Fix Common Gmail Annoyances With These 5 Free Chrome Extensions and Apps

Gmail is the most popular email service in the world, but it’s not without its flaws. Even with the new changes in Gmail, Google hasn’t fixed several common annoyances and mistakes. A few fans of Gmail have tried to fill that void.

Most of them are Chrome extensions, but one of them works with Gmail on Chrome or Android. All these tools assume that you know the basics of using Gmail, and are looking for something more.

Email Studio for Gmail (Desktop Browsers, Android)

Schedule emails, send bulk emails, purge inbox, and much more

Amit Agarwal of Labnol is a master at using Google scripts. Over the years, he has created a number of scripts for Gmail that add much-needed features, like scheduling an email to be sent later or sending an email in bulk. Now he has put all of them in one handy suite.

Email Studio for Gmail has seven different features:

1. Send bulk emails that look personal, with the contact’s name appearing in the body.
2. Add a date and time to send an email later, or set a regular schedule for an email (like monthly rent).
3. Forward old Gmail messages to a new email address to create a backup.
4. Set up an auto-responder for certain emails.
5. Clone Gmail drafts.
6. Set up a rule to automatically delete emails before a certain date or time.
7. Email unsubscriber to remove yourself from unwanted mailing lists.

Email Studio will work in any desktop browser and also on the Gmail for Android, since it uses the new Gmail sidebar. The Email Studio button will show up when you open any message, after which you can use it for the above functions.

If you have any trouble, check the individual videos for each feature on the Email Studio for Gmail official page.

Install: Email Studio for Gmail (Free)

Murmure for Gmail (Chrome)

Send a private message to someone you add as BCC

Blind Carbon Copy (BCC) is one of these essential email features that lets you add someone on a mass email while hiding them from other recipients. It’s useful to mark a person who needs to be in the know about what’s happening.

Murmure builds on the BCC feature by letting you add a private message along with the email, which can be read only by the BCC-ed contact. Murmure restricts the message to 200 characters and will send it as a second email to that recipient while including the text of the first.

It’s much easier than the manual way you would have to use right now. Plus, if you automatically BCC yourself in Gmail, you can use this to send notes to yourself about conversations.

Download: Murmure for Gmail for Chrome (Free)

Gmail Audio Alerts (Chrome)

Get a sound notification when you receive a new message

Google Chrome has built-in notifications (which you can block) with audio and visual alerts, so it’s not like Google doesn’t know people like audio notifications. Yet even after so many years, there is no option to get a simple “ding!” when a new message lands in my inbox. Finally, someone else fixed that.

Gmail Audio Alerts is an extension that works in the background, so you can hide it from the Chrome toolbar. When you get a new email, it will sound an alert. That’s all we needed, right? You can choose between a few different tones: Simple, Clean, Future, Laser, Organic, Quirky, AOL, Outlook, Apple.

Gmail Audio Alerts is a Chrome extension, but you can use it on Opera and other Chromium browsers too.

Download: Gmail Audio Alerts for Chrome (Free)

Inbox When Ready (Chrome)

Hide inbox, or lock it for productivity sessions

Some of us tend to unnecessarily open our inbox many times in the day to check if we’ve got an email. Email addiction is a problem, and Inbox When Ready is a good solution for it.

This extension gives you a button to hide or show your inbox, which means you can leave Gmail open (to search messages and do other tasks) but not get distracted by new mails. Inbox When Ready also tracks your usage to show you how often you checked your inbox and how much time it was open today. Try it out, it can be a sobering reality check

Finally, the extension has a neat feature to lock the inbox for a while. Once it’s locked, you are forced to focus on work instead of checking for emails constantly. And don’t worry, in case of the oh-so-dreaded “email emergency” that your important self is surely going to face, you still have Gmail on your phone.

Download: Inbox When Ready for Chrome (Free)

Neat Messages for Gmail (Chrome)

Fix the annoyingly long lines of text in emails

By default, Gmail uses a responsive design. That means when you open an email, the text will flow as wide as the window allows it to. However, that’s not an ideal reading experience.

Neat Messages for Gmail formats this long flowing text into a more concise window that is better for reading. Each line will only have about 10-12 words, which is better for your eye to jump to the next line and read faster. The demo picture above is a good indication of how much it improves the reading experience.

This isn’t the only trick you can use to make Gmail look better. You can change the themes, increase font size, or change the font entirely. Learn those tricks in our guide to changing Gmail’s appearance.

