Comments on: Microsoft releases Songsmith: Karaoke in reverse

Microsoft is delving into music software with Songsmith, a program that lets anyone sing into their computer and see what it would sound like with musical accompaniment.

[ramzabelouvant]

29.99$?
Any Reference of Other Freeware Like This?

[Josh.Lowensohn]

Dunno, but the free trial nets you 6 hours of recording time before it cuts you off. Assuming you just want to give it a spin that should be more than enough.

[t8]

Wow another piece of innovation from Bloatsoft.

[GraphiteCube]

I see an alternative.

[rapier1]

Ummm... how is this not pretty innovative?

[zcollvee]

FANTASTIC!

[dascha1]

Fiddle me this... does MS get what appreciable investment means, yet? If this is their answer, for all, then I expect them to use it for their films, commercials, games, and global health solutions. Their stock should always go against the trend of others as well, sort of the new 'Findway'...

Good luck

[karpenterskids]

Wow, it actually sounds decent!
And if one can change the chord that the program plays behind a certain segment of voice, (which, from looking at the screenshot, looks possible) then I'm a potential customer.

[monkeyfun14]

Why is it if Apple came up with something like this people would think its great but since MS did it people think its garbage.

[pcfish]

Because it (usually) is.

[quikboy2]

It's because people use double standards when they have a love for a particular brand, and ignorance about another.

@pcfish: If you think almost all Microsoft stuff is garbage, then you'd have to wonder why so many people use it if there's alternatives.

the thing which i don't understand is, that why microsoft keep charging againt lite software, for example microsoft made necessary to have a licence to download windows media player 11.x b, AND one can find that there are lot free ware available which are even better if we compare windows media player 11.x with others. Naveed Abdullah Karachi Pakistan.

[quikboy2]

Songsmith seems cool, hate the name though. Wish Microsoft would create an actual professional audio recording software.

[bugsbonzai]

This software is going to cause a glut of bland, midi-sounding, craptastic amateur musicals. When will software companies like Microsoft learn it's not about lowering the bar for all consumers, but raising the bar for the demographic that's passionate?

By making lame, emotionless background songs accessible to anyone, they are obscuring real talent, creating a huge glut of mediocrity to sift through to find the quality, and diluting and confusing the musical tastes of a generation.

Did YouTube increase the quality of available video? No. It just gave millions of talentless amateurs a forum to glut the industry and make it more difficult to find the good stuff. This kind of software does the same thing for music: creates a huge collection of mediocrity, talent optional.

[Sam Papelbon]

no. it WOULD do that, if the recording industry hadn't already. it's certainly another nail in the coffin, not that it isn't air-tight by now... but whatever

[kolding]

Stupidest MS product since Bob.

[galenaway]

In the reviews I've read, folks seem to either love the idea of Songsmith or they loathe it. There doesn?t seem to many comments in between.

I actually downloaded and tried it. Both my kids (8 and 11) loved it. Yes, their songs are terrible, but luckily, no one outside the family needs to hear them. They were able to write their own songs without adult intervention or even music classes in just a couple of minutes of fiddling.

Are the songs bland? Yes - but to be fair, anything kids write will very likely be bland. However, this does help the kids be creative. Since music isn't taught much in schools anymore (neither my son's grade school nor my daughters middle school offer music); this is a nice gentle introduction to making music. It's already spawned a couple of music theory discussion. In addition, my kids have noticed that writing good songs is hard. That makes it worth the download.

Given the target audience for this product (kids and teens), I think this product is very fun and stealthily educational. That?s a good combination. I think Microsoft research should be proud of Songsmith.

Will I pay $29 for it? That depends on if the kids are still using it after the trial is up.