Posted 12/01/2009 - 12:12pm by Julia M
Shazam, the popular music identification service has launched a new premium service called Encore. For a one-time fee of $4.99, users can download the new app from the App Store and receive additional functionality beyond what Shazam offers. The new features include:
· Faster tagging of songs
· Music recommendations
· Shazam Tag Charts
· Drive and Tag, a car mode which will tag all songs while a user is driving
Additionally, Shazam has announced that new users of its free app will be limited to just 5 tags each month. Shazam now counts over 10 million existing users of their free service. The existing users will be grandfathered in, with no limits to the number of tags.
Users of both the free and premium services will have access to a number of new upgraded features:
- Share a music moment – Users can send their tags as a Tweet to followers or to their Facebook mini-feeds. They can also preview and buy songs directly in iTunes.
- Track the music journey – Tags now appear on Maps inside Shazam, along with the tag history, to remind users where they were when they initiated a search.
- Learn more about the music – Tag results will also allow users to read track and album reviews and artist biographies, plus see other music from the same artist and view song lyrics.
- Personalized tags – Allows users to take and add a photo or attach an existing picture to their tags. These shots are then added to the iPhone photo album.
- Store pending tags – Even when users don't have data connection, they can still capture the music. The pending tag can be sent later when they are back in data coverage or Wi-Fi connectivity.
But all is not perfect in Shazam’s world. Digimarc, a US-based company that develops software for digital identification and watermarking, has filed suit against Shazam, claiming that the UK-based service has infringed on 3 of Digimarc’s patents, 2 of which date back to 1995. Digimarc has invented technologies that use cameras, microphones and other sensors as ways of identifying digital content. The suit was filed in mid-November in Digimarc’s home state of Oregon.
To read the full "Tech Trends" for the week of 11/30/09, click here.
