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I guess this only works on desktop?
Works on mobile for me, even with screen turned off.
The opposite - it appears to only work on mobile. I'm guessing they envision people setting their phone on piano (or other instrument). You wouldn't necessarily do this with a desktop.
False. It works on my Desktop.
works on firefox latest on os x
Probably A/B testing.
this might be it. Not seeing it on desktop with Firefox
What should have happened? Didn't see anything. Is it just an American thing? Or my ad blocker blocked it?
For those who don't see it, it's a small widget above the search results that lets you set a simple metronome.
It only goes up to 208.

Is there some significance to that tempo?

The metronome apps on my phone go up to 240 or 250.

EDIT: Nevermind. Wiki has the answer: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metronome#Usage

Not much of an answer. It just says that 208 is a typical max; it doesn't explain why.
You'd never* encounter a piece of classical music set to a faster tempo than that, which also contained tempos slower than (say) 40, where you'd want to denote both extremes using quarter notes. Ultimately, it has to do with useful ranges of human ability and perception. By the same token, you can reasonably expect an article on clothing sizes to say something to the effect of "XXXS to XXXL", without needing to explain why the range doesn't go further.

* Excepting, of course, the handful of joke scores or works of postmodern classical that would surely be summoned to this thread if I neglected to include this caveat.

But 208 is such an exact number. That still hasn't been explained.
Most numbers are. Exact.
By that logic, why not stop at 207?
There's a word for tempos of 200bpm and more: Prestissimo https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tempo#Basic_tempo_markings

Obviously physical metronomes have to have a limited scale. If you wanted to just get into that territory, 208 lets you get there but not give up too much of your dial.

I assume if you want to go faster you just set it to 104+ and beat double.

Edit: I guess this is an example of a faster tempo. "Quarter note equals 215" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDAsABdkWSc

I find this very unsettling to listen to...
I'm not a serious musician but it seems like it has a really wide impulse. Not like a click track or striking a wood block, but more like something a lot more squishy or rubbing something abrasive.
Possibly because the clicking sound sounds like a failed hard drive?
For everyone who's not seeing it, it's possible it's being AB tested or something.
Nice widget. If Google Search can have an obscure widget like this, they should also do a calendar widget.

It pains me every time I search for calendar to do a quick look up and having to click through a link.

I cannot imagine a scenario of how this will be used. Any specific needs that Google tries to cover?

I like their converter widget.

You want to practice violin and have your laptop but no metronome?

I love the whole "Google as a search interface to a bunch of microapps" thing. Now if only people other than Google could add things into these...

>if only people other than Google could add things into these I think that's DuckDuckGo's approach.
Any idea why it changes in jumps of 4bpm?
This effectively replaces all top search results for the keyword "metronome". Wonder how the sites' owners feel about this. For customers it's just one less click, I guess.
I'm sure they'll get over it just like the online calculator site owners got over it. /s