Shazam for Android Review: Find Song Titles, Artists, and Other Info from Your Phone

Song Capture Capabilities (4 out of 5)

Finding out who’s singing the songs on the radio is simple with Shazam, simply hold your device’s microphone in the direction of the song and Shazam takes care of the rest. I personally found that more “Modern” songs and more popular oldies songs were more easily recognized using the Shazam program, whereas if you’re into indie music or instrumentals you’ll have a tougher time using the program’s artist recognition software. It was only because of the indie/instrumental issue that the program didn’t score a perfect 5/5. I have to admit though that recent and popular songs were easily discovered by the program, usually within 15 seconds or less.

Song Retrieval Capabilities (5 out of 5)

While finding the artist of the song is important, being able to find out more about that artist, or access the full song is just as important, and for that purpose there isn’t a better mobile artist search application than Shazam.

Once the song has been determined users can then easily choose to search YouTube for the song, find the artist’s Myspace Music page, and even go directly to Amazon’s MP3 Store for a paid download of the tune.

I personally tested all three search functions and found that each option worked as advertised, YouTube showed relevant videos for the songs I request, the artists Myspace pages displayed 19 out of 20 times, and the Amazon MP3 Store showed all versions of each song when searched.

Interface and Usability (4 out of 5)

Shazam offers a simple to follow interface that requires very little time to understand, theres no need for an instructional guide, simply start out of the gate and follow the onscreen suggestions and you’ll be downloading songs, finding YouTube videos and researching Myspace pages for artists in no time.

Simply put, the usability factor couldn’t be any easier and the interface is clean and crisp for enjoyable use. This section would have received 5/5 however a slightly more “Web 2.0” feeling interface could have been implemented.

Overall Review of Shazam

Shazam for Google Android is not a perfect program, background noise can lead to issues caused by sound interference and the interface could be a little more sleek. With that being said the program makes a great addition to any audio lover’s app collection while offering an easy user interface, competent search options, and an overall enjoyable experience.

Is Shazam perfect? Absolutely not, but it’s a great app and considering it’s free you really have nothing to lose, give Shazam a try today.