Very
good
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SoundHound - You Ain't Nothin' but a SoundDog!
Tested version: 2.1.1b
Latest version: 2.9.7
Requires Android: from 1.5
Summary
Do you often find yourself thinking: I simply have to listen to this song? You then ask all the people you know, but they just shake their heads at you. Sobbing quietly, you pine after this mysterious, beautiful song in your little corner.
Well, the mourning period is over! What do you need friends for when you’ve got the SoundHound in your pocket?
SoundHound is an app that enables you to listen to songs that are playing around you at the moment, as well as recognize said songs. Find out if it works (or if you have to keep nagging your friends) in today’s test.
Features & Use
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If, whilst reading the teaser, you sat there thinking to yourself "Hey, sounds familiar..” I have to agree with you: I’ve know about Shazaam for a while—an app that basically does the same thing as SoundHound. But because Shazaam only allows you to tag (listen and recognize) five songs per month I’ve been on the lookout for an alternative. And here it is! That being said, I should clarify that SoundHound also only provides you with five tags per month if you’re using the free version. It does, however, offer more, and you can keep tagging and wait until the following month for your songs to be recognized.
The main screen is adorned with a big orange button marked Tap Here: this will allow you to identify unknown music. There also a search function for track titles or artists which you can voice-control or enter your query manually. The buttons History, Help, and Upgrade can be found at the bottom of the display, as well as a display revealing your saved and open tags (in the free version only). Via Options you can log into your Twitter account, save or delete you Facebook data, and decide whether your phone should vibrate every time it finds a song.
Press on the orange button and let the show begin! Your heart starts beating faster and you desperately hope that the hound won’t disappoint you. And there it is: a title track or a song that will make your day! Is that a racing dog in your pocket? It’s definitely speedy, and it knocks all of its competition out of the park. Even the hound’s nose seems to be working well. So maybe it’s a track hound after all.
It doesn’t occur very often that the hound doesn’t find what it’s after. Is his nose refined enough? He’s down with recordings, remixes, acapela, humming, and even rapping (as long as there’s a melody). He’s not so keen on live performances, however, though he does often manage to come up with the right results nonetheless.
If he guesses correctly you’ll see the following information:
• Title, Artist, Album, Cover
• Bookmark, Share, Buy (Amazon)
• Lyrics Search YouTube
• Similar Artists
• Song’s Album Appearances
Clicking on the artist allows you to see your Top Songs, and biographical information and discography are just a further click away.
There’s a Play button located beneath the album cover which briefly plays the track (albeit in poor quality).
Bookmark lets you add the track to your list of favorite songs, and Share lets you treat others with it via Twitter, Facebook, email, etc.
Buy opens Amazon in your browser so that you can purchase the song, and Search YouTube lets you watch music videos online.
If you want to show off your vocal skills you can sing along using the Lyrics display; they are shown either via the data base or else linked via Google.
If you’re feeling curious, use Similar Artists to find new music. Most results are decent, so this option is worth checking out. Sadly, the same can’t be said for Song’s Album Appearance, as the results are reminiscent of something off of “Summer Hits from 1995”. Don’t expect too many results. Even a popular track such as “Sexy Bitch” – which is probably on just about every compilation in the world – only gets six search results.
Give your hound a cuddle once he’s finished working for you! He memorizes everything and stores it under History, which you can access via the homescreen or menu button.
What happens when your hound’s favorite treats – i.e 3G, Wlan, EDGE, GPS – aren’t to be found? Even then he still doesn’t give up! You can continue tagging; searches will be displayed as Pending Search under History once the internet connection is back. These Pending Searches can be analyzed with one click on a button.
Bottom line:
This is a great app that does what it promises to do: identify unknown songs. It even manages to identify tunes that are being sung or even hummed—provided you manage to hit a few correct notes. I’m especially pleased about the fact that results are saved when there’s no internet connection. That way you’re always prepared to discover new songs.
Screen & Controls
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The homescreen’s design is functional and not confusing. The large button that allows you to listen to songs is easily accessible and fast.
Results are well displayed, using the album art as a background theme.
I’d like to see an additional widget included in the app.
Speed & Stability
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The app runs very smoothly. It didn’t cause any crashes on either Android 2.1 (Éclair) or 2.2 (FroYo).
Price/Performance Ratio
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You can download the app free of charge from the Market; however, tagging is restricted to five times per month. Recordings are saved and can be identified in the following month.
If five tags are not sufficient you can always go for the $4,99 "∞“ Unlimited version.
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Market Comments
kyrin, Apr 2, 2012
Love it! This is a perfect song finding app. I love it. Must have for those who can't remember the name of a song etc.
Stephanie, Apr 2, 2012
All time favorite You can't beat the usefulness. And I love the feature that shows you where you are in the song so you can follow along! The best app ever! Thank You Soundhound!
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