3) check to see if the number you dialed has hung up. (once it recognizes the song it will hang up) 4) wait for SMS with the song name and performer. 5) you are charged for the SMS. no subscription necessary. (profit for them)

  102. Surely it's a bit late.... by Cougem · · Score: 1

    By the time I've realised the DJ isn't going to name the song, it's finished and it's too late.

    I'm not going to phone up this company with every song I like just in case the DJ is incompetent.
    Maybe they're planning on some people doing that....

    1. Re:Surely it's a bit late.... by cpdsaorg · · Score: 1

      why wait for the dj to announce the song? What if it's a cd in a department store or bar? no announcement there at all. source can be any song. not just from radio.

    2. Re:Surely it's a bit late.... by Cougem · · Score: 1

      I'd rather just ask the store/bar man what the song is - it'd be quicker and cheaper, and I'm sure they'd be happy to help, well in a music store at least.

  103. A tip to the learned by PremiumCarrion · · Score: 1

    That service won't work if you just have a little bit of the song in your head.

    So I recommend recording your own version of the song, soon you will receive a legal writ accusing you of copyright infringement etc.

    On this will be the original Artist and Song Title

    Step 4. Profit

  104. Alternative method by gefafwysp · · Score: 1

    A funny one I once saw in a magazine was: "Can't remember the name of a song stuck in your head? Simply record and release your own version of it. Then, when you get sued for copyright infringment, the information you need will be on the writ."

  105. Old news by t_allardyce · · Score: 2, Funny

    This is so old i can see the dust on that phone number, there was a nother service planned years ago, maybe they went under. Also there already is a service that ID's your mp3's online and tags them for free, tho i forget what its called - anyone?

    --
    This comment does not represent the views or opinions of the user.
  106. Shazam in the UK has been available for ages by Jabes · · Score: 2, Informative

    Shazam in the UK has done this for years. You just dial 2580 from any mobile and get the id sent to you as a text message.

    There's even a web site with an faq:

    http://www.shazam.com/uk/do/help_faqs_tagging

    Have fun music lovers!

  107. I understand it's great for cheating in pub quizze by paulypopex · · Score: 1
  108. Coca Cola is going down this route now.. by RemovableBait · · Score: 2, Informative

    The OD2 powered 'mycokemusic' is now offering these identification services. The only difference, is that they are giving them away for free with promotional codes found on Coke bottles and cans. They call it a 'CokeTag', and it's available in the UK. I'm not sure if they have an American site for these, but this is the UK site:

    http://www.mycokemusic.com/

  109. Stop hanging out on those lesbian chat rooms ... by Gopal.V · · Score: 1
    Well, I guess it's about time you gave up that HotChick66 nick and got off those channels. Also I think all those spam companies just gave up on enlarging yours too :)

    Btw, it's not an isolated phenomenon - #les..mm..miserables ?, I'm sure

  110. Turkcell had this before by uyguremre · · Score: 1

    I do not know if any other GSM operator had this before TurkCell but turkcell surely had it before 411-SONG. They introduced the service at early august 2004 at Cebit Bilisim Eurasia . The service is called "Ne bu calan" which means "What's this playing".

  111. ISMIR 2003 by bps7j · · Score: 1

    I saw this technology demo-ed a couple years ago at ISMIR 2003 and it blew me away. The software was able to pick out songs transmitted over a cellphone in a noisy nightclub, in a shopping mall, and finally to really impress us all, he mixed together 8 or 10 songs, including two versions of the same symphony by different orchestras, and it picked out all of them. In each case I wasn't able to even distinguish the music from the noise. I mean, literally, if you'd asked me "is there music playing in this noise" I'd have said "I can't tell." It really blew my socks off that his software was that good. The point of this system is when you're in the nightclub and "that song" comes on. You know, the one you've only heard three times in your life, and there are no lyrics, and you have NO CLUE how to find out what it is, and no one knows, and the DJ is an asshole. Presto, you pull out your cellphone and make that call.

  112. Had this in the UK for some time by Robmonster · · Score: 1

    Dial 2580 from any phone, hold it near the speaker and it texts you back with the song title and artist in a few moments.

    Not sure of the prices, I think 50p per track. I think its run by a company called Kazam.

    --
    I have no sig yet I must scream.
  113. Fido... by TheZ · · Score: 1

    There's a cellphone service in Canada that started doing this last year. It was heavily advertised. I never saw any reason to use it, but to claim that this is a new service is just stupid. It's not.

