As Apple acquires Shazam to deepen music knowledge, Microsoft's Cortana loses ability to r...

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The shutdown of Microsoft's Groove Music service has eliminated music recognition capabilities in the software giant's Cortana personal assistant, giving Apple's Siri -- and its tight integration with Shazam -- a leg up on the competition.




Cortana software engineer Jason Deakins confirmed on Twitter that music recognition capabilities have been "retired" with the closing of Groove Music. Groove closed on Dec. 31, and was replaced with Spotify.

With Microsoft's ouster from the smartphone operating system space, Cortana is primarily a desktop personal assistant now. And though Siri for Mac is not as fully featured as it is on iOS, lacking functions such as HomeKit controls, Siri in High Sierra can still identify songs when requested.

However, Cortana on both desktop Windows 10 as well as Windows Phone still features a music icon that users can tap to listen. As noted by Windows Central, the system responds with "I found the song: Song unrecognized, on this service is retired, by music continues."


Via Windows Central.


Shazam itself was actually pulled from the Windows Store in March of 2017. Since then, the service was acquired by Apple in December to bolster not only its music recognition capabilities, but also to leverage augmented reality capabilities.

While Shazam has a standalone app, it has also been integrated directly into Apple's Siri for years. For example, users can ask "Hey Siri, name that tune," and the system will listen for and identify a song, on both iOS and Mac. Song identification capabilities are not available on Apple Watch, however.
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  • Reply 1 of 29
    Rayz2016rayz2016 Posts: 6,957member
    Actually, that’s something I use Siri for. Seems most of the music I buy is stuff i here in the background on TV shows. 
    watto_cobraLukeCage
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  • Reply 2 of 29
    charlesatlascharlesatlas Posts: 407member
    As noted by Windows Central, the system responds with "I found the song: Song unrecognized, on this service is retired, by music continues."
    That sounds like a typically informative Windows error message.
    hzcpscooter63lostkiwiracerhomie3king editor the gratesuddenly newtonStrangeDaysmizhouwatto_cobrafastasleep
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  • Reply 3 of 29
    macxpressmacxpress Posts: 5,977member
    Rayz2016 said:
    Actually, that’s something I use Siri for. Seems most of the music I buy is stuff i here in the background on TV shows. 
    I do too...Siri actually works really well for this, even if music is play, albeit not incredibly loud (I mean prompting Siri). If I hear a song somewhere and there aren't any credits as to what it is, Siri is a great resource for finding out what song that is. Its usually pretty quick too. 
    Rayz2016lostkiwiwatto_cobra
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  • Reply 4 of 29
    seanismorrisseanismorris Posts: 1,624member
    I no longer buy music, but listen to Amazon Music for free (no ads).

    I do pay for Amazon Prime to save money on shipping (yes, I do save).  Amazon Music & Video are just perks.

    I’ll likely only use Apple Music if it’s integrated into the next car I purchase...

    As far as I’m concerned buying music alacart is dead, it’s either ad supported or with a subscription these days.
    jbdragon
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  • Reply 5 of 29
    macxpressmacxpress Posts: 5,977member

    charlesatlas said:
    That sounds like a typically informative Windows error message.
    It should read out Error 0X01000F182 so someone has to go look it up. :smile: 
    bonobobStrangeDayswatto_cobracolinng
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  • Reply 6 of 29
    hzchzc Posts: 63member
    I smell an anti-trust lawsuit.
     0Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 7 of 29
    Rayz2016rayz2016 Posts: 6,957member
    hzc said:
    I smell an anti-trust lawsuit.
    You can smell an anti-trust lawsuit when someone stubs their toe. 
    jbdragonracerhomie3macxpressStrangeDayswatto_cobrajony0
     6Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 8 of 29
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,719member
    Rayz2016 said:
    Actually, that’s something I use Siri for. Seems most of the music I buy is stuff i here in the background on TV shows. 
    Since you mentioned background sounds on TV and "buying stuff" this might be of interest. There's a piece of software in the news this week, Alphonso, that tracks users’ TV habits. It's quietly built into many iOS and Android apps. Some of those apps are even targeted at children, tho to be fair they claim not to be recording human voices but only listening for and identifying background media that seemingly interests that family like TV shows and movies. The bigger concern for some is that "Alphonso can potentially still record audio when the apps that include it are running in the background or even if a device is in a pocket."

