Reader Markito has a question about the lyrics functionality that Apple added in the 1.1.3 software update. He asks:
I was excited to see the display of lyrics as a new iPhone feature, but post-update, I can’t seem to figure out how to do it.We’re more than happy to flick the switch on the 100W bulb and explain how to add lyrics to your iPhone.
Can you please shed some light?
Here’s the first trick: while the latest version of the iPhone software does add support for lyrics, those lyrics are pulled directly from the song files’ metadata. If you hop into your iTunes library and select a track, you can hit command-I or control-click and choose “Get Info.” You’ll see a number of tabs, but the only we’re interested at the moment is “Lyrics.” Hitting that will give you a big empty text field. Whatever you put in this field is what will show up on the iPhone, so you’re not required to put the lyrics in—really it could be anything you want:notes, recipes, marriage proposals, whatever. But right now, we’ll assume you want to use lyrics.
To find the lyrics for a song, I recommend a simple Google search: entering the title of the song and lyrics usually yields a number of results. So, for example, if I’m looking for the lyrics to The Rolling Stones classic “Gimmer Shelter,” to which I’ve become addicted, thanks to Rock Band, I’ll fire up a Google search and enter “Gimme Shelter +lyrics” (Lyric Wiki is an excellent collaborative site for lyrics). Once you’ve found the words, copy and paste them into the Lyrics dialog box in the appropriate song in iTunes. You’ll then need to re-sync your computer and your iPhone. Couldn’t be easier.
Well, it could be easier. I mean, who wants to spend all their time finding, copying, and pasting lyrics into iTunes. Pretty much nobody. So instead, check out Gimme Some Tune, an iTunes add-on that can be configured to download lyrics for songs as they play. Combined with Doug Adam’s Needle Drop iTunes script, which lets you play songs for arbitrary amounts of time, you can set it up to automatically retrieve lyrics for all of your songs. That’s pretty darn easy.
But how—I’m sure you’re wondering—do I get such lyrics to show up on the iPhone? Easy enough: when the song comes up, tap on the album art. Usually this brings up additional music controls, but if lyrics are present, it’ll overlay them on the album art. You can even scroll through them with a simple flick, if you’re trying to sing along. We also remind you that singing along to your tunes is an activity usually best left for the privacy of your own.
This is great for Mac users, but iPhone owners using PCs should be careful which lyrics site they visit, as many of them are scam-ridden with popups and malware.
Also, is there a Windows counterpart to Gimme Some Tune?
FIRST POST!
A better way to get lyrics is perilLyrics. It will download lyrics for a playlist or your entire libray without playing the song!
Hey Dan, thanks very much for this article. Gimme Some Tune seems to work a lot better then the others out there and I had hoped there'd be something like Needle Drop but didn't even know what to look for. BUT I'm encountering a problem and I was wondering if you were seeing this. Many songs display the lyrics just fine but for some I click on the album work for a song that I KNOW has lyrics attached and it says "Loading Lyrics..." and just spins, never displaying anything else. I tried completely restoring my iphone but to no avail. Any ideas for me?
where do I find peril lyrics?
doesent work with some songs . and wouldnt it be coool if you could have the back cover artwwork.. imagine flipping itover and having the tracks how they actually look to choose from..
Lyrics don't work on iPhone!