Updated 8/8/8 – I no longer feel the same about Midomi as I did the first time I tried it. I still think it’s an amazing concept but the app just doesn’t do what it says it does. There have been a couple of times I’ve had a song on the radio that I wanted to know who it was, and so I held up Midomi to the speakers, as they suggest to do, but it never figures it out. Not even once. I’ve heard of another app called Shazam that supposedly does a similar thing. I’m not sure I’m ready for the emotional investment after being so let down by Midomi. The original post title was Midomi! but now it is simply Midomi – notfomi.
Original post – This must be the coolest iPhone app out there. Have you ever had a song or even just a short part of the rhythm stuck in your head, and you wanted to know what song it is? Meet Midomi. You literally sing or hum for a few seconds and it’ll show you what song it is. Amazing. And you can hold it up to your radio and it will tell you the name of the song playing.
I will add that it’s not perfect. I gave it the official, stringent Emile test singing a variety of songs and here’s how it fared:
- Amazing Grace – first test. It listed a bunch of songs with Amazing Grace the #2 and #3 songs. Not bad.
- Major Tom (by Peter Schilling) – it found this song pretty easily. I used this song because Katia called me up back in March humming the tune to this song and really wanting to know the name. Perfect time to call up Midomi.
- Easily I Approach (by Eazy E) – it never found this. I tried several times. I’d rap the opening few lines for about 20 seconds. Usually it just stayed there spinning. One time it crashed the app. Finally one time it brought up a list of potential matches, none of which were right. Several were Italian. And there was even one Hilary Duff entry. Nice. I’m glad to know my voice resembles that of Hilary Duff.
- Low (Apple Bottom Jeans) – first off, I felt really lame singing this. I thought it’d be a cool song to sing but I was mistaken. I tried this twice. The first time I tried, it crashed Midomi. Then the second time it found no matches. Seems like Midomi may have issues matching rap songs.
- One Moment In Time – nailed it. This is the ultimate song and I would have been very disappointed in Midomi didn’t match it. But it did. Perfectly. I’d like to think part of it was my spot-on rendition of it.
a meal with basil 