Shazam is a legendary and free service that instantly determines the artists of tracks and songs by a tiny musical source, of digestible quality.
TV, radio, computer – any object can become a source for the search, the main thing is a loud sound and the presence of a small amount of extraneous noise. And, although Shazam has recently not been the only representative of the genre, the competition is still weak and is not able to recognize the composition in just the first few notes.
What are the benefits of Shazam for PC and smartphones?
Shazam is a cross-platform service available on Windows and Mac OS personal computers downloaded from iOS, Android, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile and even Symbian digital stores.
The Russian language is included and fully supported, and Shazam is also intelligently integrated into the collection of additional tools – Spotify, Apple and Google Music – you just need to find the track you are looking for and to listen, you just need to go to the appropriate service and start playing.
The main content is distributed free of charge and does not require a subscription fee (the exception is the version for phones with Java OS, where you have to pay up to $ 2 per month for text messages sent after the search), nor one-time payments.
And only if you want to immediately listen to the song in full, you will have to pay money for a subscription to a music service, like Apple or Google Music (an alternative option is to require a link to YouTube, but this choice is not always available immediately, sometimes you have to spend hours looking for the required option in the menu) .
Advertising is in place (the Shazam Encore option for 229 rubles disables notification breaks, but it’s not necessary to pay at all – the version for PC or smartphones easily copes with the task and determines everything just as quickly), but the banners are practically not distracting, and pop-up messages quickly close in one click.
Application functionality
There are several options available. First of all, Shazam offers to search for music using radio stations, TV shows, other smartphones, tablets, computers and game consoles as a source. The source of the digital signal is not important, the main thing is the low level of background noise and the presence of a real resemblance to the largest music library of the service. Recording your own version of the song and trying to find something similar will not work – the search will start to break off at the wrong moment and start recommending finding a new, more plausible source.
The second part of the functionality is centered around social features. The developers offer to monitor the activity of friends (view recent Shazams, study playlists) and world stars (recently, performers, directors, actors and even athletes have individual pages with the history of requests). Communication is also available – messages, stickers, emoticons are sent, likes are set, and even sharing the result found is allowed in just a few seconds on social networks like Facebook or Twitter, or on Pinterest and Line creative platforms.
The latest trend in Shazam is to search for information through the camera. Signs, advertisements and newspaper entries are allowed to take pictures, and at the exit you will receive full information about the events taking place. Such a function is available only in those places where the Shazam icon is located, and therefore the idea is still useless for the “domestic viewer”.
But a QR code reader will definitely bring some benefit – with such a system there are already a lot of announcements on the streets and even at bus stops it is easy to find a schedule with details described through QR.
What else will surprise Shazam
Shazam has been integrating with various services for several years – from real achievements and close connection with music stores to make a quick purchase of the tracks you like, and an ingenious system of quick messages through social networks, and even access to search through a plug-in available in any browser on a PC.
This trend has made its way even further and has already become part of third-party equipment, like smartwatches. The idea is the same – to search for the authors of music by the fragments that are at hand, but from the position of transcendental convenience! Just one click on the clock and the search has already begun! But raising your hand with the device is much faster than turning to your smartphone, and even finding the Shazam app!
And even these changes are not enough? It’s time for real experiences! The service has long been implemented in all voice assistants known to the world – and Apple’s Siri is a good example of this.
It is worth downloading Shazam on a PC or phones for two purposes – for “spying” on the stars and for the sake of replenishing your own music collection with still unknown, but “hearing” like performers. The search will take two seconds, the result will drive you crazy!
