The Spectator

App Review: Shazam

By Bryce Carter

Music is very popular with today’s generation, and it is no surprise that some of the most downloaded apps are music related, whether it be streaming or buying music. What about when you hear a song and do not know the name of the song or the artist that sings it? That is a music lover’s nightmare. But what if there was an app that recognized music just by opening the app, and it tells you the name and the artist, but also brings up ways to listen and buy to that song? With the app Shazam, that is all possible in a matter of seconds.

Shazam instantly recognizes any song being played, and it will tell you the name of the song, and the artist that performs it, and it does not need the connection to WiFi to do this. It also keeps all of the songs that you Shazam on record so you can find them anytime. It gives a way to play and buy the songs, whether it be from Apple Music or Spotify. It gives the option to share the song on Facebook or through text messages to share it with friends and family. It also gives recommended songs from that same artist that performs the original song, and other artist of the same genre or a similar style. There is even an option to see what music is trending both in the United States, and also the world. It can also tell you what songs are trending in certain cities as well, and Bangor is on that list. You can see what people around you are listening to as well. This app gets up close and personal with your music.

This app is very popular with college students, and Husson University student Shane Althouse has a lot to say about this app. He is a frequent user of the app, and says that he loves it and recommends it to everyone. “It helps me find songs even without WiFi and helps me figure out songs and just be able to expand my genre of music”.

The app, like all, does have its downsides. The app will sometimes have a hard time picking up the audio if the device is not close enough to the source that the music is coming from. Althouse says that this can be a little frustrating, but still recommends the app.

The app is mostly known for its identification of music, but has evolved to recognize cinema, television, advertising and retail environments. These do require that the they have a Shazam code, otherwise the app will not recognize it.

Shazam is a free app that is available in the Apple Store, Google Play, Amazon and Windows. It has been given a 4.4 out of 5 star rating on Google Play. Althouse raved on about how he believes that Shazam should be used by all. “It’s an app everyone should use because it saves your history also so if you don’t remember a song you can go back to your history”.

https://www.shazam.com