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Has anyone here download and used Shazam?


Hardbopjazz

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I use it from time to time, and it really is amazing.  Even in not perfectly quiet public settings, more often than not it picks up enough to figure out the right tune.

Haven't used it for jazz as much, but I can confirm that it does work.  Also useful if you hear a tune (familiar, or otherwise) used in advertising, as long as it's the 'original' and not some awful advert-unique remake.

I only use it 25=35 times per year, I'd bet -- but you never know when you need it, so it's good to have downloaded so you can quickly grab a sample of something playing 'out in the wild' before the tune is over.  Haven't had much cause to use it for classical music, so I don't know how well it works for that.  I would imagine(?) it tends to pick up on percussive patterns as one of the more significant attributes of a song (so I'm wildly guessing that classical music would be harder to get a positive match on), but I really don't know.

Pretty easy to pop stuff on the stereo at home, and do some tests -- just something I've never tried before.

Certainly a marvelous tool, when you need/want it.

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7 minutes ago, JSngry said:

Is it free for Android as well?

Given that it's free for iPhone, wouldn't it probably also be free on Android too?  Have to admit, though, I have absolutely no idea.  Are there many apps that are free on one platform, but a cost on others??

Either way, Jim, you of all people would love having Shazam at your beck and call to ID artists and tunes, I'm quite sure!!  Of course the only trouble, in your case, might be the amount of stuff you might like it to ID, that's too obscure for it to pick up on / that isn't in its database.

But in theory, Shazam is made for people like you, who like to listen to all kinds of stuff 'out in the wild'.  Wonder how it does on Tejano, or Indian pop music and the like, or jump blues, or western swing, or any of dozens of other less mainstream genres (less mainstream, at least in certain circles that is).

Edited by Rooster_Ties
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1 hour ago, Captain Howdy said:

Never used Shazam, but I've been listening to old airchecks recently and I've found that I can usually identify a song just by googling a line or two of lyrics.

Yeah, I do the same for songs I hear on commercials that I can't tell if they're jingles or real songs. I only do that if I like 'em though, so I don't do that a WHOLE lot.

Algorithms are useful!

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2 hours ago, Captain Howdy said:

Never used Shazam, but I've been listening to old airchecks recently and I've found that I can usually identify a song just by googling a line or two of lyrics.

I think Shazam wouldn't work with airchecks-- needs to have been on a released record. But what do you do for instrumentals? 

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On 02/03/2020 at 3:50 PM, JSngry said:

Is it free for Android as well?

Yes it's free as well. And it works very well. I would recommend it too. I have a friend who uses it a lot to ID songs off series, and who's found real jems like that. On an Iphone though.

Edited by Bluesnik
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I find it pretty reliable. It comes up empty some of the time, when you're hearing music that no one in the history of the world has inquired about except you--and sometimes with classical pieces, it will identify the piece correctly but give you an incorrect artist--but it's pretty amazing by and large.

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I use it when I'm playing pool with a friend, and the pool hall is blasting some truly awful hip-hop thing (or whatever they call it these days).  I find it amusing that these snippets of awfulness, with their sludgy beats, booming bass, and lack of tunefulness actually have song names and artists, especially since they mostly sound the same.

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