Midomi names the tune [with video]
In December, I covered Nayio's Humming Search, which is supposed to identify songs when you hum into your computer's microphone. It was a colossal letdown. But a few days ago I tried a new song identifier, Midomi [see News.com story], and it worked great. I tried several songs (including the acid test, "Yellow Submarine," that Nayio flunked), and Midomi named most of them just fine. It didn't hit 100 percent accuracy--during my video shoot, it misidentified Oasis's "Wonderwall" on one try out of about seven--but it's accurate enough to be usable. As long as your voice isn't completely shot, as Michael Arrington's must be.
Also cool: Users can sing their own renditions of songs into the system, and it can play them for you when it identifies songs. It's surprisingly entertaining to hear good amateurs covering a tune you've just hummed. And you can buy tracks off the site.
Technical bonus: Midomi uses Flash, which makes it simple. Nayio requires an ActiveX download and didn't work for me in Firefox.
The wow factor is high on this one. It's really cool and potentially useful.
Rafe Needleman writes about start-ups, new technologies, and Web 2.0 products, as editor of CNET's Webware. E-mail Rafe. 
