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Name That Tune: Playing Games with Midomi


Being the weekend, I’m sharing something a little more recreational in nature.

When I first bought my iPhone 3G (same day they came out), the lines were horrendous. But I did have plenty of time to learn about the new apps that were available. The Apple store employees were showing off their favorite apps, one of which was Midomi.

Midomi essentially let’s you find songs when you don’t know the name or even the artist. You can hold it to the radio and it will tell you the artist, the song title, the album and even provide links to YouTube videos and the ability to purchase the song on iTunes. But even more impressive, you can hum or sing a bit of the song and Midomi will find it for you… usually.

I didn’t really get the appeal of Midomi when the guy in the Apple store described it, so it wasn’t until a week ago that I downloaded it and gave it a try. The verdict? Midomi is FUN!

This week when I was driving to Dulles airport, I had the radio tuned to a classic rock station, and heard a song that I wanted to add to my personal library. I fired up Midomi,

Midomi - Grabbing a song snippet Midomi - Search Results Midomi - Direct Hit

Midomi records about 10-15 seconds of the song, sends it to their server and returns a list of matches. In my experience, grabbing songs from a radio was extremely accurate.

To purchase via iTunes, you must be connected via wifi. Since I was on the road, I just added a bookmark so I could return later and purchase the song.

Now for the real fun…

Midomi is useful, but the real fun begins when you try singing or humming a song. Lynn and I were cracking up as we tested the accuracy of Midomi (and our singing talent). Here’s how to play:

Get a few friends together. In round robin fashion, you challenge your friends to “match” a song from the band or artist of your choice. They choose the song, and sing or hum into Midomi. Who ever gets a match (or the highest match, if you’ve got a group) can decide the next challenge.

Let the laughter ensue.

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Attack the websites you love to hate

Ever run across a website that made you cringe? Maybe it was the flaming logo, the animated “new” buttons or the painful site navigation. Don’t get mad; get destructive with this cool little site called NetDisaster that came across my desk courtesy of Mark Hurst’s Good Experience newsletter.

Led Zeppelin Attack

NetDisaster doesn’t actually damage the site that raises your ire, but does give you a chance to harmlessly deface it with scribbling babies, nuclear bombs, meteors, pee, fried eggs, crashing zeppelins and more. It’s a cathartic experience that must be lived to appreciate. And a perfect way to kill 10 or 20 minutes.