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?"

Comments

Uh

[Anonymous Coward]

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

Re:Uh

[commodoresloat]

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

Re:Uh

[ag0ny]

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?

Re:Uh

[ag0ny]

Ooops...

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

(Note to self: first coffee, then Slashdot)

Re:Uh

[AstroDrabb]

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.

Re:Uh

[tepples]

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.

Re:Uh

[rluberti]

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...

Re:Uh

[GermanShorthair]

"Big Ol' Jed had a light on"

Re:Uh

[QuaZar666]

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

Re:Uh

[dukeisgod]

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.

Re:Uh

[lunakyoshi]

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

Re:Uh

[dolmen.fr]

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.

UK has Shazam Already

[dan_polt]

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 :)

Re:UK has Shazam Already

[Mwongozi]

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.

Re:UK has Shazam Already

[indicavia]

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

Re:UK has Shazam Already

[pete6677]

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

Re:UK has Shazam Already

[pete6677]

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

Old news

[Guspaz]

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.

Been there, done that ....

[Paul Lamere]

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

Re:Been there, done that ....

[yakhan451]

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.

Re:Been there, done that ....

[Nasarius]

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).

Well

[pHatidic]

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.

Re:Well

[dnixon112]

Thanks for the idea!

Sincerely,
Google

Re:Well

[Dominic_Mazzoni]

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.

Re:Well

[eddeye]

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.

AT&T already did this

[Logic Bomb]

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

Old Hat

[civman2]

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...

Think of the marketing possiblities

[davidwr]

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.

XM Radio

[taped2thedesk]

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.

And after they charge you $.99 for IDing the song,

[Stephen Samuel]

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

Service for slashdot

[Anonymous Coward]

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)

Only for popular songs. Bah-Humbug!

[SeaFox]

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.

cheap solution

[jeffy124]

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

This has been around for a while

[apoKalypse]

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.

Huh...

[Teja]

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.

a couple of things....

[yagu]

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?

Re:a couple of things....

[pherthyl]

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.

No, I'm New Here

[New Here]

No, I'm New Here

Re:No, I'm New Here

[WhatAmIDoingHere]

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

I can name that tune in 3 notes!

[stinkpad]

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

Just and idea...

[krin]

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.

Well....

[servoled]

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

Congratulations

[caino59]

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

Re:Congratulations

[dolmen.fr]

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

Can I sing it too ?

[thrill12]

Only then would it be of interest to me.

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

as usual, America is late

[dascritch]

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)

Re:as usual, America is late

[commanderfoxtrot]

This sounds rather like MusicBrainz software.

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

Giles.

Old news

[t_allardyce]

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?

Shazam in the UK has been available for ages

[Jabes]

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!

Coca Cola is going down this route now..

[RemovableBait]

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/

Not new

[srleffler]

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

MusiBrainz, indeed

[ari_j]

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.