Shazam Introduces 'Shazam Encore' Paid Application

Well, I'm glad I have the free unlimited one. I imagine a lot of folks around here do too.

So for me, this doesn't matter one bit.

But I used to tell new iPhone owners to get Shazam. I'm not sure what I'll suggest now. I guess I'll tell them to get the free one. I honestly only use it about 5 times a month myself.

the free version was MUCH BETTER when it first came out now i don't even use it. the design has gone downhill.

what make them think i will pay 5 dollars for this app?
No, thanks!

You know, its a great app- I probably would have paid 5 bucks, and even 5 bucks if I knew otherwise I would only have 5 tags per month. I would have also felt really screwed over though had they started limiting my use now- I would say they probably did the right thing all around. Its no fun to be charged, and its really annoying to be charged for a currently free service, but for new customers they do have a right to charge, and I think its worth the money.

I just recommended Shazam to my aunt yesterday. I guess she's happy that she also got the "unlimited" free version just in time.

So am I, though I guess I would pay 5 bucks for this awesome app! Though I haven't used it more than 3 times a month so far.

Don't they make money whenever anyone uses their link to buy the song? Maybe it's not enough $$

I am glad I have the free version already. I don't think I would pay $5 for it, although it is a very clever app!

this used to be the first app i recommended to anyone considering an iphone but now that it costs money, not any more. Even though I'm happy with AT&T, Verizon has a service similar for free (even tho it doesn't work at good). Rip off that they are going to start charging. This is just the start of the "new" app store. No more free apps are going to survive.

I got Shazam when it was still free and unlimited and read the comments saying that the new version of the free Shazam (version 1.7) crashes. I opened up my Shazam and pressed the i on the top left corner and found out I have version 1.7. It works fine for me though and I just tagged around 6 songs without any limit. I wonder how they know who downloaded the app when it was still free?

Great app, thought I certainly wouldn't pay for it. I've hardly actually used it 10 times since it came out.

eff pc said:

No more free apps are going to survive.

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In my opinion this is good and had to happen sometime. You can't run a business off free apps (unless you are making a ton with advertising). I think after the newness of the app store wore off, devs are now seeing the time invested and wanting (rightfully so) to get paid for their work. I don't know many people who work their job for free.

I'm sure it takes a lot of manpower and resources to keep this service running, so it makes sense that they need to start charging for it. I would have no problem paying five dollars for this app if I didn't already have it.

leandromp said:

the free version was MUCH BETTER when it first came out now i don't even use it. the design has gone downhill.

what make them think i will pay 5 dollars for this app?
No, thanks!

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What's different about it? I've had it since it first came out and I don't see any changes other than the ads they added a while back.

What does "existing" users mean?

When they say that the free Shazam app will remain unrestricted for existing users, do they mean users who had purchased the app before a certain date on iTunes/iTunes app?

Before a certain version number of the app? (If this is the case, should we opt out of future updates, or is there a check built in that looks for the iTunes account associated with the download?)

Or are they referring to existing users of the Shazam.com registration at their site?

eff pc said:

Rip off that they are going to start charging. This is just the start of the "new" app store. No more free apps are going to survive.

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A couple of questions:

1. Did the development of the app cost them money?

2. Do the servers on the back-end cost them money?

3. (The big one.) Do they make enough money through the free version to pay for the above?

And in general... How would you recommend helping free apps to survive? What should be done to prevent the “new” app store where some companies charge a price?

This is L-A-M-E!!!

So what exactly does this app offer that I don't already have with Genius in the iPod app, and looking things up in the iTunes app?

Booo Shazam!

Good thing I already have had the free one.

Hah - what a crock.

For some apps, I'm happy to pay a bit more for more functionality. Take Sportacular, for example... i really appreciate the better alerts in the Pro version so I paid a couple bucks extra for it. But I really get no value out of this new non-free Shazam app. All I want to do is figure out a song's title when it comes on the radio. It does it just fine. Crippling the current version is REALLY lame. Glad I already have it.

