SoundHound Infinity for iPhone and iPad 3.2.1

CNET Editors' review

by: Jessica Dolcourt on April 27, 2010

Music-finding app SoundHound has changed names and pricing structures throughout the course of its modest lifetime, but its philosophy and core functionality remain unchanged. Unlike competitors that require you to hold the app close to the source of recorded music before it can ID your song title, lyrics, and artist information, SoundHound Infinity (the premium version) works even when you sing, hum, speak, or type a request into the stylish interface. Though the app is now faster than before--returning results in as few as 4 seconds--ambient noise may still interfere with accurate results, and typing usually prevailed in the rare case that singing into the speaker or holding the iPhone up to a music source failed.

There are music videos to watch, when available from YouTube, and song lyrics, either delivered right to you, or in the form of an in-app Google search. Trend charts show you how popular a song is vis a vis the publisher's online and mobile network, and you can see which songs other users have identified. Cleverly, SoundHound can also hook into your iPhone's iPod library and produce the same info and lyrics for songs you already own.

Take heed that SoundHound Infinity is no song downloader, though it can help you buy music through iTunes. The iPad version looks even better, keeping the song-finding features on the left while surfacing videos, titles, and other related information in the main panel on the right. SoundHound (the company) also offers a free version of the app that limits the number of times you can ID a song to five per month.

SoundHound for Android and iPhone:

Publisher's Description

From SoundHound:

What's that song? Who's that hot artist? SoundHound knows. It's a revolution in instant music search and discovery for iPhone, iPod Touch* - and now - iPad!

The world's fastest, strongest music recognition: SoundHound names a song playing from a speaker in just four seconds - and it can even work if you sing or hum. In-app lyrics, Music discovery: artist top songs with visual popularity, previews, similar artists, Pandora station links, and the exclusive Underplayed list: a set of songs discovered in SoundHound much more often than they are played on the radio. Instant sharing over email, Facebook, or Twitter. Buying with one tap to iTunes. Playback of your iPod tracks or entire playlists - with SoundHound's lyrics. Music browsing: bios, in-app YouTube videos, discography, and tour dates. Say Search taking you straight to any song or artist.

Special for the iPad: A new, immersive music exploration experience with beautiful, full size lyrics pages, youTube videos, album art and charts; The SoundHound scrolling ticker: a running list of songs users around the world are discovering - new and fresh every time you open SoundHound; Super-optimized portrait and landscape modes with even easier one-click access to all SoundHound's search and discovery features

What's new in this version: New in version 3.2.1: Faster speeds, bug fixes, new iPad features.