Baidu offers voice-based music search to cash in on Google’s departure

September 7, 2010 7:06 AM EDT

Baidu Inc, the largest search engine in China, launched a voice-based music search service on Monday in a bid to attract more users after Google’s pullout from the mainland in March, said a People Daily report.

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Based on voice recognition technology, this new feature is an improvement over current music search. The enhancement will enable the search service to identify the melody after users sing for a minimum duration of 10 seconds. Accordingly the voice technology will display the search results for matching songs, the report said.

Google also had similar plans to provide voice-based music search which were put off, the report said.

But Baidu provided no further details on whether the new feature is a beta version and if it will be deployed in other search areas.

Recently, Baidu launched open platform which allows users to play games, buy books and listen to songs online.

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Currently, Baidu platform provides access to more than 500 applications like online games, virus scanners, weather updates, stock market information etc.

Further, the Baidu has cooperated with companies in as many as 40 businesses in a move to jointly offer third party content, applications and products through its search engine, the report notes.

These efforts from Baidu are strategic efforts aimed at maintaining its stronghold and improve market share in China as Google started redirecting all its mainland traffic to Hong Kong site.

"It showcased Baidu's determination to further boost its share in a market it already dominates," said the report said quoting Li Zhi, analyst at Analysys International. Voice-based music search is aimed to diversify Baidu's search products as demand for online entertainment grows, he added.

However, critics say Baidu's music search service offers songs which are not copyrighted to use. As music search occupies a dominant share in Baidu’s traffic, the latest move is expected to face obstacles from Google’s free copyrighted music service on top100.cn.

This article is copyrighted by International Business Times, the business news leader