Download: Neat Messages for Gmail for Chrome (Free)

Have You Seen Our Favorite Gmail-Chrome Extensions?

It’s surprising that Google focuses so much on design but doesn’t add these tiny features that can make life easier for its users. There are several other Gmail annoyances, and it’s up to third-party developers and fans to fix them.

The good news is that if you use Google Chrome, you might be able to have a much better Gmail experience. With the right Chrome extensions for Gmail, you can turn it into a task manager, create professional signatures, rename emails to how you want to see them, and really power up your inbox.

Read the full article: Fix Common Gmail Annoyances With These 5 Free Chrome Extensions and Apps

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It’s Friday so relax and watch a hard drive defrag forever on Twitch

It’s been a while since I defragged — years, probably, because these days for a number of reasons computers don’t really need to. But perhaps it is we who need to defrag. And what better way to defrag your brain after a long week than by watching the strangely satisfying defragmentation process taking place on a simulated DOS machine, complete with fan and HDD noise?

That’s what you can do with this Twitch stream, which has defrag.exe running 24/7 for your enjoyment.

I didn’t realize how much I missed the sights and sounds of this particular process. I’ve always found ASCII visuals soothing, and there was something satisfying about watching all those little blocks get moved around to form a uniform whole. What were they doing down there on the lower right hand side of the hard drive anyway? That’s what I’d like to know.

Afterwards I’d launch a state of the art game like Quake 2 just to convince myself it was loading faster.

There’s also that nice purring noise that a hard drive would make (and which is recreated here). At least, I thought of it as purring. For the drive, it’s probably like being waterboarded. But I did always enjoy having the program running while keeping everything else quiet, perhaps as I was going to bed, so I could listen to its little clicks and whirrs. Sometimes it would hit a particularly snarled sector and really go to town, grinding like crazy. That’s how you knew it was working.

The typo is, no doubt, deliberate.

The whole thing is simulated, of course. There isn’t really just an endless pile of hard drives waiting to be defragged on decades-old hardware for our enjoyment (except in my box of old computer things). But the simulation is wonderfully complete, although if you think about it you probably never used DOS on a 16:9 monitor, and probably not at 1080p. It’s okay. We can sacrifice authenticity so we don’t have to windowbox it.

The defragging will never stop at TwitchDefrags, and that’s comforting to me. It means I don’t have to build a 98SE rig and spend forever copying things around so I have a nicely fragmented volume. Honestly they should include this sound on those little white noise machines. For me this is definitely better than whale noises.

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7 Top Secret Features of the Free VLC Media Player

A few months back, VLC Media Player got Chromecast support and 360-degree video views. It’s just another tiny notch on the popularity of the open source player which can handle anything that you throw at it (as long as it’s a media file!).

The Windows version of the player is closing in on 50 million downloads, and that’s discounting all the other platforms it can be installed on. Perhaps the secret to its longevity is the modular design which gives it a rich set of features. Today, let’s focus on the few “secret” features under the hood which you can use every day.

1. Use VLC as a Video Downloader for YouTube

There are several capable free downloaders available for YouTube. But, VLC has this feature built in. Though it’s not a one-click downloader and you will have to take the help of your browser.

1. Click on Media > Open Network stream.
   
2. Paste the YouTube URL and click the Play button in the player.
   
3. VLC Media Player starts streaming the video.  Now, click Tools > Codec Information and at the bottom of the window you will see a Location box.
   
4. Copy the long URL in the box and paste this into your browser’s address bar. The browser will now start playing the video file. You can download the video file to your desktop by doing a Save video as with a right-click on the video. Or you can choose to record the video.

2. Convert Videos to Any Format

Downloading a video is often the first part. Converting that video so you can play it on a device of your choice is the second part. The VLC Player can do this too.

1. From the toolbar, click on Media > Convert / Save.
   
2. In the Open Media dialog box, click on the Add button and choose the media file for conversion. Then, click on the Convert / Save dropdown > Convert.
   
3. Open the dropdown menu for Profile and select the file format that you would like to convert your file to. You can also click on the gear icon next to it and edit the chosen profile.
   
4. Click on Browse and select a location to save the converted file. Then, click on Start to begin the conversion and monitor its progress in the bar below.

3. VLC as a Graphic Equalizer for Your Music

You may be using VLC as a video player only, but VLC is a cross-platform standalone media player too and that brings full audio effects with playlist support. VLC not only displays cover art but also has a pretty good graphic equalizer tucked away inside it.

