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Comment by blockwriter | Hacker News Reader

I do not find the game fun or interesting. All I got was a drum track that could have been pretty much anything for the first 4 attempts, and then the song was obvious the moment the singer started singing.

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It may just not be your game, but I suggest giving it a few days. There are definitely some tracks where I feel the same as you, but this happens to be one where I got it on my first try.

Another aspect of the game is the guessing itself. It auto-complete so you can narrow down based on the limited library. For example, if you think it's a particular band but can't remember the track, you might be tempted to skip. Instead, type in the band's name and maybe there are only a couple of tracks to choose from, helping you narrow it down further.

I'm curious if that will expand (and therefore become harder) with this acquisition.

As much as I want to like Heardle - I'm with you. The problem with the game is their database though. They only have up to 4 songs per artist and it looks like they acquired the songs before thinking about what songs would make up a good game.

Good on you as well though - most people don't know how to match singers with their voices still.

This game suffers from an odd difficult curve. It's not robust enough for the well versed music lover (who should be the target market) and is too difficult for the unversed music lover (who seems to be who they targeted)

EDIT: I just played today's Heardle, and it's maybe the worst one they've ever had. I totally get what you mean.

This is hugely subjective. Today's was instantly recognizable for me allowing me to guess with just the 1s clip. Other days I am familiar with the song but not the opening so I would never be able to guess.

Most days are fun to guess, but some I have no idea. It depends on your personal music history.

I've never played Heardle before, also got it on the first clip. Interested in playing again... have to wait, though.

The game is differentiating the drum tracks to find the song. It's kind of the point. I have a lot of fun with it and do solidly well from time to time.

To be fair, it’s mostly not just drum tracks. That’s a bit of an exception.

It is a slightly binary game for me in terms of knowing it or not. But it’s one second out of my day for something that I enjoy in those cases and there are a few where I struggle to put my finger on it but get there eventually.

Nonetheless I tend to listen to the song on that day anyway, which is always nice.

Today’s one is kinda weird in that there’s not a lot to go on for most of the song, and even then, the song is kinda weird in that the chorus, that people know, is very detached from the rest of the song.

I agree. Today's first 4 seems repetitive. You either knew it on 1 or had to skip to 5. I hope they improve the game a bit.

The funniest like that, IMO, was "Jolene" - 2-4 added basically no info to what was obvious in 1, then 5 was "JOLENE JOLENE JOLENE"

It might be more interesting if it wasn't just the beginning of the song.

It probably depends on the distinctiveness of the song, how used you are to it and how many other songs you know with a similar start.

I only knew that one song that starts with that drum beat, so to me, it could not have been anything else. But if you are familiar with a wider selection of songs, the chance of multiple matches (and hence wrong answers) is higher.

I knew the artist on the very first drumbeat, just couldn’t remember which song it was, so I got it in 3.

Yeah, it's pretty rewarding when your brain knows a 1 second drum sound. haha

Interestingly, that is how normal people can end up with "perfect" relative pitch. Many people can almost instantly remember the notes of their favorite songs and so using those as anchors give people without perfect pitch the ability to determine chord/key/etc via relative pitch.

A second or two of a song is shockingly good at triggering your memory of songs you know well.

I didn't realize that's how perfect relative pitch works. That's super cool.

There's probably other ways, i'm far from knowledgeable. But the way i described is quite approachable for normal people

I only know one song by that artist, so my choice was obvious.

Funny enough, my first guess was "Bleachers" but they weren't a choice, so I went with "fun." Until today I had no idea Jack Antonoff led both bands.

spoilers! ;)

I've played the game on and off a few times, it can be quite fun if you recognise the song within the first two.

Today's was an unfortunate example of how not fun it can be though

My wife is on a 50+ day streak. I don't know how she does it. Even today's she got it in one second. I watched her do it too.

It has happened a few times where the song is not permitted to be played in my country (Australia). A notable one was Wonderwall by Oasis.

Heardle apologised and allowed her to guess it "correctly" to continue her streak.

I think there is more potential in artist specific ones like BTS heardle. Much smaller bank of songs and more passionate fans.

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