I have already taken a look at Shazam here. So this article will focus on SoundHound and the conclusion as to which is the better application.

SoundHound is a music identification software available for iOS, android and symbian. SoundHound offers you the facility to record and identify music via listening to a track, or humming. The humming option proved a saviour to me, check here for my story.

On opening the application SoundHound requires you to tap the above icon to start the music id search. This offers the facility of searching by speaking into the microphone, humming or listening to a music track. On preference, I prefer the Shazam route that begins the search immediately on opening the application, but in fairness to SoundHound it does have several search options available contrary to Shazam, which only offers music id search.

SoundHound benefits beyond Shazam in that it gives you information in every step of the ‘listening’ progress. After initialising the search option, while it is ‘listening’ it gives further input on whether the network is slow and the option to end the ‘listening’ period amongst others.

Both SoundHound and Shazam gave detailed information on artists, further tracks available, the option to buy via iTunes and the facility to send your music searches to twitter and facebook or via email. SoundHound has the enviable ability to look up lyrics so is great for the budding karaoke singer or those of you who are really serious about your music. SoundHound gives much more detailed information quickly and efficiently.

I do not like ads so I always opt for apps without them. So, in this case SoundHound costs £2.99 for the full version with extra facilities. The free version comes with ads and there is no limit on music search functionality, so choose this if you do not suffer from ads–turn off-syndrome.

In my opinion it takes longer for SoundHound to recognise tracks. In addition, if the track is not of a decent listening level, middle-high, SoundHound will come back with ‘SoundHound did not hear any music’. My example is, if you have the phone in your lap, Shazam will find the track even at low listening levels. For SoundHound to find the same track, I need to lean forward and hold the phone at arms length, 50% of the time it will find the track after several tries and 50% of the time it will pick up nothing. Furthermore, SoundHound does not work adequately for me in noisy surroundings for example coffee shops, bars, cafe’s, clothes stores and restaurants with ambient or background noise. I presume this is because of its ability to recognise humming etc in that it confuses background noise with humming or speech into the microphone and is unable to distinguish between the two. I have zero problems using Shazam in these environments.

SoundHound is the winner in the category of Album Art. Once it finds the music ID, it finds the album art. In comparison, Shazam 50% of the time does not find the album art.

Shazam remains my number one because of the simplicity of its ui and layout – it is easy on the eye, with not too much information to clutter one’s screen or brain and it is fast and works in the normal conditions where you want to identify music and want to identify that music quickly. SoundHounds ui on the other hand is raather cluttered, with too much information on screen and it uses a smaller font. SoundHound offers you access to your own music library on your iphone which is a great addition. If I were to give Shazam and SoundHound a score out of 10, I would give SoundHound 6 and Shazam 8. If Shazam were to bring in humming and lyrics I would increase that mark.  Nothing can have a 10? Seriously, there is no such thing as PERFECTION!

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28 hours standby, 7 hours talk time, 2 megapixel camera with sliding shutter trigger. Each personalised handset  selected from your choice of genuine alligator leather, calfskin leather or rubber. Precious metal and jewels include 18k Solid Rose Gold, , white or black alligator skin with diamonds. Prices start in the range of €4100

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Once upon a time… a young girl wanted to play the guitar… “No, we will not re-string the guitar for one left-handed person every week to enable her to take guitar lessons”.

It was at this time the girl heard a few piano notes. “No, you can not take piano lessons as it clashes with your academic subjects”.

Several times over the next two decades or more, the girl, now a woman, would hear the same piano chords. She desperately searched for the song, if only for sentimental reasons. She never knew the name and could not play it as she had not learned to play. She knew it in her head but could not compose it, nor could she sing it as she had no words. The notes would slip by in movies once every few years but like a droplet of water, it would diminish before a full stream could be formed. She would  more oft than not hum it every few years to someone, hoping they would recognise it.

Over the years, the hum became a little more off-beat and unrecognisable even to herself. But in her mind, she knew what it was she wanted but was unable to express it. Latterly she thought she heard strains of the song while caring for a family with a grand piano in a grand house. But on further insight, maybe not, maybe she was mistaken. A recent visit to a home and the site of a piano brought back those memories. But by now she was too embarrassed to hum it, la-la-la it, or make any reference of it to the outside world.

A friend who appreciated her love of music after seeing her ‘Shazam’s’ on Facebook and Twitter, encouraged her to try SoundHound, unbeknownst to him, her secret. Unfortunately, lives were busy and SoundHound was forgotten. However, SoundHound was mentioned by another good friend most recently and on ‘this’ occasion the girl took the time, followed it up, downloaded it, installed it and trialled it.

What do you think? Of course, ‘humming’, those ‘special notes’ close to her heart. Unfortunately, with no success. However, not to be outdone, the girl tried it several times, maybe three, four, five six or even seven times. It actually was on the seventh that something came to light.  It flashed like a beacon in her head, most probably, because the track album was in black and white, old and ancient, much like the amount of years it had been sought.

SoundHound, the music searching database app, allowed the girl to listen to a preview of the track via iTunes and to watch a video of the music track on YouTube.

Surprise! Surprise! It was THE song, searched for, for over two decades. The elusive track, titled ‘Heart and Soul’ comes from the movie Stardust but is known, much as with the young girl, via only its piano chord and as such is rarely recognisable via its full title and the accompaniment of words that occur on a full song sheet. A quick Google and the girl found the perfect rendition for her, a recording by Ella Fitzgerald. Sadly, it is not available for sale, but some clever work by her brother saw her with the mp3 track duly downloaded and installed for further listening. In gratitude, the girl would like to thank her brother and in addition, Nii Teiko for his initial recommendation of SoundHound and Akash Malhotra for his most recent reminder. In recognition of the undeniable effectiveness of SoundHound’s musical imagination, the girl, has purchased a full version of SoundHound. The End!

The most famous rendition of the song/piano play:

Google Wikipedia Info on the musical track ‘Heart and Soul’: The song’s A-section is often simplified as a repeating I-vi-IV-V progression and taught to beginning piano students as an easy two-hand duet. Much like the song, “Chopsticks” this (somewhat inaccurate) version became widely-known, even to those who have never studied piano.

[Ella Fitzgerald Rendition]

[Hoagy Carmichael]

Ewan from allaboutsymbian.com takes a brief look at the Nokia E7 during SXSW 11.

Serena Williams shows us her talent and skills in the new video game commercial for Top Spin 4.  We wish you all the best after your health scare Serena.  Thanks to Jonathon for the link.

A New York court has blocked the agreement between publishers and Google of books online. Google had previously settled a six-year class action suit over copyright infringement.  However, the New York Court has stated the deal would ‘simply go too far’, in giving Google an unfair advantage against its competition.

Google’s managing counsel, Hilary Ware stated “Regardless of the outcome, we’ll continue to work to make more of the world’s books discoverable online through Google Books and Google eBooks.”

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A brief look at the imaging quality of the Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc. Click here to view the full gallery comparison shots.

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