Name That Song - Shazam

The iPhone in its inception takes queues from the international phone community and attempts to redefine exactly what a mobile device can do. From GPS navigation to media management, the iPhone has proven itself to be on the developing side of perfectly combining cell phone, personal devices, and mp3 players. Shazam is just another step in the direction of not only changing what we expect from our phones but also how we depend on computer and media technologies in general.

The application rests on a simple platform: if you play a song for it it will quickly find the information about the track and give it to you.   When you open the program you hit the "tag now" button in the upper right hand corner. From here a new window will pop up and it is time to play the song while the program is "listening." Once done it sends the information and then immediately comes back with the information, along with YouTube links and locations for you to buy it from iTunes. From here you begin to store a list of the songs you have looked up, and can even attach pictures to coincide with the albums they appear on. For more details, be sure to check out the original Shazam Application Review.

This seems like an almost impossible task, especially for obscure music. Though it does have some trouble with the most rare, independent musicians, its success rate is astonishing. This amazement also comes in line with how quickly it is able to read and access the information. This can come in handy for songs you hear on the radio or television repeatedly, but mostly it is just fun to play around with. There is no more fun you can have with your iPhone then placing a bet in a bar as to the song playing and then looking it up instantly without anyone knowing.

The major drawback to the application itself is its fundamental purpose. In reality this is just a way to help popularize the commercial selling of mp3s through online vendors like iTunes. The reality is that this is an advertisement at its core, yet it seems as though few users would actually take the next step and actually make the purchase once the track is discovered.

An application like this adds to the repertoire of entertainment oriented programs in your iPhone, making its functionality go far beyond the simple practicum. This now stands as one of the absolute must-have iPhone 3G apps. Nine out of ten stars.