Sometimes you think that software just can’t get any better. For instance Shazam; The famous application which gives you information about the current song on the radio. Today while browsing through the OpnMarket I found the application Midomi; A very good alternative to Shazam. Midomi has 2 different modes for finding a song. Grab Search and Sing Search

Grab Search

Grab Search is the mode we all know from Shazam. For Grab Search make sure there are not to many noises around you, click the record button and hold the phone near the speaker where the sound comes from. The sound is processed and after a few seconds you’ll get to see a list of results.

In the example above I listened to “Money for Nothing” by Dire Straits. Midomi found the song correctly.

Sing Search

Now sing search is really a bit revolutionary. When using the Sing Search tab the record button and sing or hum a part of the song. Do this at least 10 seconds and at max 30 seconds. Again after the recording stops, you’ll see that the recorded part is being uploaded and searched. A few seconds later you’ll get to see the result. The first time I tried this feature I uhm-ed “I got a feeling” by Black Eyed Peas and was very surprised that the way I uhm-ed it really returned me the right result. (eventhough it was the second search result)

Now I’m not a good singer, I nether uhm very well, so I’m really impressed that my uhm-qualities were that well that some results are returned correctly. I tried several times; some times it didn’t return the right result, some times it surprisingly did.

Song information

Midomi also gives advanced song information. Depending on the song this can be from album information to even buy the song

The album art is downloaded, if there’s album art available for the specific song. Some songs have a Preview option and can be listened to for about 30 seconds. The other menuitems are links which actually opens Internet Explorer to Youtube, Amazon (Buy Song) or Google (Find Lyrics).

Concluding thoughts

Midomi is a really cool application ad a very good Shazam alternative. Not only for song which are currently on the radio or through the speakers of your stereo, but also if you’re on the road and got a song in your head but haven’t got a clue how the song is called.
Simply uhm or sing the song in Sing Search mode and you’ll very likely get the right result back. To me Midomi is definitely added value over Shazam.