Shazam

Some may remember a little application called Listen by Erica Sadun. This app was available to jailbroken iPhones with firmwares prior to 2.0. However legal issues prevented this app from further development.

Since the App Store has been up and running we have seen numerous apps. Some of them good and some others not quite as good. One app that caught my attention was the amazingly well made Shazam.

Like Listen, Shazam allows the iPhone to record a portion of a song through it's internal mic and sends it to a database with millions of songs. The app makes a match and then sends you back the Title of the song with the Name of the artist, and album with its original cover. It also tells you the genre and the label. So basically speaking if you hear a song and wants to know its title you press a button called "Tag Now" At the top right corner and wait for the app to do its magic.

There is a couple of other options as well. There are links that lets you buy the song on iTunes or see a video on youtube. The interface is great and it makes it easy for the user.

You can also attach a photo of your "tag", a previous recording, with the iPhone's 2.0 megapixels camera or with another image. There's also the option to send the "tag" to a contact via email.

I tested the app in different settings and it works almost flawlessly. If you are in a bar and it is really crowded and there is alot of people talking it will still work. And let's say you are watching a movie and record the song that's playing in the background during a scene, it will recognize it. Of course it won't find absolutely ALL the songs(it's not magic lol) but it will work on almost all of them even songs you wouldn't think the app would recognize.

This is one of the most handy apps ever because you will always have your cellphone on you. It works very well and its FREE so go grab it on the App Store.

With the multiple of applications available via the iTunes Store, finding a true gem is difficult. Finding a free one is a rarity. Shazam is a song-recognizing App that allows the user to identify music heard on commercials, in a club, or in the car, without the need of searching for the song on the internet.

The App loads quite smoothly and operates even better. After pressing down the ?Tag Now? button, the user holds the iPhone speaker near the source of music and after tagging the song for 30 seconds, Shazam identifies the song title and artist. The usefulness however goes even further as Shazam provides links to YouTube as well as for iTunes to download the song immediately. While Shazam isn?t able to identify every song perfectly, I have experienced a near 90% accuracy rate during the course of use.

I give Shazam a 5 star review for ease of use and free availability. Of all free Apps, this is by far the best.

This program is amazing. If you're listening to any music you just hold your phone near the speaker and bam! It comes back with the song, artist, album and has links to YouTube and iTunes.

I've tried this application on a lot of songs ranging from country, pop to my kids Wiggles music and it was right on for all of them. It's like magic!

Highly recommended if not to find songs, just to amaze your friends and family.

Love love love it....works awesome!!!!!and it's free!!!!

Hold it up to a radio or television set and it will tell you the song and artist. Amazing! Better than Midomi in this respect.