Shazam
Shazam is a popular music recognition application that can identify songs, movies, TV shows, and commercials from short audio clips. Users can launch the app, hold their device near a music source to capture a sample, and Shazam will tell them the song title and artist.
music
recognition
identify-songs
identify-music
song-detection
Shazam: Music Recognition
Identify songs, movies, TV shows, and commercials from short audio clips with this popular music recognition application
What is Shazam?
Shazam is a music recognition application launched in 1999 that quickly became popular for its ability to identify songs by listening to just a short sample. Users launch the Shazam app, then hold their phone near a music source to capture a clip just a few seconds long. Using a proprietary acoustic fingerprinting algorithm, Shazam compares the clip against its database of over 20 million tracks and tells the user the exact song title and artist in seconds.
One of Shazam's key features that made it stand out when it debuted was the speed and accuracy with which it identified songs. Even very obscure tracks could quickly be named by the app. This created a fun, almost magical feeling for users as they discovered music around them. Over time Shazam expanded beyond just song identification and created additional features around exploring artists, lyrics, videos and recommendations.
Now owned by Apple, Shazam continues to be one of the most popular music recognition apps worldwide. Though many competitors emerged, the huge audio fingerprint database they compiled over decades of operation keeps the Shazam app unmatched in speed and accuracy of song identification.
Shazam Features
Features
- Audio recognition technology to identify songs
- Large music database with over 40 million tracks
- Integration with music services like Spotify to listen to full songs
- Lyrics display to sing along to identified songs
- Music charts to see top and trending songs
- Ability to share identified songs on social media
- Music video playback for select songs
Pricing
- Freemium
- Subscription-Based
Pros
Fast and accurate song recognition
Simple and easy to use interface
Free basic service with no ads
Syncs with Spotify and Apple Music
Provides song lyrics for many tracks
Links to YouTube music videos
Cons
Limited functionality in free version
Occasional misidentification of songs
Requires internet connection to work
Drains phone battery quickly
Paid subscription for unlimited use
Official Links
The Best Shazam Alternatives
Top Audio & Music and Music Recognition and other similar apps like Shazam
Here are some alternatives to Shazam:
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