Shazam is by and large one of the coolest applications currently available on the BlackBerry smartphone platform. Have you ever heard a song on the radio, fallen in love with it, and not known what it is (or not been able to remember)? Shazam allows you to place your microphone next to the speaker for approximately 5 seconds, after which it will make the sound to a song and tell you exactly what that song is (and tag it so you can have it later).
The user interface is very simple. All black, white lettering, blue highlighting. Not much can be said about the UI, as it is very bland. However, it is still aesthetically pleasing, and the text (despite being rather small) is very easy to read.
Accuracy was that which I was most skeptic of. How in the world could a sound byte of my music direct this application to a song? To my surprise, even some of my more obscure music or less well known music was immediately picked up. The only thing that confused Shazam was certain remixes (particularly dubstep remixes). All the songs that you identify (or tag as Shazam calls it) are put in a list in which the most recent tag is at the top. You can then go through your various tags.
The nice thing about Shazam is all the extra features it gives you after a song has been tagged. It allows you to look up the lyrics, gives you extra information, and even recommends song that you may like (some of which were other songs that I already listened to). While those who aren’t hardcore music buffs (like myself) might not find this app particularly useful, it is more centered around those who like their music and like it a lot.
Shazam is offered in the Encore version ($4.99 in App World), which allows recommendations, unlimited tagging, and a laundry list of Shazam’s best features. It also comes in the free version, which is limited to 5 tags a month. You get a week long trial of the Encore edition when you download the free version. If you’re currently a Shazam user, or you’ve decided to try it out for the first time, please let us know!
