You may have heard about Shazam in the music industry. With the service, what began as a simple song identifier has evolved into much more. And if you enjoy music, it’s time to learn more about Shazam and what it can do for you. So what is the Shazam App?
Before it was an app, Shazam was a phone number you could call to identify a song. The caller would then receive a text message with song information.
The History of Shazam
Shazam Entertainment Limited created Shazam in 1999. Two college students from the University of California, Berkeley, founded the company. Shazam began in the United Kingdom, identifying songs via phone call. When the call ended, the caller would receive a text message with the song title and artist’s name.
Shazam debuted in the United States in 2002 as a joint venture with Musicphone on AT&T’s wireless network. Shazam then made its App Store debut for iPhone in 2008. This enabled users to launch iTunes and purchase the song they had identified.
Shazam expanded its features to include identifying TV shows and advertisements and partnering with companies such as Saavn, Rdio, National CineMedia, Sun Broadcast Group, Snapchat, and many others. The service had over 225 million users in 200 countries by 2012.
Apple announced its intention to acquire Shazam for $400 million in 2017, and the deal was finalized in September 2018. Shazam has one billion app users and 12 billion tagged (identified) songs and shows to date. (Source: Groovy Post)
The Smartphone Expansion
Shazam debuted as an app in 2006, exclusively on the Amp’d Mobile cellular service. Shazam for iPhone was released on July 10, 2008, in conjunction with the launch of Apple’s App Store. The free app allowed users to launch iTunes and purchase the song, though the service had difficulty identifying classical music.
Shazam was released later that year on the Android platform and a year later on the Windows Mobile Marketplace. Encore was first released for the iPhone in November 2009.
Shazam is a music recognition app that is available for iOS, Android, Mac, Apple Watch, Android Wear, and the web. Yes, you can identify a song or show by turning on your computer’s microphone and clicking the corresponding button on its website!
The app is free to download and use online, with no hidden costs. Any songs you decide to purchase, however, must be paid for. The only free thing is the app itself.
When you enable Auto Shazam, the app will keep listening to and identifying songs for you. As a result, you don’t have to press the button for each song. This is ideal when you’re in a club or at a party with loud music.
Press and hold the Shazam button to enable Auto Shazam. You’ll notice an indicator that Auto Shazam is turned on. To disable Auto Shazam, tap the button. (Source: Groovy Post)
The Shazam Encore
Before Apple acquired Shazam, there were two separate apps: Shazam, which was free and Shazam Encore, for $2.99. The paid version had no advertisements.
Following the acquisition, Apple removed all advertisements from the free version, making it identical to the paid version. So, while you may find a link to Shazam Encore here and there, it will most likely be removed from the App Store at some point. (Source: Groovy Post)
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