La Jolla, Calif. — The bar is noisy, yet the blaring music makes an impression just the same. You might actually buy the record if you knew the title and performer.
So you pull out your cell phone, dial a four-digit number and hold the phone up near the speakers for 15 seconds. Moments later, a text message arrives on the handset with the song's name and artist. You might even be able to buy the CD right from the phone.
A London company called Shazam Entertainment showcased this intriguing "pattern recognition technology" at the influential Demo Mobile conference here last week. On stage at the annual industry shindig, Shazam's Mobile Music
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Engine was able to correctly identify Canned Heat's Bullfrog Blues as it played at an online music site.
In fact, as long as a selection is loud enough, the Shazam system — akin to fingerprinting a recording — can recognize any song in its database, currently 90,000 albums strong, with most musical genres represented, except for classical.
Shazam recently launched the service in the U.K., where it costs about 75 cents each time a person calls in. Shazam has designs on the U.S. market, though I doubt such a pricing scheme would fly here; I'd want to see a modest monthly fee that permits unlimited use •
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