TrackID – this app ‘listens’ to music & identifies the track for you!
by Paul Wilks
Jul 30, 2012 7:39 AM –
Install
TrackID is a music identification service from none other than Sony. While there are quite a few similar apps already in the Google Play Store such as Shazam and SoundHound, plus Google’s new Jelly Bean service Google Ear. However, it’s arguably still worth checking out the offering from Sony seeing as they invented the Walkman!
Price: Free
Tested on: HTC One X
Content Rating: Everyone
Pros & Cons:
Pros
- Can listen to music playing and identify the song!
- Fast and responsive!
- Nice user interface!
- Nice selection of artist info!
- Creates history!
Cons
- Not much choice of stores to buy from once identified.
Features:
A genuine 21st century problem we sometimes find ourselves facing is where we hear a music track we like, but we don’t know what it is or who it’s by. We are living in a time where we are surrounded by new media content all the time, inundated with videos, smothered by memes, drowning in blogs and beset with music ALL THE TIME! Whether it be on a new TV advert, featured on a trailer for a new movie, a snippet of sound you hear on the radio or even a mid-movie montage track that you happen to find catchy, we often can’t identify what we are hearing. Hence the introduction over the past year or so of apps that ‘listen’ for us and determine the name of the tracks on our behalf.
The last time this occurred for me was when watching a Sci-Fi TV series here in the UK called The Misfits (bit like a British comedy drama version of Heroes). The title track is one that grows on you the more episodes you watch so I was keen to find out what it was. I was, on this occasion, able to use the TrackID app by tapping on the big button in the middle of the screen and it correctly identified it as Echoes by The Rapture. Cool! From this app page I can then read up on artist info, buy the track (seemingly only from 7Digital however), share it with someone or search YouTube for the full version. It’s handy, useful, easy and convenient.
I really like the way it stores all the tracks you’ve searched for- something which Google Ears currently doesn’t. That way, if you have a day of hearing and identifying a few different musical tracks, they are all stored in the app. You can then download, review, share or search from your history. The app also features a ‘Chart’ tab which shows you the top ten songs in your region. You can also view other regions too by changing location in the settings.
TrackID is powered by Gracenote, so it has a comprehensive list of music to draw upon. It obviously isn’t as good on live tracks but I found the app very responsive and got 8/10 of the tracks I played it, which isn’t a bad return. Android users who sport a Sony device might already have this on their phone, so one of them might have to tell me if there are any differences between this and their native version! I know most people use either SoundHound, Shazam or the new Google Ears service, but if you have a modicum of admiration for the company which launched personal music systems worldwide back in the day, you might want to check out TrackID.
-
-
TrackID – Listening
-
-
TrackID – Record
-
-
TrackID – It does fail occasionally
-
-
TrackID – Identified track
-
-
TrackID – Artist info
-
-
TrackID – History
-
-
TrackID – Charts
-
-
TrackID – Select shop
Usefulness:
It performs much like similar apps and is pretty accurate by all accounts. I really like the way it stores songs in its history for later viewing. The app comes with a neat little widget too, so you can access the service from your homescreen very conveniently. Of course you might prefer to pick up a few of the lyrics (if the track has them), dash to Google and find the name of the song that way, but this is far quicker and more fun.
Ease of Use:
Using the app requires you to tap the button and watch it as it listens to the music. It takes a snap shot of a few seconds and then does the identifying for you. The history and charts sections are simple to access by the tabs at the top of the screen. I did find that TrackID identified tracks very quickly, certainly compared to its Google Play Store competition, but it will obviously only be as good, in your opinion, as the last track it tries to find.
Frequently Used:
Personally I’m always hearing things on TV (mostly) that I like the sound of. From The Rapture track detailed above and the fantastic music from the old Nexus S advert (Allo Allo by Les Sans Culottes) to the music on the Nikon advert (Welcome Home by Radical Face) and even the music from the new Windows 8 advert (Too Close by Alex Clare)… I have to find a lot of music without the help of a DJ introducing each one. Therefore I use apps like this at least a few times every week. Obviously other users will have different levels of usage.
Interface:
The UI is nicely designed and very slick (as you’d expect from a company like Sony) and is very easy to use.
Tags:
Android App,
Android Apps,
AndroidTapp.com App Review,
Google Ear,
Mobile Music,
MP3,
Music Detection,
Music Discovery App,
Music Indentification,
Shazam,
Sony,
SoundHound,
TrackID,
Walkman
Categorised in: Music
Submit apps for review,
promote apps, get more installs with better
app videos.