Paid Shazam app offers new features, more speed, great search & tag abilities

Nov 9, 2009 15:49 GMT  ·  By

Shazam Entertainment has announced the release of a paid Shazam Encore app for iPhone and iPod touch. The five dollar app aims to make it super easy for users to learn more about their favorite music “and go on a greater music journey than ever before,” according to the official Shazam report.

The company’s first app, simply dubbed Shazam, is an extremely popular title in the App Store, having garnered over 10 million downloads since its debut. It was also featured in one of Apple’s iPhone commercials.

“Since our launch on the App Store, Shazam has achieved a huge following with iPhone and iPod touch users and is now one of the most popular music apps in the world,” said Andrew Fisher, CEO of Shazam. “We have listened to our iPhone and iPod touch users and have created a new app which answers their requests to take them on an enhanced music journey that will change the way music lovers experience and learn about music.”

According to Shazam Entertainment, the new application, Shazam Encore, is packed with new features. The company lists them in the press release as follows:

Improved speed performance: making it even quicker for users to tag tracks and learn more about their music. Music recommendations: users can discover other music similar to the track that’s been tagged to enhance their music collection and knowledge. Find what’s hot and popular: Shazam music charts generated by millions of other Shazamers can be accessed to help users keep up to date with the new tracks and players in the music scene. Search music: easily find music by artist, album or track from over 8 million songs. Drive and Tag: Shazam automatically enters into car mode when the iPhone is placed in an in-car dock to make it simple to discover what’s playing on the radio even when driving.

The free Shazam app will continue to be supported, the developer claims. Existing users will be able to continue enjoying the full benefits, while new users will be limited to five Tags per month. Moreover, existing users get the added functionality without any limitations, the company claims. This includes the ability to share Tags onto a Facebook mini-feed.

Download Shazam Encore ($4.99)

Download Shazam (Free) (compatible with iPhone and iPod touch; requires iPhone OS 3.0 or later)