Shazam is an app for smart phones that can identify songs that you’re hearing on the radio, at a restaurant, etc. You just hold the phone close to the speakers, and it will identify the song for you.
Usually it does a great job at identifying even the most obscure songs, unless there’s too much background noise. However, I was testing it out this morning. I played this mellow version of Ke$ha’s “Blow” that she put on her recent Deconstructed EP. I activated Shazam about 10 or 15 seconds into the song, right about when the piano starts.
Similar to Midomi on the computer? Because I tried that, trying to identify a song from a lesser known Gilbert & Sullivan operetta, and it kept insisting I was humming “Baby Got Backs” by Sir Mix-A Lot!
With Shazam, you have to play the actual recording–no live cover versions, no humming the tune, etc. I forgot to add the link to the song I was talking about in the OP: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2waLYPbozs
I use** ID** for songs (and **IntoNow **for TV shows) on an iPhone and they will only ever get it right or show UNKNOWN, they’ve never ‘guessed’ wrong…
This is not exactly an “incorrect” result. I was watching a figure skating competition and was curious whether Shazam would correctly identify the music, so I held it up to the TV.
SoundHound is generally pretty good about getting it right, or just saying ‘nope, can’t figure it out’, but once while doing the ‘sing the song to it’ version, which SoundHound allows, I sang a Steam Powered Giraffe song, and it gave me some random black metal as a result.
Tells you what kind of shape my voice was in at that point, I suppose…
(Also, it is frigging impressive, sometimes - I’ve been playing with it for the last hour or so, and it’s only failed a couple times. It got one song after <1 second, when I accidentally tapped the button twice!)
I was expecting people’s stories of saying, “Shazam!” and being turned into Wonder Woman instead of Captain Marvel (or Gomer Pyle). 'Cause that would be awkward.
I use SoundHound or Midomi and they’re usually very accurate, unless I’m trying to identify something from a TV show. If there’s any speaking over the tune, even just for a few seconds, that seems to scuttle the identification completely.
