What's that Tune? MusicID Can Tell You.

Have you ever been in a store or a bar and wondered what exactly is that song coming over the speaker system?

In the past, I've solved that problem with Shazam, a mobile app that captures a bit of audio, then spools up the song's title — and the opportunity to buy a copy on iTunes.

That's all been well and good, but I've been frustrated with Shazam lately. (Sometimes it take too long to load, or isn't as accuarate as I need it to be.) So I broke my fidelity and started seeing other music indentification apps.

My favorite, by far, has been MusicID (99 cents).

Not only does it return results fast, as it did when recognizing The Black Crowes'
"Ballad of Urgency," but it also provided lyrics, a band biography and recommendations for similar songs. MusicID also linked to YouTube videos of the Crowes singing the song, which was pretty cool.

Oh, yes, and they want a cut of the sale to iTunes (just like Shazam).

Overall, it's a cleaner, more streamlined design that Shazam and a better user experience.

But I wanted to stump it, so I tried a more obscure track: Chicago's own Rock Falls' (aka Annie Reese) amazing cover of Bob Dylan's "Man in the Long Black Coat."

Not surprisingly, it had trouble. In fact, MusicID told me the song was Usher's "The Many Ways" after a few opening notes. Now, since Rock Falls' cover song isn't available on iTunes, I figured it would have a problem. (It's only on MySpace right now, check it out).

MusicID also couldn't find an obscure cover of Jack White singing Loretta Lynn's "Van Lear Rose" — but DID correctly identify Adam Freeland's remix of Sarah Vaughn's rendition of "Fever," which my 3-year-old son is obsessed with.

Not only that, but it led me to an entire album of Vaughn songs, "Viva Vaughan," which I'm ordering right now.

But, through the Amazon app.