[BenBoychuk]

Updated to include Edge. Thanks.

[alansky]

I also find this review excessively critical. My experience with Shazam has been excellent for the most part, although it could not identify a single track from Billy Joel's album "The Stranger." All things considered, Shazam is one iPhone app I'd be sorry to lose.

[zahadum]

shazam does work well with pop tunes but not much else.
zero success with Asian music ie KCVJ (one presunes that Hindi & Arab & Spanish will equally fail).
it would be nice if shazam would keep the unsuccessful samples on-hand for further analysis - and a link back mechanism for the shazam community to identify these clips (on a volunteer basis - maybe with a 'name thatveube' competition).

[AnubisIV]

BenBoychuk said:

I expected much of this criticism. I'll answer as many of the points as I can.

@AnubisIV: I sampled at least 200 songs over a wide range of genres under pretty favorable conditions (i.e., quiet, no kids) in my house. Although, I will admit that I didn't have any Hindi tracks to test. Maybe that would have improved the percentages slightly.

Hmm, well, that's "just weird". Go figure. I don't doubt your statements about its failure at all, I just find it odd since so many others of us have had great success with it. Maybe there's some other instability in the system that causes it to fail too often in some subset of users, yourself included? Meh. It's a shame.

Anyway, you should definitely grab the Hindi tracks. After all, how can it be considered exhaustive testing if you haven't even tried Hindi tracks? While you're at it, you might consider grabbing some music that's sung in Swahili, Polish, Russian, Portuguese, Ancient Romanian (strangely enough, I have one of these...), Antarctican, Elvish, Parseltongue...

I kid, I kid, of course. Thanks for responding to our comments though. It's much appreciated.

[Lentako]

Ben,

I give you credit for responding to the minor outcry you've caused here with your lousy review. It is nice to see a reviewer who doesn't just publish his work and then disappear. Nice job with that.
It's also nice to see you stick to your guns and not change your review. That being said, I will do the same, still giving your review a half mouse.

Lentako

[Wondercow]

I just ran it through its paces with an album that I'd consider to be rather obscure: Kraftwerk's Computer World. Shazam correctly identified every track. (I though it might stumble on "Computer Love"--and I purposely ran it a few times over the Coldplay-inspiring melody--but it came up right each time).

I should add that this was on an iPod Touch using a Griffin SmartTalk mic with the album played on my MacBook Pro.

[hammontre]

I rarely comment, but I, too, wanted to mention that I have had excellent luck with Shazam. The only time it wasn't able to identify a track was when I was in a noisy bar with a really bad, overworked sound system. Other than that, I've been using it since the first few days the App Store was open, and I have been able to identify everything I've wanted to. For the record, my tastes run to classic rock and (sometimes obscure and/or foreign) metal.
Had I read this review, I would never have downloaded the app. But, I find it to be one of the best I've used, and I'd suggest that anyone who hasn't tried it form their own opinion, rather than relying on the review. (Or on the comments to the review.) For whatever reason, some people have had more success with it than others.

[lisabethshaw]

I have to agree with everyone who says this review is harsh. I've had Shazam ... almost since day one and it has been correct 95 percent of the time for me. Even if when I tag songs that are fading out at the end. The only problems I've had are in very loud situations. Shazam has even tagged songs correctly when my three-year-old is whining over a song! I love it and highly recommend it.

[kimhill]

To reiterate...
Shazam is one of the gems of the iPhone app universe. I know of at least one person who bought an iPhone because of it. It's one of the most impressive demos you can do with an iPhone.
2.5 stars is a scandalously inappropriate rating, and to use the subtitle "misses the mark too often to be useful" is out-and-out journalistic malpractice.
MacWorld needs to fix this.

[rab777hp]

The Android version of shazam works so well. It gets obscure movie scores, weird variations of songs (such as transitions), gets songs in the right Album (even if the cd its from isn't the original album), and only doesn't work on very obscure classical music.

[thezune]

I think this review is a bit misleading, since it's worked almost every single time for me. This is that kind of app that convinces people to buy an iphone.

[kris0l0gy]

I too have had tremendous success with Shazam. It tagged every song I've put it up to, including some Broadway tunes from a Sirius station that I was curious about what show they came from. It has also works wonders with an oldie station I frequently listen to. And even songs that are fairly new it always identifies.