Mousai is a free and open-source application for identifying songs. If you’ve ever used Shazam or a similar app then using Mousai will not be any different for you. And even if you haven’t, its usage couldn’t be easier.
Have the song that you want to identify playing in the background. Open the app and hit the listen button. Wait a couple of seconds and Mousai will return the title and artist of your selected song. It works like magic!
Mousai is powered by AudD – a music recognition API. With it, you can recognize about 60 million tracks in microphone recordings, UGC, and audio files (even over the radio). And because it relies on the audd.io API to function, Mousai must log into the AudD website to get a token. Leaving this blank will give you a free trial of tokens per day.
My favorite thing about Mousai is its simplicity and clean interface. It also has a history list so that you can go back to see which tracks you have previously identified.
Features in Mousai
- Free and open-source. Source code available on GitHub.
- Clean, simple user interface.
- Available on GNU/Linux operating systems.
- Identify song title and artist.
- Use a microphone or audio from the desktop.
- Supports keyboard shortcuts.
- Browse the song online using the web link.
- Preview identified song in your native audio player.
- Available in multiple languages including Polish, Turkish, and simplified Chinese.
- Store identified songs in history together with their album art.
How to Install Mousai in Ubuntu Linux
The most convenient way to install Mousai is via Flatpak. If you’re running Ubuntu 18.10 or later but don’t have Flatpak installed, here is the command to run:
$ sudo apt install flatpak
On older Ubuntu versions, you need to add the PPA before running the install command:
$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:alexlarsson/flatpak $ sudo apt update $ sudo apt install flatpak
Next, install the software Flatpak plugin with the command:
$ sudo apt install gnome-software-plugin-flatpak
Note: the Software app does not support the graphical installation of Flatpak apps even though it has been distributed as a Snap since Ubuntu 20.04. A deb version will be installed alongside the normal app if you install the Flatpak plugin.
Add the Flathub repository with this command and when the installation is complete, restart your system:
$ flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo
Now that you’ve got Flatpak installed on your Laptop, simply run the following commands to install Mousai:
$ flatpak install flathub io.github.seadve.Mousai $ flatpak run io.github.seadve.Mousai
