Quick App: Shazam Encore
Today the London based company, Shazam, announced the launch of its new Shazam Encore [$4.99 - iTunes Link] app on the App Store. The original Shazam is a free app that currently has over 10 million downloads so why not try to cash in with a new app that costs $4.99. Here is what you get for your money.
- 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.
Okay, so they’ve added some nice new features, but are those features worth $4.99? Let us know what you think.
November 9th, 2009 at 11:47 am
Just bought it, just for the carmodus part… then i don’t have to look for that tiny “tag” button while driving anymore… who knows, maybe it will save me a carcrash
then it’s well worth the 4 Euro’s 
November 9th, 2009 at 11:52 am
$4.99 for that? Uh, no thank you.
November 9th, 2009 at 11:58 am
For me, Shazam is a party-trick app. It’s cool technology, but I don’t have much practical use for it and it isn’t worth $5 bucks for me.
November 9th, 2009 at 12:02 pm
Maybe 2.99. The car mode sounds cool for when I listen to XM sirius but usually those songs have tags already. I don’t know 4.99 I don’t shazam that much as it is. I will wait for the price drop. I’m sure to the right user it’s worth every penny
November 9th, 2009 at 12:05 pm
Midomi upgraded and it was free for anyone already with the app. Why is Sham different? I’m not spending $4.99 …
November 9th, 2009 at 12:08 pm
4.99!! RIIIIIIIIGHT.
November 9th, 2009 at 12:09 pm
I don’t need recommendations or a list of popular songs. I have iTunes for that. When I use shazam I just want to know what song is playing. So I’m sticking with the free app and keeping my 5 bucks.
November 9th, 2009 at 12:09 pm
No way. Way too expensive for features that don’t even really matter. I use shazam quite often but I wouldn’t pay 5 dollars for it. Way too much
November 9th, 2009 at 12:32 pm
not worth it, just need to know what the song name is not the other stuff
November 9th, 2009 at 12:33 pm
The developer should have released this for a 1.99 price and then I would probably have purchased it. 5 bucks is a lot when dealing with iPhone apps. I wonder if this has anything to do with the Apple’s 70/30 cut of the cost. I bet this app goes on sale sometime in near future.
November 9th, 2009 at 12:38 pm
Nice app but I don’t even use the free version that much.
November 9th, 2009 at 12:46 pm
It’s worth a promo code!
November 9th, 2009 at 12:50 pm
I can’t help but laugh at people saying it should be 1.99 or 2.99 instead of 4.99.
November 9th, 2009 at 1:03 pm
$0.99 max.
November 9th, 2009 at 1:10 pm
I don’t think 4.99 is expensive, but given that current apps go for less I’m not sure it’s worth it. That being said, I do agree apps shouldn’t be free and developers should have an incentive to keep developing.
November 9th, 2009 at 1:37 pm
Anyone else in Canada unable to see this in the app store, or is it just me? I can only find the standard (free) version of Shazam
November 9th, 2009 at 1:50 pm
Ok. I paid for it. It’s the cost of McDonalds or a beer. However I would rather have that beer. The tag button is nice- HOWEVER there are ads all over this app. For $5 I want an app with NO ads!!!
November 9th, 2009 at 2:04 pm
Not worth the five bucks. I mean, i can do without those features. I own the free version of Shazam and all i use it for is to identify a song and thats it. It does the job just fine and its free. Why buy an app for that?
November 9th, 2009 at 2:05 pm
naw i would never shell out the money for that app..
November 9th, 2009 at 2:19 pm
@meks:
Well said. The only use I’ve made of the free version of this app is trying to find what music is used on TV ads or something like that. It takes so long to launch and get ready to sample the song that you have very little opportunity to use it in real life.
I constantly wonder how they pay the bills of keeping their servers running, but overcharging for a use it once a month toy app is a non-starter.
November 9th, 2009 at 2:23 pm
Absolutely not worth the price.
November 9th, 2009 at 2:53 pm
I’ve been bamboozled by shazam!!!
November 9th, 2009 at 3:02 pm
I wouldn’t mind paying for Shazam, but if I do, I want an app without ads. Either make me part with my money, or make me watch the ads, but not both.
