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Ring me for the song title

November 09, 2004

The quantity of digitally recorded music is exploding. The AudioID automatic recognition system not only keeps your play list under control. It sorts the collection on your hard disk, protects intellectual property rights, and recognizes song titles on the basis of a short extract.

They're playing a great song on the radio, but what's the title? How can I find out the name of the artist? It's easy: Just dial up a server on your cell phone, hold the phone next to the radio, and the answer will be sent almost immediately as a text message. The secret is AudioID, the automatic audio identification system capable of identifying pieces of music and supplying the title and the name of the artist. This new technology was developed by researchers at the Fraunhofer Institutes for Integrated Circuits IIS and for Digital Media Technology IDMT, and earned one of this year's Joseph von Fraunhofer Prizes for Eric Allamanche, Jürgen Herre and Markus Cremer.

But what kind of technique can single out a specific song title from among several million others, and that in a matter of seconds? The software starts by creating an audio fingerprint for each piece of music. This is stored in a database together with the title and the name of the artist. "When you start a search for a particular song, the system simply looks for its fingerprint identity," explains Jürgen Herre of the IIS. To create a digital fingerprint, the software divides the music into a number of frequency bands, for instance 16, and calculates the "spectral flatness" of each band, which is not its melody. This kind of measurement defines the regularity or random nature of the signal within every frequency band. A legato note played on a flute, for instance, is attributed a value close to 0, whereas the harsh vibrations of percussion give rise to a value approaching 1. The spectral flatness of an extract of music is as uniquely characteristic as the pattern of a human fingerprint.

The new technology has already found a number of different applications. The cell phone operator O2 is using the technique to offer a song identification service for mobile phone users. Markus Cremer of the IDMT cites another example: "AudioID enables radio stations to compile a record of the material they have broadcast." A company called MusikTrace uses this data to create an automatic log of the time and place where specific music titles or advertising spots have been transmitted, allowing a precise list of copyright dues to be produced. AudioID also helps home listeners to catalog their personal music collections. The company Musicmatch is offering its "Jukebox Plus" song identification software on the Internet, allowing users to sort and assign precise labels to the music they have stored on their PC.
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Joseph-von-Fraunhofer Prize - research with a practical orientation

This prize has been awarded by the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft every year since 1978, in recognition of outstanding scientific work by members of its staff leading to the solution of application-oriented problems. Over 200 researchers have meanwhile seen their work honored in this way. This year, three prizes were awarded - each valued at EUR 10,000. The silver lapel pin bearing the effigy of the man for whom the award is named is an additional trophy.

Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft

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