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 If you've ever tried to rip a homemade mix CD into your iTunes, you've probably got a bunch of files with names like "Track 01" waiting to surprise you the next time you play them. (Some of them might even be performed by the ever-popular "Artist" as well.) Although iTunes typically sends a query to Gracenote Inc.'s massive song database, it doesn't tag its songs based on an audio "fingerprint" -- it's looking for a commercially-available album whose track numbers and song lengths match up with your CD. If it's a homemade disc, Gracenote might not find a match, leaving you with a lot of mystery music.San Francisco-based startup TuneUp Media is set to introduce a software product that adds audio fingerprinting technology to iTunes, along with a bunch of other tools that help clean up a user's digital music collection. Each fingerprint query takes a few seconds, and can be activated through a simple drag-and-drop interface. TuneUp's application also fixes mistyped or mistaken artist tags, locates missing cover art and provides helpful links to videos, album recommendations and upcoming concert information. The company's demo video is here (interestingly, named "Versailles" for reasons not immediately clear to me). [UPDATE (4:02 pm): The official version of the demo is here. For more updates, follow the link below.] Digital audio fingerprinting is not a new technology, but iTunes hasn't yet included it in its releases. Snocap Inc., the startup founded by original Napster creator Shawn Fanning, originally attempted to use audio fingerprinting for music licensing, then became a building block in MySpace's first attempt at selling music through its social network. Social music site Imeem Inc. acquired Snocap earlier this year, reportedly for as little as $5 million. TuneUp's trial application is free, but once it's cleaned up 500 songs and found 50 missing album covers, a consumer can pay $11.95 for an annual subscription service or $19.95 for an unlimited-use version. The demo version I installed didn't noticeably slow down iTunes' operation and fixed a few errors I rigged up myself, although it made at least one tag slightly less accurate. Also, the recommendation engine pointed me toward a bunch of songs I've already got in my collection, making it less than optimal. Several other concert-tracking services, such as Songkick and SonicLiving, also scan a user's iTunes library to generate a calendar of upcoming events, although they provide much deeper recommendation and social networking features. I'm looking forward to speaking with someone at TuneUp this morning, so watch this space for updates. [UPDATE (4:02 pm): I spoke with CEO Gabe Adiv, and he clarified a few points here.] -- Paul Bonanos See June 27 post from Tech Confidential regarding Songkick and other concert-tracking sites Comments
From: Paul Bonanos,
I haven't seen one that uses the AMG database, John. But although I find allmusic.com indispensable, I don't think its database is ideal for tagging songs in iTunes. It still has errors, and duplicate data too. Be careful what you wish for. Gracenote's database seems to fix itself sometimes, presumably via user submissions. It also has a much deeper catalog of micro-indie releases and bootleg recordings. But if anyone out there is using AMG's database for tagging songs in iTunes, please speak up! Paul
Posted on:
July 16, 2008 10:44 AM
From: Ron Courtier,
@Paul Bonanos AMG launched a media id service that has rapidly gained market share. It competes quite nicely with Gracenote, and is used by former Gracenote customers like RealPlayer, Rhapsody, Sony PS3, Sprint, Verizon, Nokia, B&O, Iriver, and many others. The AMG solution includes acoustic fingerprinting and is generally regarded as being faster and more accurate than the similar tech from Gracenote being used by TuneUp. The data is far richer, as well. I do not know of any TuneUp-like assistant applications for iTunes that use AMG, but someone could easily build one. Perhaps someone should? @John Reznik I agree that the Gracenote database is a poor choice for cleaning up a collection. Gracenote has been one of the biggest reasons for the low quality of music tags for years. It is ridiculous to expect them to clean up their own mess.
Posted on:
July 17, 2008 4:57 AM
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Unfortunate that this service uses the Gracenote database with all of its inherent quality problems. Gracenote already does a fine job of messing up my tags in iTunes, why would I want to have it screw them up again using TuneUp? I would prefer something that uses the allmusic.com database. Is there any service like this that uses allmusic.com for cleaning up tags?