Shazam's technology came in part out of CCRMA, which is a very cool and special place on Stanford Campus, with deep connections to early computer history.
I think it is very interesting that so many of the early applications of computer technology have to do with audio. John Bardeen's music box, the first commercial application of the transistor in hearing aids, the HP garage in Palo Alto was originally building audio oscillators, the iPhone evolved from the iPod, the internet was built on copper made to carry analog telephone calls, Bell Labs (ping!), the list goes on.
A friend of mine has the hypothesis that maybe human beings end up figuring out how to do kHz stuff before they go on to do MHz/GHz stuff. Not a perfect explanation but kind of attractive...
IMHO it’s because audio is „easy“ to manipulate electronically.
You can transform every audio signal into an electronic signal relatively easy - for graphics there is so much more complexity involved just in making them visible.
A speaker that translates electronic signal into sound waves is a super simple contraption at its core.
Edit:/ and audio is striking - it has a profound effect on every human (except deaf of course).
If I wanted to demonstrate the power of electronics/computers I would choose audio as well.
I think it is very interesting that so many of the early applications of computer technology have to do with audio. John Bardeen's music box, the first commercial application of the transistor in hearing aids, the HP garage in Palo Alto was originally building audio oscillators, the iPhone evolved from the iPod, the internet was built on copper made to carry analog telephone calls, Bell Labs (ping!), the list goes on.
A friend of mine has the hypothesis that maybe human beings end up figuring out how to do kHz stuff before they go on to do MHz/GHz stuff. Not a perfect explanation but kind of attractive...