The Jig is Up!

Have you ever started humming a tune but couldn’t remember what song it was? Then tune into the new mobile tune searcher - SoundHound App - for your iPhone, Android or Nokia phone.

SoundHound is an easy to use phone app that can recognize your humming rendition of say “Hey Jude” as well as recognize your voice request to play “the Beatles.” It will also listen to the song playing on your phone and determine the lyrics, title, artist, and lots more.

Sing Search is SoundHound’s flagship feature, and makes this app unique in the world of music search. Just “La La La” something into the phone, and SoundHound will try and figure out what tune you were trying to reproduce, and in my case, reproduce badly.

As a tin-eared audiophile, I put SoundHound to the test: I started singing “Oh Darling” by the Beatles and got back choices like “The Other Side of Me” by Hannah Montana. Another try with “Roxanne” by the Police produced a list of songs that included “It’s My Life” by Bon Jovi, but nothing resembling anything by the Police.

I finally gave up, and handed the phone over to my wife, a real singer, and she was able to belt out “Love is a Battlefield” by Pat Benatar, and get a hit in the results list. So Sing Search does work, if you can sing or hum better then I (which is assuredly the case).

Regardless of your vocal ability, this app is great fun and sure to be a hit at any party. While you won’t find Shubu Thapa’s hit single “Eka Desh Ko Katha” (or any other Nepali tunes), SoundHound is audibly useful with a plethora of social features like What’s Hot on the Charts and Just Found by Other Users who are singing into their phones...with some level of precision.

What  and Where to Get: 

SoundHound for the iPhone - apple.com/itunes/
SoundHound for all Android Phones Android Market
SoundHound for select Nokia Phones store.ovi.com