14 DAY TRIAL // Shazam for iOS was the first of the magical apps on the iPhone. Imagine you were in a bar and a song was playing. You could point your phone to the music source, and in a matter of seconds, get detailed information about the song.
Shazam went from a song recognition tool to a full-fledged app complete with iTunes, rdio, and Spotify links of the recognized song, "Start a Station" iTunes Radio features, discography of the band, live lyrics, recommendations, and concert tickets. Everything was free with some adds showing on the screen.
On Thursday, the company behind Shazam released the long-awaited Shazam for Mac. You can download it now via the Mac App Store for free.
Shazam is described as the app that is going to "teach your Mac a few new tricks." As soon as you download and run it for the first time, the app is asking to launch at startup. Then it goes to your menu bar and it starts a 4-hour timer. As long as the app is open in the background, there's no need to push any buttons. Shazam listens to the sounds from your computer and the surrounding areas and makes a list of all the recognized tracks.
If a song is not recognized, the app doesn't give you any visual cue. The list of recent songs will just stay the same. When you click on a song, it will take you to the webpage of that track on shazam.com.
You have the option of previewing the song for 30 seconds, download it on iTunes, share that page on social networks, and see the info about the album and release date.
If the song has a music video, you will be able to watch it on YouTube. At the bottom of the page there's a list of Shazam's Top 100 Chart. You can also login with your Facebook account and get a customized experience on that page.
Download Shazam for Mac and try it for yourself.