Free Software: What song is that?

Sure, if you have an iPhone running one of several apps, you can hold it up near the song and let it hear what is playing, and it will identify the song for you.

But if you do not have an iPhone, now you can do this on your computer with a FREE piece of software from Wildbits, called Tunatic.

Tunatic runs on a Windows PC (2000, XP, Vista) and Mac (Mac OS X 10.2 or better), and requires nothing more than the computer, the program, a microphone (built in will do) and internet access.

After installing and launching, select your input device (works with built in mic, external mics, and even USB mics) and adjust it for best sound input. Then, simply press the search button while the song is playing, and Tunatic goes to work. The program analyzes the song and sends the song’s “features” back to Tunatic’s servers, where a best match algorithm looks for a match. If one is found, in a few seconds the name will appear in the small Tunatic window. Simple as that.

Tunatic will identify almost any song from almost any genre except classical works. It cannot, unfortunately, recognize a song you sing or hum, but their algorithms can discriminate between two different versions of the same song.

Using software like Soundflower or Jack OS X on a Mac, or by using the Stereo Mixer on a PC and routing your sound to the Mic input, you can even identify a song playing on the same computer, which is great for podcasts and streaming radio. (Note: I did this simply by turning up the volume and pressing search on my Macbook!)

In my playing, I was able to hit about 90% of the songs I tried, even some very old Falco songs from Germany.

For free, this is a great piece of software.