Display it with the shortcut keystrokes Ctrl + E (or go to Tools > Effects and Filters > Audio Effects). Adjust the sound quality with the available presets, or fine-tune it with the Equalizer, Compressor, and Spatializer tabs.

4. Activate Audio Normalization to Protect Your Ears

The general audio settings for the VideoLan Player are located under Preferences. One of the key features called Audio Normalization helps to optimize the volume of any media by a fixed amount and improve the sound quality.

Go to Tools > Preferences > Audio > Enable Normalize volume to. The value you set here will help to adjust the decibel levels of dialog, music, explosions, gunshots etc. in the movies you watch. Restart VLC after enabling the setting.

In fact, configure this immediately after you download and install the VLC player. It will make your audio sound better.

5. Play Internet Radio and Podcasts in VLC

One of VLC’s little used features could definitely be its ability to find and play internet radio. The VLC Player can fill all your audio needs as it can not only stream radio but also play podcasts.

1. Launch VLC and open the Playlist sidebar.
2. Under Internet, you can browse through the two radio servers—Jamendo and Icecast—and choose a station of your choice by clicking on it. Also, make sure the Playlist view mode is set to List (Go to View > Playlist View Mode > List).
   
3. If your favorite internet radio station is not on the list, use the station’s URL to stream it via VLC. Go to Media > Open Network Stream… Enter the URL and press Play in order to begin listening.

And to play podcasts in VLC:

1. You can manage your favorite podcasts via the same Playlist interface.
2. Go to Playlist and under the Internet section, select Podcasts.
3. As soon your cursor is over the Podcasts section, click the plus sign.
4. Copy and paste the RSS feed URL of the podcast you wish to listen and click on OK. The podcast will be added to the sidebar and you can pick the episode you want to listen to.

6. Loop a Section of a Video or Audio File

Most media players can loop an entire video or a soundtrack. With VLC, you have the added bonus of looping any specific section of a media file.

1. Open the video or audio file with VLC. Go to View > Advanced Controls.
2. Now, a few more buttons will be displayed above the normal play and stop controls.
   
3. To start the loop from a specific part of the video, move the playhead to the part where you want the loop to start (Point A).
4. Click the loop button once. The “A” mark on the button will turn red. To finish the loop, take the video to the endpoint and click on the same button again. You will see both the A and B points of the button are red.
   
5. Now play the video and the section will loop. Click the loop button once again if you want to switch it off.

This is a handy feature when you want to review a how-to video or hear an audio file over and over to get it right. I often use this feature to study Photoshop tutorial videos.

7. Add Features With VLC Add-Ons and Extensions

For everyday use, VLC’s default package of features may be enough. But if you are looking for added functionality then there’s an entire catalog of add-ons you can install alongside. Remember, VLC has a huge open-source community behind it and they have helped create extensions, skins, playlist parsers, and other assorted tools.

These extensions will help you add more “secret” features to the player like tools which will help you search for subtitles from the player itself. Extensions may also work in macOS and Linux, so do doublecheck the instructions on the add-on’s page.

1. Visit the VLC add-ons page and browse through the two views—Top or Latest.
2. Click the Download button on the add-ons page and download the ZIP file. Extract the file. (VLC add-ons have the LUA extension.)
3. On Windows, place the .lua files in this Windows directory:

   C:\Users\NAME\AppData\Roaming\vlc\lua\extensions folder.
   

4. Restart VLC. You can access all your installed extensions from the View menu.

Some of the better extensions to consider include:

• VLCSub
• Resume Media
• Moments’ Tracker
• Intro and Credits Skipper
• TuneIn Radio
• Info Crawler
• SyncPlay

VLC Is Full of Cool Tricks

If you know about these features, then VLC hides few secrets from you. Now, flex your muscles and explore the more advanced possibilities of this fantastic player that has stood the test of time. Maybe create a streaming media server for your home or cast your media files from a Windows PC to your Android phone.

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How to Properly Resize Images in Photoshop

Knowing how to resize an image in Photoshop is an essential skill that’s useful whether you’re a photographer or not. In this article we’ll explain how it’s done in less than five minutes.

You’ll need Adobe Photoshop CC to follow along. These steps WILL work in older versions of Photoshop, although some menus may look different depending on which version you are using.

1. Resize Photos Using the Image Size Tool

The easiest way to resize images in Photoshop is through the Image Size panel. You can access this through the Image > Image Size buttons found in the top menu bar.

Once in the Image Size panel, you’ll see that there are several options available.