    --
    -FweE-
  114. detailed explanation of how this works by t0mhannen · · Score: 1

    I assume this is the same as the Shazam system in the UK. Here is a link to a pdf explaining how it works: http://ismir2002.ismir.net/proceedings/02-FP04-2.p df

  115. whatever happened to the idea of "toll free"? by jerde · · Score: 1

    I thought the 8xx series of north american area codes were reserved for toll-free calls?

    Why isn't this a 900 number service?

    Granted, I don't feel cheated... I understood their claim that if I played them a song and they recognized it they would charge me. I just wonder HOW they get permission to charge me.

    --
    INsigNIFICANT
  116. Not new by srleffler · · Score: 2, Informative

    Virgin Mobile has had this feature on their cell phones for some time.

  117. PS by base_chakra · · Score: 1

    P.S.S. If Google and/or Amazon isn't interested (yet)...

    I think you want PPS (post postscriptum), not "P.S.S.". Or perhaps you meant "PISS"?

  118. Shazama by baadger · · Score: 1

    A service like this has been in the UK for well over a year. It's 2580 and costs about the same I think.

    URL: http://www.shazam.com/uk/do/home

  119. Amena, here in Spain by jintxo · · Score: 1

    has been doing this for at least a year. I've never actually tried it, but knowing the general quality of service of the Auna/Amena/Eresmas group, I would imagine it probably sucks big time. Has anyone in Spain tried it and had it work?

  120. Buy Now by slashzero · · Score: 1

    The most lucrative feature that this service could have is a buy now option that will allow you to buy the song to download to your mp3 player later. Imagine all the impulse buys.

  121. Sounds to me.... by W1BMW · · Score: 1

    ... like they're just using an old Jedi mind trick. These are the books you're looking for. Buy them and move along.

  122. MusiBrainz, indeed by ari_j · · Score: 3, Informative

    MusicBrainz did a good job for me. I imported all my mp3s into iTunes on my new PowerBook, and then used iEatBrainz (a MusicBrainz front-end that interfaces directly to iTunes to find songs to tag and to tag them in place) to put tags on just over 1,100 untagged mp3s. It missed only about 90 of them, including both incorrect tags and failure to find a tag at all.

    MusicBrainz needs better moderation - some inconsistencies did arise (such as capitalization; e.g., "acoustic" vs. "Acoustic" and the capitalization of short words and articles in song titles - "A Day In The Life" vs. "A Day in the Life" and other versions) - but overall it did a fine job. It even corrected me as to certain artists' names.

  123. NEW? Phone Service by Caeda · · Score: 1

    Wow, how fancy. I mean, 2 other prepaid cell phone companies have been doingt this for about 3 years now. But it's great to have a "NEW" service to do something an old service was already doing.... FOR FREE...

    --
    ~~ Please keep your arms, legs, and outright stupidity inside the ride at all times. Thank You ~~
  124. our service - free IF unknown by matt+me · · Score: 1

    the way our existing service here works (and has worked for years - very handy in pub quizzes) is that you phone a free number for 20 seconds, hang up, and you get a text back within a minute with artist and track. it's text that costs you. if the track isn't recognised, you get a text back saying sorry, but it doesn't cost you anything.

    in other news - Americans scienctists struggle to understand why British technology that can record television and skip adverts failed to work on FOX when it worked fine on BBC.

  125. Google is cheaper by Starji · · Score: 1

    Whenever I find a song I like on the radio (not too often these days) and don't know the title I just memorize some of the lyrics and stick them in a google search later. I've had about 99% accuracy so far. The hard part, of course, is remembering the lyrics, which is where a piece of paper or a PDA is especially handy... Just don't write too much while driving, otherwise the only song you'll be thinking about is the jailhouse rock.

  126. Re:Nyygbtrgure abj by Loconut1389 · · Score: 1

    The song being played is:
    Vorsicht, heiss und fettig
    by
    eine Musikgruppe niemand weiß

    thank you, that'll be 99 cents please.

  127. Free version by Roadkills-R-Us · · Score: 1

    What happened to just calling the radio station?

  128. sol'n: google the lyrics by majid_aldo · · Score: 1

    google the lyrics.

    --
    --- widget evolution: enhanced, plus, super, ultra, extreme, exxxtreme, ultra-extreme, ..etc.
  129. Who says you have to pay money? by default+luser · · Score: 1

    If you can take a note with the time and station, you can find the name and artist to almost any song played on the radio in the US.

    FREE.

    Just go here. Listings are updated with about 20 minutes lag.

    Now, I don't know how long this is going to be around, because YES is also looking to start a phone-based service. For now the old YES site is still working, so enjoy it!

    --

    Man is the animal that laughs.
    And occasionally whores for Karma.