It can be frustrating, messing up the lyrics when you’re trying to sing along to one of your favorite songs as it’s playing on the stereo. That might not happen as often if you shell out to buy Cotodama’s wireless Lyric Speaker, which displays the words to the songs it’s playing.
Handmade in Japan at a rate of just 15 units per month, the mains-powered Lyric Speaker features two 20-watt loudspeakers that are set into a 22-inch transparent acrylic LCD panel.
Utilizing services such as AirPlay or Spotify Connect on their iOS or Android smartphone – or on their computer – users select the songs that they want to hear. The Wi-Fi-connected speaker then accesses PetitLyrics’ ever-expanding online database of the English-language and Japanese lyrics to over 2 million songs.
In the case of selected songs that are in that database, the speaker will download the lyrics and display them as synced motion graphics, as they’re being sung. Algorithms analyze the mood and structure of each song, in order to determine the manner in which the graphics move across the screen.
Songs that aren’t in the PetitLyrics database will still be played, although the display will simply consist of a graphic image of the beat.
The Lyric Speaker was first introduced in 2016, although it’s more recently become available to American and European buyers. At a price of US$4,500, though, it ain’t cheap. We’re told that a new version should be coming in September.