Underneath the Fit To option, you can choose from a series of predefined-image sizes. Choose a suitable size and then hit OK and Photoshop will adjust your image to match this preset size.

By using the Width, Height, and Resolution options you can change your image size to a specific set of dimensions. The drop-down menus to the right adjust the unit of measurement. Here’s where you can specify whether you want to measure your image in pixels or inches, for example.

You may notice that when changing the height, the width changes relative to the new height. Photoshop does this to maintain the correct aspect ratio in your photo. If you’d prefer this not to happen, then click the Do not constrain aspect ratio button, which sits to the left of the Width/Height options.

Finally, the Resample option defines how Photoshop will resize your image. The default of Automatic is suitable for most tasks, but there are other choices available, which are better suited at things like enlarging images. In any case, each resampling type outlines what it is suitable for in brackets after its name.

Once you’re ready to resize, choose OK, and Photoshop will resize your image.

2. Resize Images Using the Canvas Size Tool

The Canvas Size panel is accessible through the Image > Canvas Size buttons found in the top menu bar. Unlike the Image Size tool, this will not change the size of your current image. By changing the canvas size, you can add or remove pixels to increase or reduce the total canvas size. Any photos or images already present get cropped, or shown with a colored border.

Let’s look at an example. Here’s an image in Photoshop:

By reducing the canvas width, the image is cropped:

By increasing the canvas width, two white borders are added to the left and right of the image:

The image is still the same size, but now there are more pixels to work with. You could use this method to add a border to an image or create more space for adding text, graphics, or other artwork.

There are two main areas inside the Canvas Size Tool.

The Current Size area at the top provides basic information about the size of your canvas before any changes are made. The New Size area is where you can change the size of the canvas.

Change the numbers inside the Width and Height options to change your canvas size. Like before, you can change your unit of measurement by using the drop-down menu to the right of your dimension entry.

The Anchor option allows you to specify where to add or remove data from. This anchor consists of a 3 x 3 grid. Selecting one of these nine squares will alter where the canvas is enlarged or reduced from.

For example, choosing the topmost, center box, and then increasing the height using the previous options, will add data to the top of the image. Choosing the middle anchor will split any enlargement or reduction between all sides.

At the bottom is the Canvas extension color option. This is only relevant if you enlarge the canvas. Select a color here, and Photoshop will fill any enlarged areas with your selected color.

3. Resize Images Using the Crop Tool

As the name implies, the Crop tool is a destructive way to resize images. It will resize them, but at the expense of your image. Any part of the image which has been cropped will no longer be visible.

The crop tool is best used for removing parts of an image you no longer wish to see, which will, in turn, reduce the width or height of your image.

Get started by selecting the Crop Tool, found in your Toolbar.

Once selected, a series of “handles” will appear in the corners and center edges of your canvas. Click and drag these from an edge or corner to start cropping your image.

Once you’ve started cropping, you’ll see that the new image is its original brightness, but any parts that will be lost after the crop are now dark. When you’re ready, press Enter to complete the crop.

If you’d like to know more about the cropping tool, then take a look at our Photoshop cropping guide.

4. Resize Images Using the Transform Tool

The final method of resizing images is through the Transform tool. This allows you to resize Objects instead of everything. Suppose you’re producing a poster or combining two different images into one. By using the Transform tool, you can resize separate parts of the image, rather than the whole thing.

The Transform tool works best with objects in their own layers, so take a look at our Photoshop Layers tips if you’re in need of some practice.

Select the layer containing the image or graphic you’d like to resize. Choose the Transform tool found in the Edit > Transform > Scale menus.

Much like the crop tool, the Transform tool provides several “handles” around the edge of the image. Click and drag a handle to start resizing the image. Notice how your image starts to look stretched? Hold the Shift key to constrain the aspect ratio. Photoshop will adjust the opposite edge to maintain your image proportions.

When you’re ready, press the Enter key to complete the resize.

The 4 Main Ways to Resize Images in Photoshop

These four techniques each show how easy resizing images in Photoshop can be. In summary:

1. Image Size: Use precise numbers and measurements to alter your image size.
2. Canvas Size: Increase or reduce the background size, without enlarging your image.
3. Crop Tool: Reduce image size by removing part of your image.
4. Transform Tool: Resize individual parts of an image, without changing the size.

Now that you know everything about image resizing, why not automate editing with Photoshop Scripts and speed up your workflow?

