Instead of trying to scrawl down lyrics, doing a search on Google (only to be lead to some bizarre lyric website repository that may or may not work, all the while offering me free ringtones and ceaseless pop-up ads), with Shazam's app, I've actually found songs by, well, listening to them. Shazam is slick. You hear a song, start the app, hold your iPhone's mic up to the sound source and viola! It's been 'tagged' and identified like a wild bird you caught on Animal Planet. Another app by Midomi even lets you hum a tune in, search by title, artist and even lets you listen to samples.
Sending the sample for off-site sonic analysis, querying the proper artist remotely, album art and sending a response back to your iPhone in less than 10 seconds is pretty dang slick. The sample time itself is only about 12 seconds! Once you get your result, you can bookmark it, and, if you're in a WiFi hotspot, launch iTunes to buy the song. Most popular songs are on these services. Shazam doesn't work in loud places like clubs, bars or restaurants, but works well in cars or at home.
What these services haven't been able to do, however, is to analyze classical music. I've tried a few times. Shazam says the Beethoven Fifth Symhony is "unrecognized." What would Ludwig say? After humming the piece into Midomi, I got the strangest country folk song in response. This isn't surprising. There are very long phrases in classical music and it makes even die-hard fans puzzle as to "what was that piece?" Having these services decipher classical music presents a lot of challenges. First, recordings of pieces are almost nearly indistinguishable especially if you only had a 12-second sample of them. Also, unlike pop music, where there is one artist performing one song (sure there are cover versions), with classical you have hundreds of ensembles, conductors and performers spanning 50 years of audio recording doing the same 'song' over and over again. For example, there are more than 200 recordings of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony alone!
When (or if) classical music can be deciphered by these types of services it will probably be a great engineering feat. Progress, if this is ever attempted, would probably be incremental. First, identifying a particular symphony, concerto or quartet is, in itself, very difficult. Next, identifying the particular recording will be staggering. All those ensembles and conductors perform pieces many times over leading to various versions and editions that would be a morass of data to sort through. While there's probably not a market demand for this type of service or application, it may serve as Shazam or Midomi's Everest.
So yes, there are iPhone-related products at CES 2008 primarily focused covers and protective skins and audio speakers. Two products that really caught my eye in terms of form and function are B&W's Zepplin (yes, a Zeplin, like the Hindenpeter of Family Guy fame - hope this one doesn't burst into flames) and THX/Razer's Mako speakers. Both are definitely against the grain from a Bose or a Altec Lansing iPod docking audio system. I've never liked the Bose docks - the sound is too grainy or metallic, and the Altec Lansing product at the CES just looked boring.
The Zepplin (it's just fun to say, isn't it?) and the Moko were fun. The B&W Zepplin weighs a ton and costs a ton too ($600) and was released late last year. It was the first time I'd ever seen it. The B&W rep invited me to plug my iPhone in and to ignore the error message. After this error, the devices eventually synched. The Zepplin is a complete one-unit speaker unit and, well, obviously looks like a Zepplin, supposedly to replicate a musical instrument's design. I tried the various music tracks on my iPhone - classical, to hip hop to the Counting Crows.
The Blimp! B&W's Zepplin
(Credit: Kevin Ho)
THe back of the Zepplin - no hydrogen here.
In contrast to that, THX and the gaming company Razer are releasing a two satellite, one subwoofer Moko desktop system that looks somewhat like a Cylon (yes, I geeked out there).
A poor picture of the THX/Razer Moko speakers, set to be released in February
Assessment on both:
Form factor/design: solid and sleek. Each are unique.
Function: Couldn't really tell the sound quality as the convention hall din was overpowering, but based on extrapolation - good. The Zepplin hooks up to TVs as well and you can watch videos on your iPod and iPhone.
Price: At $600 and $400 respectively, a bit pricey, but other entries by others like Altec Lansing just fell flat.
Overall: The Zepplin is more of a status symbol and the Moko is an edgier product for gamers. Picking between the two would be based on what image you want to convey.
View complete CES 2008 coverage from CNET.
Finally, the iPhone's first major update!
My optimism for this 1.1.1 update was muted as, after a couple of months of waiting, I was excited for the ringtone feature that has ultimately proven lackluster. If my iPhone is in my pocket, I honestly cannot hear the ringtone portions of songs I've picked - even the jarring ones! The only reason I know I'm getting a call is because of the vibrate feature. So, with yesterday's major update, I was cautious. It should follow, however, that the speaker adjustments in the 1.1.1 update may solve the ringtone-being-too-quiet issue. Verdict: eh, not really.
The 1.1.1 update, however, was still welcome. Apart from allowing the homekey to access the iPhone's iPod features, a redesign of the calculator, my favorite feature thus far is the WiFi iTunes store that was already available on the iPod Touch.
Ironically, I downloaded "Wrapped Around Your Finger" by The Police and, after hoping onto a WiFi network. After hearing it, taking note of it on the notebook, I found the song, downloaded it and started playing in about a minute's time. The iTunes WiFi interface in terms of search and purchasing features are slick, clean and fast. Transferring the purchased song to my main desktop was seamless too. A new category of playlist, "songs purchased from the iPhone" (or something close to that) also appeared in my iTunes.
You might think that having access to iTunes on the go is unnecessary - but to me, it's both brilliant and dangerous. Brilliant because if you're like me, you hear music and songs around all the time. For me, I tend to think: oooh, what is that song? I'd like to have it. And now, I can get it, provided that I'm near a WiFi hot spot. (Usually, someone around me will know what song is playing. Not being able to identify the song is an entirely different matter). And, iTunes WiFi is dangerous because I hear a lot of music during a day and I think I'll be buying songs left and right. So, in a surprising turn-around, I guess I'm glad that my purchasing capacity is limited by iTunes WiFi only being accessible via WiFi. (I wonder how quickly the EDGE network would implode if iTunes WiFi could be accessed over AT&T's EDGE Network).
So, this leads to the next question: What about 3G transfers? In the long run, it looks as if the trend appears to be moving a time where storing music on a desktop or iPod may well become pretty obsolete. This is all the more so especially with larger online servers and storage dumps becoming more widely available. Like Google Apps and Documents, one day, it seems more than likely that I'll be able to access all my music along lines like iTunes WiFi. Perhaps a constant streaming, or perhaps I'll access an entire playlist in chunks at a time, thus eliminating the need for an obscenely massive HDD-based iPod/mp3 players. The only limit now seems to be speeds of over-air data networks. Even if you were on a plane, or in a subway, you may be able to beam yourself enough music to carry you to the next WiFi rich area you get to.
While that may be a while away, iTunes WiFi is definitely a starting point.
So this week a lot happened in iPhone-land--unlocked by a Jersey boy that allows anyone to use the iPhone, on T-Mobile...right! But for would-be iPhone owners in GSM-enabled countries, this could mark a watershed. Apparently, I'm told that the menus for selecting which network you want to connect to (provided they're GSM) are already embedded in the software/OS. How interesting.
As for streaming music, Seeqpod How long this site will be around I remain unsure, but it's still pretty cool over a Wi-Fi network, but with the EDGE? This has to be tested, so stay tuned.
And finally, AT&T, via text, informed me and thousands of other AT&T customers that invoices will no longer be itemized--and done so in a green/eco-way. Good job.
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