If you can find it, you'll buy it

Do you ever hear a word in conversation that triggers a song in your mind? A song you then can't help humming along to, maybe even recalling a few lines.

We, as a family, are starting to meet some wonderful new friends in Doha. As a consequence we have to remember many new names - not just of people we meet but also of all the friends that Cee & Tee meet at school and around the compound pool. One name in particular really struck a chord - a not very common girl’s name, but one which has featured in a number of popular songs.

As it happened, my wife and I both made different name-song associations and both began singing along to our respective tunes. But neither of us could remember more than a few words. So Cee and Tee looked on in amusement as we both sang/hummed snippets of songs we'd been familiar with "in our youth".

Of course, help was at hand from the internet where the lyrics were quickly revealed. And the "sample" feature on iTunes allowed us all to listen to a portion of the original without having to search the CD collection or buy from new. And, if we hadn't have been able to remember any of the words, there are now several mobile applications that will suggest song titles if you can only hum a portion of the tune.

However, this is where it gets interesting, because on searching iTunes we found, not only the songs we were looking for, but also others that were suggested. Some of which we hadn't heard of before - but we could instantly see what sort of music they were likely to be by the classification. In this case "Children's Music" caught the eye so we spent a few happy minutes sampling different tunes - some of which were very funny, catchy and good for little people to sing along and dance to - so we purchased.

We certainly weren't looking to buy - but the appropriateness of the suggestions and the simplicity of transaction made the decision easy. This got me thinking about why on-line purchasing can be such a success - and it's simple really - it's about the ability to have the right offers presented to you, to be able to "try before you buy" and then to purchase, literally with the click of a button.

So we all now have a selection of new tunes rattling around in our heads - just waiting to resurface and frustrate us in years to come. I just wonder how technology will evolve to make our lives even easier in the future.