    What does this have to do with Shazam? According to their CEO Alphonso has a deal with the music-listening app Shazam, which has microphone access on many phones including iPhones. Alphonso is able to provide the snippets it picks up to Shazam which can use its own content-recognition technology to identify users and then sell that information to Alphonso. With Apple buying the company the relationship with Alphonso is likely to end. 
    edited January 2018
    muthuk_vanalingamjony0
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  • Reply 9 of 29
    Notsofastnotsofast Posts: 450member
    hzc said:
    I smell an anti-trust lawsuit.
    Fortunately, that's not how the anti-trust laws work.  
    StrangeDayswatto_cobra
     2Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 10 of 29
    ihatescreennamesihatescreennames Posts: 2,002member
    gatorguy said:
     Alphonso is able to provide the snippets it picks up to Shazam which can use its own content-recognition technology to identify users and then sell that information to Alphonso.
    I’d be interested to know if that deal continues after the Apple acquisition, considering Apple’s stance on privacy and not really needing that particular additional revenue stream. 
    mauijoewatto_cobramuthuk_vanalingam
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  • Reply 11 of 29
    hexclockhexclock Posts: 1,345member
    macxpress said:

    It should read out Error 0X01000F182 so someone has to go look it up. :smile: 
    So....Cortana is the new Clippy. 
    watto_cobra
     1Like 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 12 of 29
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,719member
    ihatescreennames said:
    I’d be interested to know if that deal continues after the Apple acquisition, considering Apple’s stance on privacy and not really needing that particular additional revenue stream. 
    I have little doubt it will end. 
    muthuk_vanalingam
     1Like 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 13 of 29
    bonobobbonobob Posts: 399member
    macxpress said:

    It should read out Error 0X01000F182 so someone has to go look it up. :smile: 
    And when you go look it up, you'll find it's not documented anywhere.
    watto_cobra
     1Like 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 14 of 29
    king editor the grateking editor the grate Posts: 670member
    As far as I’m concerned buying music alacart is dead, it’s either ad supported or with a subscription these days.
    The nail has entered the coffin, people! Please back away from the iTunes Store!
    suddenly newtonwatto_cobra
     2Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 15 of 29
    SpamSandwichspamsandwich Posts: 33,407member
    hzc said:
    I smell an anti-trust lawsuit.
    That's just an old banana.
    suddenly newtonStrangeDayswatto_cobra
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  • Reply 16 of 29
    suddenly newtonsuddenly newton Posts: 13,819member
    charlesatlas said:
    That sounds like a typically informative Windows error message.
    I would like to purchase other songs by music continues.
    king editor the grateStrangeDayswatto_cobra
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  • Reply 17 of 29
    suddenly newtonsuddenly newton Posts: 13,819member
    hzc said:
    I smell an anti-trust lawsuit.
    Please, file one.
    StrangeDayswatto_cobra
     2Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 18 of 29
    macxpressmacxpress Posts: 5,977member
    hzc said:
    I smell an anti-trust lawsuit.
    What exactly would constitute as an anti-trust lawsuit? Please...do tell!
    StrangeDayswatto_cobra
     2Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 19 of 29
    macxpressmacxpress Posts: 5,977member

    bonobob said:
    And when you go look it up, you'll find it's not documented anywhere.
    Or you need to sign up for a Microsoft TechNet account in order to read about it. 
    watto_cobra
     1Like 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 20 of 29
    leavingthebiggleavingthebigg Posts: 1,291member
    When I initially heard about Alphonso’s tracking ability the New York Times had named 250 Android apps and 0 iOS apps. 

    As the blogosphere rewrote the story iOS was included without naming 1 iOS app. Not 1. 

    Publications and bloggers were challenged to name 1 iOS app since they chose to include iOS. Not 1 publication nor blogger updated nor corrected their version of the story. 

    Unless something has changed since the New York Times story, anyone posting anything about iOS without naming at least 1 iOS app is being dishonest for including iOS. 

    StrangeDayswatto_cobra
     2Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
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