Shazam is good but works only 50% of the time. Worth $5/pop? I think not.

Shazam was a fantastic app when I first got my iPhone. Finally I could identify obscure songs I was hearing from a corporate mix CD, Satellite Radio feed or other media inside a department store or walking around an outdoor mall-- where often there is no playlist for anyone to refer to. Tagging odd tracks from the radio on AM or FM too-- brilliant idea!

Or so I thought. I've found that more than 50% of the time Shazam's catalogue still isn't big and diverse enough to identify music I don't know the titles too. Maybe I listen to REALLY obscure music but I've had far too many old tunes as well as very recent ones come up as "unrecognized". And of course by then I'd rather have just used a sound recording app in the first place.

Classical music is also a big laugh with Shazam. I understand that it's still difficult to tell apart 25 different recordings of Beethoven's 9th Symphony but suppose I were listening to Gyorgy Ligeti or Sandor Veress or John Adams? My point is that those classical artists are so specific and unmistakable that it shouldn't be so hard for Shazam to be able to identify them. Sometimes I just want to know what CD I need to buy to get a rendition I already know!

So reading this article I can't help but laugh. You bet they'd better keep supporting the free version of Shazam that I already have installed. Why they are making everyone else pay $5.00 for an identifier/tagging database that will be no better than it was free is beyond me.

This is a slow app that is prone to crashing that only identifies songs *that you haven't heard of before* barely 50% of the time. I keep it around because it is the best thing out there right now.

But unless they catalogue MANY more song clips after buying more server space from the fees they are now charging, this is not worth $5.00 a pop.

Who cares what is "hot right now" when what you desperately want to know is what song is playing before the automated robot DJ simply plays the next track without so much as a mention of the title, album or artist name.

I predict Shazam will not pick up new users. This signals the end of Shazam as a "must have" app.

Apparently the new paid Shazam still has ads. Lame.

So do we never upgrade our current version of Shazam?

Midomi ???

How come nobody has mentioned MIDOMI??? That prog kicks ass. In the beginning it was a little harder to use than shazaam; but then as of their latest version, IT KICKS SHAZAAM's ASS. Better and faster in recognition; better storing of history. Just better all around.

Shazaam just got the damn iPhone ad so got more popular. But everybody knows that the iStore for getting iApps is highly iBiased and iBlows iBallz and makes it iMpossible to find any real iAlternatives.


GET MIDOMI

They're getting my money!

This company WILL be getting my money for this update. Devs, *MY* personal iPhone is NOT YOUR personal advertising platform! Some time ago, I stopped using apps that contain ads and switched to Midomi. It's worked fine for me, but now I'll use this version of Shazam too. The company with ad-free apps will get my money AND the the privilege of being used on my iPhone AND my recommendations to other iPhone users. The other companies products...well...won't. It's just that simple.

anjinhamarota said:

Apparently the new paid Shazam still has ads. Lame.

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If this is true, then cancel my previous post.

DrWeevil said:

How come nobody has mentioned MIDOMI??? That prog kicks ass. In the beginning it was a little harder to use than shazaam; but then as of their latest version, IT KICKS SHAZAAM's ASS. Better and faster in recognition; better storing of history. Just better all around.

Shazaam just got the damn iPhone ad so got more popular. But everybody knows that the iStore for getting iApps is highly iBiased and iBlows iBallz and makes it iMpossible to find any real iAlternatives.


GET MIDOMI

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Maybe no one has mentioned Midomi because this is a thread about Shazam...

I just noticed that version 1.8 has been posted to the app store. Has anyone updated yet?

DrWeevil said:

How come nobody has mentioned MIDOMI??? That prog kicks ass. In the beginning it was a little harder to use than shazaam; but then as of their latest version, IT KICKS SHAZAAM's ASS. Better and faster in recognition; better storing of history. Just better all around.

Click to expand...

I'll give it another try, but let me tell you, I used Shazam and Midomi side by side from 2008 to mid-2009, and Shazam identified more songs than Midomi. This is why some of us kept coming back to Shazam.