3 Free Apps that Answer the Question 'What's That Song?'
You’re out having some drinks with your friends, when an interesting song catches your attention. It’s cool enough for you to want to add it to your playlist, but no one can tell you the name of the song or the name of the artist who sings it.
Sound familiar? The next time that happens, take out your smartphone and run one of these three apps. They’ll quickly identify the song, the artist who plays it, and even tell you where you can get the song.
1. Shazam
Shazam is the music identification app. It’s been around since 2008, it has more than 100 million active users, it’s been downloaded on more than 500 million mobile devices, and it’s been used to identify more than 15 billion songs. It’s one of the best, if not the best app for identifying songs.
Tap a button, let it listen to a song, and mere seconds later you’ll know the song’s name and who plays it. On top of that, Shazam will bring up lots of other useful information, such as: song lyrics, official video, top tracks from the same artist, links to listen to the song or purchase it, and more.
Shazam is available for Windows, Windows Phone, Mac, iOS, Apple Watch, Android, and Android Wear. Download it for all your devices and enjoy a properly good music identification and music discovery service.
2. SoundHound
Initially released under the name Midomi but rebranded as SoundHound in 2009, this music identification app is used by more than 260 million people around the world. The app can recognize songs in one of two ways:
SoundHound is available for iOS, Android, and Windows Phone. Download it, install it on your mobile, and use it to quickly identify songs, discover more about your favorite artists, and explore today’s hottest music.
3. Google Now, Siri, or Cortana
Every smartphone comes with a built-in virtual personal assistant that can identify songs. Microsoft has Cortana, Apple has Siri, and Google has Google Now. The feature works with a voice command (just ask “what song is this?") or by tapping a button and letting the app analyze and identify the song.
Honorable mention – WatZatSong
WatZatSong is not an app, it is an online community. You rely on other WatZatSong users to identify music. Just upload a sample and wait for the community to give you an answer.
In related news...
There are lots of music genres out there, more than you could ever imagine. But you don’t have to imagine, you can experience them firsthand thanks to Every Noise at Once,
As it's official description say, it's "an algorithmically-generated, readability-adjusted scatter-plot of the musical genre-space, based on data tracked and analyzed for 1349 genres." Or to put it in layman’s terms, it’s a website that lists and lets you sample tons of music genres.
Sound familiar? The next time that happens, take out your smartphone and run one of these three apps. They’ll quickly identify the song, the artist who plays it, and even tell you where you can get the song.
1. Shazam
Shazam is the music identification app. It’s been around since 2008, it has more than 100 million active users, it’s been downloaded on more than 500 million mobile devices, and it’s been used to identify more than 15 billion songs. It’s one of the best, if not the best app for identifying songs.
Tap a button, let it listen to a song, and mere seconds later you’ll know the song’s name and who plays it. On top of that, Shazam will bring up lots of other useful information, such as: song lyrics, official video, top tracks from the same artist, links to listen to the song or purchase it, and more.
Shazam is available for Windows, Windows Phone, Mac, iOS, Apple Watch, Android, and Android Wear. Download it for all your devices and enjoy a properly good music identification and music discovery service.
2. SoundHound
Initially released under the name Midomi but rebranded as SoundHound in 2009, this music identification app is used by more than 260 million people around the world. The app can recognize songs in one of two ways:
- Let it listen to whatever song you want to identify.
- Sing or hum the song you want SoundHound to identity.
SoundHound is available for iOS, Android, and Windows Phone. Download it, install it on your mobile, and use it to quickly identify songs, discover more about your favorite artists, and explore today’s hottest music.
3. Google Now, Siri, or Cortana
Every smartphone comes with a built-in virtual personal assistant that can identify songs. Microsoft has Cortana, Apple has Siri, and Google has Google Now. The feature works with a voice command (just ask “what song is this?") or by tapping a button and letting the app analyze and identify the song.
Honorable mention – WatZatSong
WatZatSong is not an app, it is an online community. You rely on other WatZatSong users to identify music. Just upload a sample and wait for the community to give you an answer.
In related news...
There are lots of music genres out there, more than you could ever imagine. But you don’t have to imagine, you can experience them firsthand thanks to Every Noise at Once,
As it's official description say, it's "an algorithmically-generated, readability-adjusted scatter-plot of the musical genre-space, based on data tracked and analyzed for 1349 genres." Or to put it in layman’s terms, it’s a website that lists and lets you sample tons of music genres.
