Ever been in a noisy pub, started tapping your foot to a tune belting out in the background, but couldn't put a name to it?
For the thousands of music lovers who have experienced that feeling, help is at hand. A new mobile-phone service called Shazam is taking the UK by storm.
All you do is dial 2580 on your mobile phone, and then hold the handset towards the music's source.
Shazam listens in for about 15 seconds and then hangs up. You then get a text message telling you who the artist is, and the name of the song.
American entrepreneur Chris Barton, 33, founder and chief executive of Shazam, says: "One of the fun bits of Shazam is the wow factor, people say there is no way in the world it will work.
"We actually had one posting on the web saying 'Chris Barton is killing the pub quiz!'"
Barton says his London based firm has a database of more than 1.6 million tracks - each of which is electronically analysed to create a unique "fingerprint" based on various characteristics of the music.
Shazam's trick is to match the music you're listening to with one of the original recordings in its database.
Barton, originally from San Diego but with a British father, first dreamed up the idea of getting mobiles to recognise music three years ago.
He was studying at the London Business School and everyone told him his idea was impossible.
He says: "I knew there was voice recognition technology out there and other forms of pattern recognition technology, so I thought someone has got to be able to invent something like this.
"I had enough experience to see how technology had developed so I started by approaching professors and PhD students, most of whom also said this was impossible.
"But finally I met a guy in the US who said it was feasible. He put me in touch with a scientist called Avery Wang who became a co-founder of Shazam."
Avery, who has four degrees from Stanford University, had to invent the software from scratch.
"The rest of us travelled around collecting music samples from cars, pubs, cafes and called an answer machine with our mobiles," says Barton.
"We then got the CDs with the original song and then Avery had to translate the songs into code. The software is so powerful that if Robbie Williams recorded a re-mix of a song, we would tell you that's a remix and not the original."
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So far more than 100,000 people have tried the service since its launch in August and Shazam also won the Best New Mobile Service at the Mobile Choice Awards 2002 last month.
 BARTON says: "There is no other service like this in the world, and many worldwide mobile phone companies are getting excited by the idea,.
"By the end of next year we should have services in at least one or two other markets.
"It is not just about finding the names of songs ... Shazam will soon be used to get into other interactive services around music. People spend £70million on ringtones every year and much more on CDs, so the interest for music over the phone is huge."
Barton's idea has come at the right time, when mobile phone operators are turning their attention from selling phones to an already saturated market to earning income from the millions of phones that are already out there.
Unfortunately the service does not work with classical or live music, and the song's source must be loud enough for it to hear clearly.
If you sign up to Shazam's website (www.shazam.com) it keeps a list of the songs you have identified, along with links to online music retailers such as Amazon and Tower Records so you can buy the relevant CD. Registration costs nothing.
Radio 1 DJ Pete Tong, said: "It's a winner, if you are the sort of person who gets frustrated when you can't name the tune on the latest Guinness advert ."
Shazam is available to pay-monthly and pay-as-you-go customers on Orange, Vodafone, T-Mobile and O2 networks but not as yet to Virgin customers.
It costs 50p for each song Shazam identifies, although Vodafone adds a 9p connection charge.
RINGING CHANGES
SHAZAM is one of a growing number of mobile phone services. One such is www.zingotaxi.com, a service that lets punters call a cab even if they are completely lost. The mobile pinpoints your exact location so the cab company can get a car straight to you.
Another company called vizzavi helps you find the nearest bars and restaurants in your location, while a firm called M-Ticket can be used to buy digital tickets to gigs and events using text messages •
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