Shazam – Review

By
On September 25, 2008

App Type: Uncategorized

Shazam – Review

Our rating:

By: Shazam Entertainment Limited

Version #: 1.0

Date Released: 2008-07-07

Developer:

Price: 0.00

User Rating:
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I had to borrow my wife’s car today. The good part- it is a much nicer car than mine. The bad part- it doesn’t have an iPhone input jack.

As a result I had to listen to broadcast radio. Man have I become spoiled by iPods and internet radio. Not only was the selection lousy, but the few songs I liked were songs with which I wasn’t familiar. And that was another issue- with my iPhone/Touch and Internet radio, I always know the name of the song and the performer. Not so with broadcast radio.

No info. No problem. I downloaded Shazam from the App Store, loaded it on my iPhone, started and app and I was good to go. When I got home, I ran a number of tests to see how well Shazam worked. (It worked really well!)

Using Shazam is simple. Touch "Get Tag" and let the app "listen" for a few seconds. After a few seconds, when Shazam has heard enough, it briefly vibrates. Shazzam then sends the sound clip to its servers, identifies the song and sends back info on the song, artist and album.

But it gets even better. For each song it identifies it also lets you-

–Preview and buy the song on iTunes

–Take and attach a Photo (what were you doing the first time you heard Stairway To Heaven???)

–Attach an album photo

–Share the tag with someone else by emailing it. (A single tap opens a prepared email)

–View a video of the song on YouTube. (If one is available, touching the button opens YouTube and starts the video.)

When Shazam works it works really well. It quickly identified songs by Paula Cole (14), Jonatha Brooke (It Matters Now), Zero 7 (Seeing Things), Sophie Barker (On My Way Home), Sia (Death By Chocolate) and Inara George (A Day). Many of which aren’t exactly "mainstream".

Unfortunately, it had a difficult time with some even less mainstream performers like Kennedy (Karate), Tina Dico (Warm Sand) although it did find other songs by her, and The Bird and the Bee (Man) even though it did find songs by singer Inara George.

Quick Take

Value:  VERY High
Would I Buy Again:  YES!
Learning Curve: Zero
Who is it for:  Anyone who likes music
What I like:  Works well, easy to use, offers a lot of information on tagged songs, keeps record of songs you have tagged, free
What I Don’t: Missed some songs 

Final Statement:  Shazam is one of those rare apps that worked from the start (it has not been updated and really doesn’t need an update), works well, does exactly what it says it does, and makes you say, "This app is actually free?!?!?!?!" I love it, recommend it and would buy it is it wasn’t free. It is Free, though. Get it. 

 

 

 

   

Read the Developer's Notes:
When you hear a song and wonder what it is, Shazam is there with the answer. Hold your iPhone to the music and within seconds we'll tell you the artist and track name.

You can use Shazam to:
- Identify music anywhere: from the radio,TV, film, or in a store
- Save your Tag history: build your own soundtrack
- Buy music you hear: your Tags link directly to iTunes
- Music Videos: see related videos on YouTube
- Capture the moment: personalize your Tags with Photos
- Share the moment: send your Tags to friends via Mail

O U R   T A K E . . .
 

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danc has written 224 awesome app reviews.