Shazam (for Windows Phone)

Shazam may have lost some of its 'ooh' factor, but it's still devilishly useful if you don't know what that cool song they're playing is. When the app was first released for iPhone, it was a must-download, if for nothing else than its effectiveness as a party trick. The Windows Phone version was updated last June, and while sharing the strengths and limitations of every Shazam app version, it offers some Windows Phone specific capabilities. But Shazam is not without competition on the platform: Not only can you try the similar SoundHound app, but the built-in Bing search feature in Windows Phone has a microphone feature that listens for ambient music and identifies it for you. So let's take Shazam out for a spin and see whether you really need it.

Setup
Shazam is a free download from the Windows Phone store; a premium version, Shazam Encore costs $5.99, but at this point the free version shows no ads like those on iPhone Shazam, so I can't see any reason to get the paid app. I've asked the company to elucidate the advantages of Encore, and will update this when I hear back.

I tested the app on a Nokia Lumia 928. Like so many mobile apps, Shazam's setup wants access to your location, and, though this seems irrelevant for a music app, it does enable a feature that lets you know what people nearby are Shazam-ing. On first run, you have to accept the user agreement; it's the standard boilerplate that the company is creating a profile on you based on your listening habits.?

Interface
Shazam's store description boasts that the app has a "glorious new UI" for Windows Phone 8. At first glance, it's really the most basic interface you can imagine: Just a single big button saying "tag now." As with most windows apps, you swipe sideways to get to different pages. After the Tag Now page, these include pages for your recent tags, chart, and local tags. The app's live tile lets you see album art for your last tag, and you can make another live tile for Tag Now, so you can immediately start song recognition. Finally, among interface goodies is the ability to use the album art of your last-viewed tag as the phone's lock screen background.

Tagging Tunes
I tested the app with increasingly challenging music. Shazam refers to the act of identifying a song "tagging." The app expectedly had no trouble at all tagging the likes of Katy Perry playing at an outdoor Japanese restaurant. Then I headed to Starbucks, where the Art Garfunkel tune playing was no challenge for Shazam, either. The less mass-market Peter Tosh's Rudies Melody was found, too.

But when I headed to an independent coffee shop, things got dicier: The app was unable to identify anything on the hipster baristas' playlist. I held the phone up to the speaker, and I didn't' think the ambient noise was louder than the restaurant and Starbucks, but that might have been a factor in its inability to find the songs. Nor was the app able to identify a song playing on SomaFM, Terre Thaemiz's Hovering Glows or even M-Seven's Contained.

On the classical front, it had more success, identifying the Jasper String Quartet, the wonderful choral group Stile Antico, and even The Harp Consort's Spanish Dances. In all, though, Shazam was far better at identifying music than its nearest competitor, SoundHound, which didn't recognize the harp music or the string quartet.

Source: http://feeds.ziffdavis.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/h5_6FIGweSE/0,2817,2422614,00.asp

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