Read the full article: How to Properly Resize Images in Photoshop

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The Automatica automates pour-over coffee in a charming and totally unnecessary way

Most mornings, after sifting through the night’s mail haul and skimming the headlines, I make myself a cup of coffee. I use a simple pour-over cone and paper filters, and (in what is perhaps my most tedious Seattleite affectation), I grind the beans by hand. I like the manual aspect of it all. Which is why this robotic pour-over machine is to me so perverse… and so tempting.

Called the Automatica, this gadget, currently raising funds on Kickstarter but seemingly complete as far as development and testing, is basically a way to do pour-over coffee without holding the kettle yourself.

You fill the kettle and place your mug and cone on the stand in front of it. The water is brought to a boil and the kettle tips automatically. Then the whole mug-and-cone portion spins slowly, distributing the water around the grounds, stopping after 11 ounces has been distributed over the correct duration. You can use whatever cone and mug you want as long as they’re about the right size.

Of course, the whole point of pour-over coffee is that it’s simple: you can do it at home, while on vacation, while hiking, or indeed at a coffee shop with a bare minimum of apparatus. All you need is the coffee beans, the cone, a paper filter — although some cones omit even that — and of course a receptacle for the product. (It’s not the simplest — that’d be Turkish, but that’s coffee for werewolves.)

Why should anyone want to disturb this simplicity? Well, the same reason we have the other 20 methods for making coffee: convenience. And in truth, pour-over is already automated in the form of drip machines. So the obvious next question is, why this dog and pony show of an open-air coffee bot?

Aesthetics! Nothing wrong with that. What goes on in the obscure darkness of a drip machine? No one knows. But this – this you can watch, audit, understand. Even if the machinery is complex, the result is simple: hot water swirls gently through the grounds. And although it’s fundamentally a bit absurd, it is a good-looking machine, with wood and brass accents and a tasteful kettle shape. (I do love a tasteful kettle.)

The creators say the machine is built to last “generations,” a promise which must of course be taken with a grain of salt. Anything with electronics has the potential to short out, to develop a bug, to be troubled by humidity or water leaks. The heating element may fail. The motor might stutter or a hinge catch.

But all that is true of most coffee machines, and unlike those this one appears to be made with care and high quality materials. The cracking and warping you can expect in thin molded plastic won’t happen to this thing, and if you take care of it it should at least last several years.

And it better, for the minimum pledge price that gets you a machine: $450. That’s quite a chunk of change. But like audiophiles, coffee people are kind of suckers for a nice piece of equipment.

There is of course the standard crowdfunding caveat emptor; this isn’t a pre-order but a pledge to back this interesting hardware startup, and if it’s anything like the last five or six campaigns I’ve backed, it’ll arrive late after facing unforeseen difficulties with machining, molds, leaks, and so on.

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Movado Group acquires watch startup MVMT

The Movado Group, which sells multiple brands including Lacoste, Tommy Hilfiger and Hugo Boss, has purchased MVMT, a small watch company founded by Jacob Kassan and Kramer LaPlante in 2013. The company, which advertised heavily on Facebook, logged $71 million in revenue in 2017. Movado purchased the company for $100 million.

The acquisition of MVMT will provide us greater access to millennials and advances our Digital Center of Excellence initiative with the addition of a powerful brand managed by a successful team of highly creative, passionate and talented individuals,” Movado Chief Executive Efraim Grinberg said.

MVMT makes simple watches for the Millennial market in the vein of Fossil or Daniel Wellington. However, the company carved out a niche by advertising heavily on social media and being one of the first microbrands with a solid online presence.

“It provides an opportunity to Movado Group’s portfolio as MVMT continues to cross-sell products within its existing portfolio, expand product offerings within its core categories of watches, sunglasses and accessories, and grow its presence in new markets through its direct-to-consumer and wholesale business,” said Grinberg.

MVMT is well-known as a “fashion brand,” namely a brand that sells cheaper quartz watches that are sold on style vs. complexity or cost. Their pieces include standard three-handed models and newer quartz chronographs.

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How to Identify Music and Songs in YouTube Videos

It’s a common situation. You are happily watching a video on YouTube, perhaps a commercial or a movie trailer, and it has a catchy song playing in the background. You want to know what the music is, but how do you find out?

Identifying some music and songs is easy, while others require a little more persistence. But thanks to this step-by-step walkthrough, you are (almost) guaranteed to identify any music or songs you hear online. All you need is a little time and patience.

