Review

Shazam is an application that allows users to record a portion of music and then identify the song and artist of that music. It was first designed to identify radio songs and commercials, but has expanded to identify songs playing on the radio, television, and in shops. Since its release in 2002, Shazam has been downloaded over 500 million times an...

Shazam - Discover songs & lyrics in seconds

  • Camila Diaz

Shazam is an application that allows users to record a portion of music and then identify the song and artist of that music. It was first designed to identify radio songs and commercials, but has expanded to identify songs playing on the radio, television, and in shops. Since its release in 2002, Shazam has been downloaded over 500 million times and has been translated into over 25 languages.

Features

Shazam is able to identify songs by recording a few seconds of it and sending it to the Shazam database. It is able to identify songs by their acoustic fingerprint and by matching it to a database of over five million songs. Once it identifies the song, Shazam provides information on the artist. It is also able to identify songs that are playing in the background, such as on television shows and movies, as well as those playing in shops and restaurants. When it identifies a song, Shazam pulls up the song's cover art on the screen and links to iTunes so that the song can be purchased.

Design

Shazam's design is very simple and user-friendly. When it first launches, it asks for permission to access the user's location and microphone. Once the user grants permission, Shazam will then ask if the user wants to identify music playing on the radio or on TV. If the user selects the radio or TV option, Shazam will then ask if the user wants to identify a song or an advertisement. When Shazam identifies a song, it will give the user information about the artist and will provide links to purchase the song on iTunes.

Usability

Shazam is a very useful application; without it, users would not know who sings a particular song and would not know the name and artist of a song. However, there may be some problems with the app. Sometimes the app may not be able to identify the song that the user is trying to identify. For example, if the user is trying to identify a song off of a vinyl record, the app may not be able to identify the song.

Conclusion

Shazam is a popular mobile app that can identify a song in a few seconds. It is a free application, and it only takes a few seconds for Shazam to identify a song. Shazam is a free mobile application for iOS and Android devices that listens to a song and identifies it.

Pros:
  • Shazam is easy to use, and is completely free
  • It is also designed in a way so that it is not complicated
  • It can identify songs in any language, in any genre
  • It can even identify songs playing in the background
Cons:
  • Shazam does not always identify songs correctly, with only 99.4% accuracy
  • It does not always identify songs that are playing in the background either
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