Microsoft quietly released Songsmith at CES. With all the Windows 7 madness here at Neowin we missed this one.Songsmith generates musical accompaniment to match a singer's voice. Just choose a musical style, sing into your PC's microphone, and Songsmith will create backing music for you. Then share your songs with your friends and family, post your songs online, or create your own music videos.
The technology isn't new and Microsoft has been working on this for some time, originally it was named MySong. The product is available here now for free trial, the full version costs $29.95.
Songsmith does not install correctly on Windows 7 by default but blogger Rafael Rivera has posted instructions on how to bypass this.
Unfortunately the marketing for Songsmith is pretty lame but absolutely hilarious, check our the video below for a giggle or two (thanks Rob for the link).
you're lucky.
I think I personally looked at Microsoft in a Bad way on this Commercial
Uh, no . . .
This is MS. Just like that internal Vista promotional video, the weak "I'm a PC" ads, the recent CES keynote, the horrible and pointless Seinfeld ads, the bad jokes and awkward atmosphere at virtually every CES keynote since, Steve Ballmer on camera, etc., etc.
These are the kinds of glaring cultural and social miscues that unfortunately find their way into their products. It's a trickle-down effect. MS is a company that churns out a business-sector OS with bolted-on consumer features. Ubiquitous licensing and DirectX drive their product in the consumer market. That's it.
The last decent MS marketing product I ever saw were the XP commercials from 2001 and the "Where do you want to go today?" ads. Rather forgettable, but still professional and quite worthy of the image to which MS aspires.
This Songsmith app is at best, for kids, and at worst, something that should never, ever be promoted as a salient part of your allegedly next-gen OS - especially in a Vista-weary environment where the same mistakes can't be made, never mind new ones.
Ads like the one above should never see the light of day. The public shouldn't see that, let's not even talk about investors - current and potential. Effective marketing is a tightly controlled, tactical exercise, in which every part of the message will be assessed by your audience and has far-reaching consequences with respect to your product.
This is MS. Just like that internal Vista promotional video, the weak "I'm a PC" ads, the recent CES keynote, the horrible and pointless Seinfeld ads, the bad jokes and awkward atmosphere at virtually every CES keynote since, Steve Ballmer on camera, etc., etc.
blah blah blah, pish-posh, self-important blathering, etc etc.
And I suppose Apple -intend- to look like self-important, pretentious twats?
Honestly, did we need another rambling LTD diatribe here?
Why would they promote apple though?
If it wouldn't be a problem, they wouldn't cover up the logo.
Because if mac users buy windows they get paid anyway lol
Then if they user buys windows software it helps them further and still makes windows the o/s of choice, just apple does nice hardware ;0) (smell the LTD bait)
Microsoft has been working on this for some time
LOL, did the Zune team work on this??
But really, this isn't in the least bit surprising. And yes, this will actually be sold, at $30 a pop. They're actually going to sell this.
I guess this is what happens when you give geeks with no taste free reign with a marketing budget ....
Last edited by LTD on 10 Jan 2009 - 14:12
Bit ridiculous.
Know what, Jug, now that you mention it, I can't wait either! Definitely a popcorn thing.
They're actually going to sell this. People will buy it. And Apple will rot a bit more. You know, you're one of the reasons I won't even look at an Apple product.
This could be very popular going by the HUGE success of all the games that come out now that are music related. God if you look at how well singstar has sold and rock star as well you would see there is a market for this sort of thing. Even muppets that go on pop idol etc would like this to help them write a song and have backing music automatically and there are a lot that try for pop idol like shows.
If apple had put this in Garage band you would be loving it, just because its MS you start this flame bait. Grow up macboy
They wouldn't.
-Spenser
-Spenser
+1
-Spenser
+1
+1 more
(that is -- if they just used one sticker, it would've been too obvious, so they had to opt for redundancy -- and still fail
(that is -- if they just used one sticker, it would've been too obvious, so they had to opt for redundancy -- and still fail
Yes, that's quite a misstep.
Makes you wonder just who is in charge of all this (failed) marketing.
Unlike Apple Microsoft dont really give a toss about using competitors products in their ads, theyve used macs in quite a few ads.
At least we're slowly approaching the time where we can stand on the desk at school and start singing, music will appear, everyone will start doing a choreographed dance and they'll perform backing vocals.
Can't wait (y)
At least we're slowly approaching the time where we can stand on the desk at school and start singing, music will appear, everyone will start doing a choreographed dance and they'll perform backing vocals.
Can't wait (y)
a la High School Musical?
For the target group I think they've done a fine job over at MSR.
Neither is Garageband, but that's not my point. My point is that time and effort has been put into what is, in effect, a toy application when their "opposition" is producing useful tools.
I wake up horny in the morning
And I see a tent on top of my legs
What caused this, I'm wondering
Let me touch it, my girlfriend begs
She moves her hand towards the tent shaped like a cone
And touches the muscle that turns into a bone
And on and on...
Last edited by Sebaz Vista on 11 Jan 2009 - 13:38
In my opinion, it's one product that affects people viscerally in more ways than just the UI on the screen and the software design, which is quite a rare thing for Microsoft. Kind of shows Microsoft is a "playful" company. The product also has potential to be able to sell itself once presented to the public. Hence, to sell better, it should have been given more publicity at CES, if it wasn't.
"Thanks to songsmith it was the best they've ever had"
Funniest ad I have ever seen in my whole life!!
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