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It is easier to state that Apple solution is the best once it is the only one remained

You think the market is just Spotify and Apple?
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Disney bought Fox, hooray! X-Men and Silver Surfer can now be part of MCU!

Apple bought Shazam. *crickets*

If Apple breaks the Shazam app on my Android, it's back to Soundhound for me. My Shazam app is already the ad-free one on Android. I rarely use it except a half dozen times per year, so it isn't game changing.

It's like if Google bought Yahoo! Sports, Pandora, or Flixster, I rarely use any of those apps anymore. Think AOL and Yahoo Messenger. We move on to the next one with similar ability. I still have those apps on my iPhone just to keep the homescreen layout evened out.

Only Disney is winning the buyout game for me. The purchases from Google and Apple recently makes me yawn. Disney is going to be around forever and ever.

Disney buying Fox is actually pretty bad news. Let’s not pretend otherwise.
 
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They obviously didn't buy Shazam (whatever spelling) for it's capability to ID the audio samples. All of the audio recognition software connect to the same data base in San Francisco to ID the song so they all have to follow the same protocol. Maybe it was something they were working on regarding audio processing but from what I know since the beginning of audio recognition service back in feature phone days they all claimed how you can id the song even in crowded places such as clubs. Who knows.

For example Mixed In Key actually looks for harmonics and it's able to identify the key of the song. However it's very debatable how they do it, they also send the pieces to online data base for comparison.
 
They obviously didn't buy Shazam (whatever spelling) for it's capability to ID the audio samples. All of the audio recognition software connect to the same data base in San Francisco to ID the song so they all have to follow the same protocol. Maybe it was something they were working on regarding audio processing but from what I know since the beginning of audio recognition service back in feature phone days they all claimed how you can id the song even in crowded places such as clubs. Who knows.

For example Mixed In Key actually looks for harmonics and it's able to identify the key of the song. However it's very debatable how they do it, they also send the pieces to online data base for comparison.
Maybe they bought it for the image recognition abilities, to aid in their AR efforts.

http://news.shazam.com/pressrelease...-up-a-new-world-of-shazamable-content-1168520
 
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Hmm, does this mean Shazam would soon stop offering options such as:
  • Listen in Spotify
  • Listen in Google Play Music
in favour of only offering the option to play in Apple Music/buy in iTunes within the app?
 
Haven't used Shazam for years. What's to be gained by this acquisition? Music recognition is old school and integrated into Google search or assistant so you don't need yet another app.
 
Sony has something like that since a long time ago (TrackID) and I use that all the time when I hear a song that I don't remember its name.
 
Hopefully this is the death blow to Spotify

Why would you want a service that many people use and like (including me) to die?

Way to stick it to poor people too. Spotify lets you listen to ads and still use it, unlike the competition. So no. Hopefully not a death blow. That would be bad for lots of people. Including Apple Music users really. Competition is good and spurs innovation.
 
That would be bad for lots of people. Including Apple Music users really. Competition is good and spurs innovation.

It would be bad for Microsoft Groove users too I guess. I have never used Groove, but apparently MS is shutting it down with the means to port your libraries to Spotify. Generally I don’t care about Groove, except that it is another music service to fall and if Spotify goes, yet another.

I love me some Spotify, it is Apple Music that I personally couldn’t give a rats a— about. I stopped paying for Apple Music years ago.
 
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You’ve gotta think that all that money was for something a little more substantial than identifying songs. It can identify music being played, but also shows that are on, maybe what specific part of the show, which commercial is playing. Maybe your phone will proactively serve up places to buy whatever is on the TV. Maybe it’ll passively have IMDB info while you’re watching a show. I’m identifying building blocks and it’ll be interesting to see how they’re put together. Apple’s not buying an app to identify songs. They’re buying a technology to give your devices the power to contextualize the sounds around them in the world.
 
SoundHound has always been my go to app. Never liked Shazam when it started asking for money.
 
But does Spotify have a path to profitability in a world where they’re perfectly willing to lose money on free users?
They are not losing money on free users, since they pay a share of the revenue per user that they actually receive (in case of the free users from the ad revenue). They are not making a profit overall because their marketing and development costs are higher than the income they generate. I'm obviously not privy to their internal strategies, but I believe reaching a critical mass of subscribers is currently more important to them than short-term profits. Their investors apparently believe in their strategy, since they keep giving them money.
 
"Shazam's machine learning algorithms used to identify audio clips, and its augmented reality feature that enables users to discover content based on pictures captured with its app, could be valuable technologies to Apple."

I'm sure, fits like a glove *rolls eyes*

I wonder how tight it will be.
 
If the $400M number is accurate, then Apple got this company for a steal !

If Apple's "true" market cap is ~$700B, as I have stated many times, then the true cost to Apple was ONLY ~$316M.

At that price, it's doubtful Shazam had anything of real value.

In other words, NO WAY would they sell out at that price if they truly had something significant !

Even though the general public is blind to have much Apple has gone up this year, an acquiring company's Board usually is NOT ... if they said "Yes" to ~$316M, then it's simply a way to Get Out (of the current situation).

Apple may say great things to come down the road, but they always say it, and until the general public gets wise to their repeated message, they will continue to repeat the message.

Ponzi Scheme, Dog & Pony Show, or Smoke & Mirrors ... many have been Fooled, but NOT all !

As Einstein one stated, 85% of the general population has an IQ less than 85.
 
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Maybe they bought it for the image recognition abilities, to aid in their AR efforts.

http://news.shazam.com/pressrelease...-up-a-new-world-of-shazamable-content-1168520

This times 4. I feel like if Apple was interested in the music identification skills of the app, this would have happened long ago. Apple should be thinking ahead...(I’m sure they will implement that as a side note though). Moreover, as so many people have pointed out, it is already integrated into Siri. This is either an attempt to hit Spotify, or as you suggested, looking forward to a world of visual recognition and possibly even shape recognition.

If Shazam can build algorithms to identify music and images, why not 3D objects using the FaceID camera or the 2 cameras on the rear of the phone? Shazam is just complicated pattern recognition. If this acquisition means more than learning what song is playing, then cool. If that’s all it is... meh.
 
Like many others, I also see Apple integrating it with iOS and doing away with the standalone app. However, I do not think this means Spotify integration will be gone. If Apple does integrate it, it will probably be available to App Developers, which Spotify can utilize.

The only thing I really see going away is Android availability, but it wouldn't be a major loss.
 
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