Query By Humming

(Mis)Uses of Technology

from the sounds-useful dept

How many times have people asked: “What’s that song called? You know, the one that goes… ” and then they break out into the humming that sheds no light whatsoever on the name of the song they’re looking for? Well, it appears that the Fraunhofer Institut (known around the world for trying to enforce intellectual property laws on makers of MP3 software) is working on some “query by humming” software that will identify songs based on how you hum the tune. There are a few other companies working on similar solutions – suggesting that there may need to be a “hum-off” to figure out which one works the best.