1. Check the Video’s Description

The first step is the easiest, but it’s one that most people overlook. If a company or your favorite YouTuber is using a song in one of their videos, the chances are they will credit the original songwriter in the description. If they don’t, there’s a chance YouTube will take down the video.

So, the first thing to do is go to the video’s description box, and click Show More. Scroll down and you’ll find a section called Music in this video. This will have the song’s name and the artist. Click it to be taken to the song; on YouTube if it’s uploaded officially or the Play Store if not.

Videos that use multiple songs will list multiple titles in the description. However, they don’t always appear in the right order, so you will need listen to them all to figure out which one is which.

2. Search for the Lyrics on Google

If the background track has lyrics, your job became a whole lot easier. Listen carefully for what the lyrics are and search for a line or two on Google.

Google might not give the best results every time, so if it didn’t work, try the same search on Find Music By Lyrics. It’s powered by Google too, but it tweaks Google’s settings to deliver better results.

The problem with this method, however, is it doesn’t account for covers. For example, the movie trailers of both Thor: Ragnarok and The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo used Immigrant Song as the background music. However, while Thor used the original by Led Zeppelin, the latter used a cover by Trent Reznor. So if you were trying to find the song used in The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by searching for the lyrics, you’d end up with the original Led Zeppelin piece, which is not what you wanted.

3. Check the Comments (or Ask)

YouTube has become one of the best ways to discover new music. There’s a good chance that you aren’t the first viewer who is trying to track down the name of that song. So, read or search through the YouTube comments and you might just come across the question and its answer.

You can try the old-fashioned way first. Press Ctrl + F (or Command + F on Macs) to open the Find In Page box. Type song, and scroll through the comments that use the word. In my experience, this method doesn’t yield the best results, and only searches the comments that have loaded so far.

A better way is to get the Comments Search for YouTube extension on Google Chrome. It adds a Search option at the top of the comments. Type any keyword like song or music, and watch it bring all the results, complete with their comment thread, so the question and answer are both visible. It works better than any other sites and extensions that let you search in the comments.

Download: Comments Search for YouTube for Chrome (Free)

Of course, if you don’t find anything, you can hop in there yourself and leave a comment asking for help to identify the music. In case you didn’t know, you can also read comments while watching YouTube, you don’t need to choose between the two.

4. Use a Music Identification App

Music identification apps like Shazam and Soundhound have changed the game when it comes to helping you figure out what song is playing. There are also a couple of extensions that specialize in identifying songs used in YouTube videos.

AHA Music (Chrome)

Once you play your video, click this Chrome extension’s icon. It will attempt to identify the song used in the video, as long as the song itself starts playing in the first minute. AHA Music also maintains a history log of all the songs it has identified, so you can easily look it up again. You can immediately stream the song on Spotify too. But that one-minute limitation is a bummer when you want to identify a song that starts much later.

Download: AHA Music for Chrome (Free)

Shazam (Android, iOS)

Shazam is the best music identification app, and it works like a charm for YouTube videos. You’ll need to download the app on your mobile, but you can use it for desktop too.

When you’re watching a video on your computer, fire up Shazam on your phone. Hold the phone close to the speakers when the song starts playing, and Shazam will identify it in no time.

If you’re watching a YouTube video on your phone itself, use the Pop-Up mode. First, go to Shazam > My Shazam > Settings > Pop-up Shazam and enable it. Go back to your video and play it. When the song you want to identify is playing, tap and hold the floating Shazam button. Again, Shazam will identify the song and you’ll finally know what it is.

Download: Shazam for Android | iOS (Free)

5. Ask Experts on a Forum

If the music identification apps all fail to identify your song, your only real option left is to ask someone else, hoping they know what it is. Lucky for you, the internet has a couple of forums and communities that focus on uncovering hard-to-identify songs.

There are three places you should look at:

• /r/NameThatSong (on Reddit)
• /r/TipOfMyTongue (on Reddit)
• Identification of Music Group (on Facebook)

You’ll need a Reddit or Facebook account to post to these groups.

Each of these forums assumes you have already tried the above options and failed, so don’t even think of posting before you Shazam the video. If the song starts later in the video, use the old YouTube URL trick to link to that part of the video. The clearer your question is, the better your chances are of getting a quick and accurate answer.

For YouTube Music Listeners

YouTube has really upped its game with its music offerings recently, but there is still a lot left to be desired. For now, if YouTube is your preferred music streaming service, it would be a good idea to check out these tools to make listening to music on YouTube better.

Read the full article: How to Identify Music and Songs in YouTube Videos

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