Shazam was one of the early App Store success stories, offering users the ability to easily identify music by capturing a snippet of the song and matching it against a database to provide title and artist information. The service has since expanded to integrate with the iTunes Store, YouTube, lyrics, and more, with TV shows and ads even adopting Shazam to allow users to easily learn more about the show or product.
Shazam has offered separate apps for the iPhone and iPad since 2010, but the company today unveiled a universal version of the iPhone app that includes a completely rebuilt experience for the iPad. A number of new features have shown up in the iPad version of Shazam, most notably a background tagging feature that allows users to have all matching incoming audio tagged even while using other applications on their devices. TechCrunch explains a bit more about how it works:
[A]fter downloading the updated version, users will be walked through a brief tutorial that explains what Auto-Tagging is all about, then allowing users to switch it on, if desired. If they do so, the app will run in the background, listening for anything it can identify, and loading those items into a carousel at the top of its homescreen.
From here, users can interact with the content much as before – sharing it on social media, buying the song, show or movie from iTunes or Amazon, or in the case of TV shows, learning more about the cast and episode, viewing a playlist of songs in the broadcast, or heading off to sites like Wikipedia, IMDb, the official website and/or store, and more.
Other new features arriving in Shazam 6.0 include a mapping system that allows users to see popular music on a city-by-city basis, Rdio integration, streamlined sharing, and automatic resubmission of tags for users in areas with poor reception. The iPad app is also adding for the first time Shazam's LyricPlay feature that shows lyrics on-screen in sync with the music.
Shazam is a free download from the App Store. [Direct Link]
Users interested in an ad-free Shazam experience can either upgrade through the free Shazam app or directly purchase Shazam Encore for $6.99. [Direct Link]
Top Rated Comments
You've never been somewhere and wondered what song was playing? Also, I learned very recently that you can Shazam stuff on TV. I was in a hotel and wondered what I was watching. Without a guide to tell me, I used Shazam (recommended by someone on Twitter) and I instantly knew what I was watching.
Shazam is brilliant!
It's not a daily app, but goodness is it handy when you want it! In the car, in the restaurant, in a shop, to be able to find that song you hear and want is brilliant!
As for the background tagging - battery drain dependent, that sounds excellent and I hope it finds its way to iPhone.
And there was Android and Windows users (no, I'm not trolling, but tire of poor comparisons) saying iOS can't multitask. This is an example of a useful feature happening in the background, just as you'd want it to. No?
Ha! Kudos, very excellent point.
At least a few times a week.