MusicMarker tells you who you're hearing... later

MusicMarker aren't providing the first ever solution for identifying your digital music without metadata (we've been using MusicBrainz for years, but the solutions are endless), but what they intend to provide is a solution with a button on your portable. Devices outfitted with mics (say, like a cellphone or audio player) and MusicMarker will capture ten seconds of audio, and then upon sync to your PC upload the sample to MusicMarker's server for analysis and output of artist / title / track info. Oh, sure, it kind of kills the immediacy of wanting to know who's that damned song by, I'm hearing it everywhere, but you can try for yourself in the Venzero ONE (a portable media device that was supposed to be launched late last year), which is lined up to have MusicMarker's first service integration.

[Via GeekZone, thanks Markus]

[ipodman715 @ Apr 1st 2006 11:23AM]

Ok, no April Fool's joke yet..

[JCA @ Apr 1st 2006 12:07PM]

How big do the samples need to be and is their a minimum acceptable bit rate for encoding said samples? Why not just use 64Kbps or something in the client application, upload right then and there (for devices that are capable) and it send out an email with the answer? I guess it depends on how long of a clip they need to make that work.

All that being said.....this is stupid and a waste of their engineering efforts, if there even was any involved that is.

[Jonathan Keim @ Apr 1st 2006 12:42PM]

This is old. I have a program on my cellphone that for $1 a song I can hold it up to music and it will tell me the artist and song name. It works for me.

[Ken R @ Apr 1st 2006 1:08PM]

Try Tunatic

[smckane @ Apr 1st 2006 1:28PM]

In the UK you can call 2580 - Shazam.com - at some extortionate rate - and do the same thing. Useful. Once. And then you think - why did I bother???

[KevIncognito @ Apr 1st 2006 1:40PM]

http://www.neurosaudio.com/

Neuros' DAPs have done this for years...

[rea @ Apr 1st 2006 1:47PM]

check the latest ipods mp3 players.

http://cheap-ipods-review.blogspot.com/2006/02/apple-30-gb-ipod-video-playback.html

[ryanr @ Apr 1st 2006 2:00PM]

So you can either use a portable music device that requires a mic, or you could just call up 411song and get the song and artist right away? What will they think of next?!

[K MAN @ Apr 1st 2006 5:22PM]

How many people remember Sony's eMarker?

It did the same thing. But Sony later cancelled the project, and offered a $20 refund if you sent the thing back to them. Shame.

It was great.

[TeleCustom @ Apr 2nd 2006 3:03AM]

you could just google bits of the lyrics. it's free, relatively easy.

[Robert Macabre @ Apr 2nd 2006 4:31AM]

#7 was pointless.

and.. the way i do it doesn't require anything more than a brain and access to google. most people have the first one, and if you're reading this i'm pretty sure you've got the second one. just remember a unique part from the lyrics and google it in quotations with the word lyrics outside of the quotes, and it doesn't take too long to find what you're looking for. of course.. that wouldn't work for instrumentals, but it works well enough.

[Brian G @ Apr 2nd 2006 9:26AM]

i remember something like this maybe 5 or 6 years ago. except it didn't capture a sample. it would just capture a time. you plug the device into your computer, it goes to a website that reads the time stamps and give you a list of what was playing around that time on stations in your area.

[ben @ Apr 2nd 2006 8:06PM]

Brian G
it was an emarker from sony. I had one it was pretty cool but could take a few days for data to update.

[pete @ Apr 3rd 2006 1:31AM]

I got an emarker for free at a trade show when I worked in educational sales... the thing worked well, despite the obtuse nature of its capturing. The only major downshot to it was that you were limited to the times and channels pre-registered with Sony's eMarker service, so some indie stations around home wouldn't be eligible. I opted not to send it back for my free $20 because I figure it's worth keeping as an indication of progress... or something that makes great beepy sounds when buttons are pushed.