Radio Redux
Best App for Naming That Tune
Free Version: 2.0.0 | Shazam Entertainment
Tip-of-your-tongue sufferers, rejoice. This App Store veteran first found fame as an iPhone app. Now it’s here to help iPad-owning music lovers figure out what’s playing. Fire it up, situate your device reasonably near a radio, inside your favorite soundtrack-powered store, or anywhere else that’s got a song playing. Then click the upper-right Shazam icon. The app proceeds to match a brief sound snippet to its enormous collection (requiring an Internet connection to do so) and, ping: the song title, usually, appears. Shazam’s finding skills work remarkably well, though with limitations: it’s not so good at classical music, ambient beats, and, predictably, polka.
FIND MORE: The app also works as a decent browse and discover tool. Top of screen, center, is a Tag Stream button, which, when tapped, shows what other app users are currently liking and listening to. Tap any songs you like to add ’em to your own tagged list and, in many cases, you can also play 30-second snippets or buy the song in iTunes.
OTHER TREATS: A Similar Tracks feature digs into the Shazam catalog and offers up suggestions; results are pretty good with a few notable clunkers. (Coldplay is related to Marlene Dietrich exactly how?) A lyrics lookup tool is great fun. It works most of the time, though it is hobbled by one ...
Get Best iPad Apps now with the O’Reilly learning platform.
O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.
