Image viewer dialog window

Loading image, please wait.

What song is this? Find out online

Remember that time you were walking down the street, on the bus, at this random party and you heard a song you wanted to add to your favorite playlist and wondered: what song is this?

Here are tips from Opera on apps and websites that can help you identify tunes and songs.

1. Shazam

Shazam is one of the most popular apps to use for this kind of quest. It is very accurate and identifies the song quickly. Just tap the big blue button and let it listen to the music. No internet connection? No problem. Shazam tags the song you made it listen, so you can easily find it and try later when you are connected. It is available for Android and iOS . There’s also a desktop version you can check out here . 🙂

2. SoundHound

Forgot the lyrics despite your best attempt to remember them? Don’t panic – as long as you can remember the tune, all is not lost.. SoundHound can identify a song by listening to the melody – you can sing it, hum it or even whistle it. To start, just tap SoundHound’s orange button, and it will do its best to match your recording. It will give you a list of possible songs, so don’t worry if your singing isn’t pitch perfect.

3. Ok Google, Siri & Cortana

This is the easiest way to identify songs if you don’t want to download any third-party apps. Just ask Ok Google , Siri or Cortana “What song is this?” or “What music is playing?”, etc., and they’ll find it for you in no time. 🙂

On your Android, turn on “Ok Google” or tap the mic button on Search. If you have an iPhone , ask Siri “What song is this?” and let her listen to it. Windows Phone? Press the Search button to go to Cortana, tap the Music search icon, and she will start listening.

4. WatZatSong

When all else fails, crowdsourcing the answer can save the day. WatZatSong is an online community where you can upload a sample of the track you are trying to identify. Write as many details you know about it and other members will help you name it as fast as possible.

These are all ways I’ve been able to identify random, “mystery” tunes that I end up loving. If you love to look things up online, try the Opera Mini mobile web browser for Android and iPhone, which also gives you speed and data savings when you surf the web. Let us know in the comments if you have any other handy ways to identify an unknown song!

www.makeuseof.com

Follow MUO

How to Identify a Song with Cortana in Windows 10

You don’t need any third-party apps to identify songs in Windows 10 because Cortana does a brilliant job at it.

You don’t need any third-party apps to identify songs in Windows 10 because Cortana does a brilliant job at it.

Shazam has joined Google and Xerox in the elite category of companies that are also used as verbs. If you listen to a catchy song playing on the radio or at the gym, but don’t know what it is, you’ll «shazam» it.

Google and Apple were quick to follow suit and the mobile giants baked music identification into Google Now and Siri, respectively. On both Android and iOS, simply ask the personal assistant «What song is this?» to get the answer, with the option to purchase it from the respective app store.

We previously group-tested the best music identification apps for your convenience.

Cortana is Microsoft’s answer to Siri and Google Now and she has some very clever tricks up her sleeve. For example, did you know that you can use Cortana to draft an email or even launch apps on your PC?

Ways to Launch Cortana

You can launch Cortana in several different ways. Either click the Windows Start button, the search field or icon right next to it, or the small microphone icon inside the search field. Alternatively, just press the Windows key on your keyboard.

You can also launch Cortana without touching your mouse or keyboard, but you first need to enable the «Hey Cortana» voice recognition feature. Open Cortana, click the notebook icon on the left, then click Settings. Now tap the Hey Cortana slider to turn it On.

Identify Music Using Cortana

Like its mobile cousins Google Now and Siri, Cortana also does a brilliant job of identifying songs playing near you. Obviously, you’ll first need to ensure that you’ve connected a microphone to your PC (if it doesn’t have a built-in one). After doing this, there are two ways to use the feature:

1. Ask Cortana

After launching, Cortana says «Ask me anything.» Simply ask her any one of the following questions: What song is this?, What song is playing?, What’s the name of this song?, or What’s playing right now?.

2. Use Cortana’s Music Shortcut

Alternatively, you can launch Cortana, then click the musical note icon in the top right (similar to tapping the musical note icon that appears in Google Now). Apart from identifying songs, this icon also saves a list of your previous musical searches.

After Identifying the Song

Once Cortana identifies the song, which usually takes about three to six seconds, you’ll see its name, album, and artist. You can also click the Find another song link to do that. Click any of the results to open that album in the Windows Store.

In the Windows Store, you’ll see the option to purchase the song or the entire album. Alternatively, if you’ve never used Windows 10’s Groove Music (which is similar to Spotify), you’ll see the option to start a free 30-day trial. Microsoft’s music service is $9.99 (£8.99) per month thereafter.

If Cortana can’t identify your song, you’ll see a message saying «I’m sorry, I don’t recognise this song», with the option to Try again. In most cases, increasing the music volume or moving your PC closer to the source of the sound remedies the problem and gets Cortana to identify it.

Find Artists Using Cortana

If Cortana doesn’t understand your voice command, it’ll open the Microsoft Edge browser and run your search query in Bing. While trying out some of the voice commands for this article, we stumbled upon an easy way to find song artists using Cortana.

Open Cortana and say Who sang «Kiss from a rose?» You’ll instantly see Bing’s search result of all the artists who sang that song as a carousel (in decreasing order of popularity).

If you use Bing as your search engine and are based in the US, then you should check out Bing Rewards to earn free gift cards and subscriptions.

When Cortana’s Music Identification Doesn’t Work

The primary reason for Cortana failing to identify a song is because your PC isn’t picking up the audio properly. If you’re using Cortana on a Windows 10 laptop with a built-in microphone, then you’ll need to ensure your laptop is facing the direction of the sound.

For example, Cortana didn’t recognize any songs, when the laptop lid was facing the TV (source of the sound). However, when we turned the laptop around, so that the screen was facing the TV, results were much better.

Music identification wasn’t as much of an issue when we used a headset with a microphone. The reason for this is likely because the (built-in) laptop microphones are usually located above your screen (beside your camera), whereas most headset microphones can pick up sound from anywhere around you.

While you can always install the free Windows 10 Shazam app, we recommend you save valuable storage space and use Cortana — unless music identification is a feature you tend to use very often. While Window 10’s personal assistant doesn’t identify music as fast as Shazam, it gives you the info you’re looking for accurately. You can then easily search for and add the track to the playlist of your preferred music streaming service.

If you’re using an older version of Windows and are still contemplating whether or not to upgrade to Windows 10, we can help you make up your mind. If you’ve updated to Windows 10, then make sure you’ve checked these default settings.

What’s Your Favorite Music Identification App/Service?

Cortana performed flawlessly when we asked her to identify current and yesteryear English tracks. We tried a mixture of chart hits, rare tracks by popular artists, and even unknown tracks from lesser-known artists. That said, its music identification catalog is limited to what’s on the Microsoft Groove database. Being a (comparatively) new service, this doesn’t have as many songs as Shazam or Spotify.

Are there any tracks Cortana failed to recognize, but other music identification apps could? Let us know in the comments section below.

Randomized alphanumeric serial numbers are coming to protect your privacy. Here’s what’s going on.

Sherwin is a technology writer with interests in Windows, Android, iOS, and social media. He’s also a keen sports fan and can usually be found watching/following the latest cricket, football, or basketball game.

Subscribe To Our Newsletter

Join our newsletter for tech tips, reviews, free ebooks, and exclusive deals!

One More Step…!

Please confirm your email address in the email we just sent you.