Seattle-based Singingfish.com unveiled an alpha version of their new multimedia search engine yesterday at the Streaming Media East Conference in New York. The search engine is designed to organize the very fragmented streaming media collections across the internet.
Singingfish’s new technology aims to provide web portals, news organizations and entertainment sights with private-label search capabilities that can be customized to fit a site’s interface and search requirements According to company officials, future versions will also be adapted to meet the needs of other streaming media formats such as digital TV.
“After less than one year of development, we’ve already established the most extensive index of streaming content and we’re adding hundreds of thousands of streams every week,” said Singingfish.com president and founder Mike Behlke.
The company uses a combination of second-generation search architecture and an automated, rule-based classification system to handle retrieving and indexing streaming media throughout the internet. In addition, the company has formed a collaborative network of content producers, none of which company officials could disclose.
Scott Bass, who covers the streaming media industry for streamingmedia.com, agrees that there is definitely a growing need for the type of service Singingfish is offering. “More and more people are turning to the net for audio and video, but with the nature of the web and information being so scattered, you definitely need intermediaries.”
Singingfish.com has already indexed over 2.5 million unique streams and MP3’s. By the end of the year, the company hopes to increase to more than 9 million.
Bass warns, however, that competition will be fierce, noting such engines as RealGuide, Microsoft Web Guide and PenguinRadio.com. “The one’s that are going to stand out in the long run are the one’s that are not just comprehensive, but are also personalized and easy for people to get what they want.”