November 9th, 2009 at 3:19 pm
It might be worth it if they expanded the database, particularly to classical. I’d be fine with needing the paid app for that, particularly if it could tell not only the composer and piece but which orchestra and conductor.
November 9th, 2009 at 3:28 pm
I’d pay $.99 at the most.
November 9th, 2009 at 4:16 pm
$5? what a joke. It still has Ads! It has a really poor UI. This app is worth free, but not much more. The MusicID and Midomi apps are much better. Shazam has a name, but a very tired app. Making up non-useful feature to try and justify a paid version. WEAK!
November 9th, 2009 at 4:21 pm
Man id pay 1000$ for it, it is so worth it. thanks for the update shazam like the movie with shack
November 9th, 2009 at 4:23 pm
I am making a mental note never to download an “upgrade” for Shazam, cause I’m sure the “upgrade” will make the free version suck so much you have to pay $5 to get back the features you’ve had for years. At least that’s the way it seems to go whenever free apps suddenly go “Pro.” It has nothing to do with adding functionality, more like finding a way to make the people who got it for free pay for it.
November 9th, 2009 at 4:31 pm
NO THANK YOU! The only way I would pay 4.99 for this program is if I contracted a fatal brain injury and I lost all better judgement. LOL I am just being over the top.. i really dont see the bonus features in this program for 4.99! maybe .99 cents
November 9th, 2009 at 5:15 pm
if they were sensible they should have charged $1 for the original app and they would be in the money! i certainly would have bought that. i find the program incredibly useful but the paid version has no real benefit over the free one for me.
November 9th, 2009 at 5:25 pm
$4.99? Seriously? I just wanna know the name of the song that’s playing. FREE APP ALL DAY BABY!!!
November 9th, 2009 at 6:45 pm
DO NOT BUY. If you look at the screenshots on the appstore, you can clearly see that the app uses google ads in almost all views!!! Do you really want to pay 4.99 for an AD SUPPORTED APP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
November 9th, 2009 at 10:26 pm
I read this morning that the free version Of shazam will be limited to 5 tags a month.
I switched to Midomi and recommend it over shazam. It tags a lot more obscure songs.
Before buying shazam do a little research first.
November 10th, 2009 at 2:51 am
Correct, there was an update to Shazam today, now when I try to tag a song it says I’ve reached my monthly limit of 5, what BS.
Shazam was one of my favorite apps, everybody loved it, they just put themselves out of business, Midomi is better, free, and you can tag an unlimited amount of songs.
Greedy ********
November 10th, 2009 at 4:43 am
Midomi costs £2.99 according to my iTunes Store!
November 10th, 2009 at 7:54 am
Good thing I kept the old one. Downgraded back to it!
November 10th, 2009 at 7:54 am
Yeah, Midomi looks to cost $4.99 to me as well!
November 10th, 2009 at 8:10 am
Oops. Just read that if you already had the free version you keep your unlimited tags. So I put it back on and ran half a dozen to be sure.
Is a little buggy, though. The first time it ran the program exited after analyzing, then when restarted it showed the tagged song, then on the third song it exited after about half a minute after the tag. Didn’t lose it though, so it’s workable.
I’ll keep updating as long as it leaves me my unlimited tags.
November 28th, 2009 at 5:15 pm
I was happy with my free shazam app now it doesn’t work andvthe update never said it wouldn’t work unless I paid. Rubbish not paying for something I never asked for, want the old one back
November 29th, 2009 at 6:15 pm
Yeah I guess it might b with it but y limit the old shazam to 5 dongs a month !!! And I’ve had that app forever and now if I want to be able to use it I have to pay 5 dollars or wait untill next month
February 3rd, 2010 at 4:02 am
Free Shazam has now just started restricting to 5 tags per month. Thanks, and thanks for telling me in advance rather than when I’m desperate to tag a tune but can’t!!!
I went on a quest to find an alternative free app, but can’t. But have found ‘SoundHound’ from Melodis. It is the same price as Shazam encore, but you can sing and hum into it, so I’m giving that a try for my £2.99.