I love listening to music and watching TV…usually not at the same time. However, I always seem to come across songs that I don’t know or TV shows that I want more information about. That is where Shazam comes in. This is a program that can help you identify music, stream lyrics and even provide you with YouTube videos of that song. As far as TV shows go, the program will give you celebrity buzzes about actors in that show, trivia and a lot more.

WHAT IS IT AND WHAT DOES IT DO

Main Functionality

Shazam is a very easy-to-use app for your Android phone that can provide you with information about TV shows and music within seconds. All you have to do is hold your phone up to a song or TV show you are listening/watching, and the app does the rest. From there you can get the name of the track you are listening to, the artists who sang it, lyrics, videos and even special offers.

Pros

• Quickly retrieve information about a song or show you are watching by holding this app up and allowing it to listen to what you are listening to
• Save and listen to a 30 second preview of the song you just listened to for future reference
• See lyrics streamed to your phone in real time while you listen to music
• Quick links to buy a song you just listened to via Amazon
• See extra content about a TV show you are watching
• Watch videos and live concerts of a song you are listening to via YouTube
• Share songs and shows you are watching via Facebook and Twitter
• Quickly pull up Shazam with the built in Widget for your Android front page
• Program can remember where you tagged a song via your location

Cons

• Lyrics and LyricPlay only available in the following countries: US, CA, UK, FR, IT, DE, ES, AU, NZ.
• Previews only available in the following countries: US,UK,DE, FR, CH, AT
• Have to upgrade to Pro version to get rid of ads (which can be annoying) and to get other features like “recommendations”

Discussion

Shazam is one of those apps that does it all…well, as far as tagging music and TV shows goes. There are a lot of apps out there like Shazam, but I found myself liking the interface of Shazam the best. It is very easy to use, and does not take up a lot of your phone’s resources (which is very important to me as well).

The way Shazam works is simple. When you are listening to a song you like or watching a TV show, simply bring up Shazam, and let the app “listen” to what you are listening to. It will pull up information about that show or song. From there you can get lyrics, artist information, links to YouTube videos and more. Not only that, but it only takes seconds for all of this information to pull up.

I did find myself liking the fact that the program streams the lyrics of a song for you. Say you are listening to a song, and you bring up Shazam. Not only will the app give you information about that song, but it will also provide you with lyrics that stream across your phone. It does not just provide you with a long page of lyrics. It will actually play as you listen to the music.

The biggest problem is the fact that the app does not provide all of these features for every country. This may be due to copyright issues. Whatever the reason, you are not able to save a 30 second music preview of songs you listen to in all countries. Be sure to check out the con list above to see if this feature is available in your country.

CONCLUSION AND DOWNLOAD LINK

Shazam is a great app that I highly recommend for people who love listening to music. Keep in mind that the music you listen to is going to need to have lyrics for the app to recognize it. On top of that, it does seem to work best with popular music. Either way, whether you are just looking for a fun app to mess around with or you find yourself always wondering what a song is, Shazam can help you out. Best of all, it is completely free.

Price: Free

Version reviewed: 3.13.1 (Varies by device)

Requires: Varies with device (tested on Android 2.3.4)

Download size: 5.1MB (Varies by device)

Shazam on Play Store