14 DAY TRIAL // Shazam, a worldwide leader in mobile music discovery, announced on Wednesday the release of an application meant for BlackBerry smartphone users. The owners of a handset developed by Research in Motion will be able to discover, purchase and share music regardless of where they are. The new Shazam on BlackBerry smartphones is available with the BlackBerry App World, the new software portal the Canadian mobile phone maker launched at CTIA Wireless 2009.
Among the features that Shazam will be able to offer to BlackBerry users we can count the possibility to identify music anywhere, from the radio, TV, film or from a store, through the Tag Now option, purchase music as soon as they hear it, via a link directly to Amazon or other merchants available, as well as share the music experience by sending tags to friends via SMS, email or BlackBerry PIN messaging.
At the same time, users will also be able to learn more about their music, as they will be provided with reviews for tracks and albums, artist biographies and song lyrics (initially available in North America), they will be able to find similar music and popular or hot songs, and also search music by artist, album or track in a database that includes more than 8 million songs.
“As the global popularity and demand of Shazam continues to expand, we are extremely pleased to deliver a featured application on BlackBerry - one of the most ubiquitous mobile platforms in the world,” said Andrew Fisher, CEO of Shazam. “With Shazam now available on BlackBerry smartphones, users will gain access to a truly unique and enhanced music journey that will change the way music lovers experience mobile music.”
Through Shazam users will be able to identify music by holding their phone to a song, in which time the application will identify it and offer info about the track, artist and album from its database, which also includes undiscovered music and pre-release tracks. Starting September 2008, Shazam has seen a great popularity around the world, and its user base has risen from 20 to 35 million, while more than one million songs are tagged each and every day.
“We continue to see increasing demand for multimedia applications and services from our customers and we believe Shazam adds multidimensional value to the mobile music experience for BlackBerry smartphone users,” said Jeff McDowell, vice president, Global Alliances at Research In Motion. “Shazam’s unique features are perfectly suited to the BlackBerry platform. We are very pleased to prominently feature this innovative application in BlackBerry App World.”
There is a promotion for BlackBerry smartphone users who would download the new Shazam application between April 1 and May 31, as they will be able to try out the full version for 60 days. Those who would like to continue using it will then have to pay one-off fee of $4.99 (£5.00 / €4.99), depending on the area they are in. A free version of the application will also be available for them, except with limited features and tagging basis.