It seems that Shazam has reached critical mass thanks to the meteoric rise of smartphones like the iPhone and Android handsets.
The one billionth song identified was "Gettin’ Over" by French DJ David Guetta, featuring vocals by Chris Willis. It's an electro house song that hit the airwaves last month. We've embedded a YouTube video below in case you aren't familiar with it.
Shazam has achieved this level of success with a suite of features that make it one of the best apps for identifying songs on the go. It's easy to use; you just hold your phone out where its mic can hear the music, tap a button and wait a few seconds to learn which song is playing. It works for most popular music; the basic rule of thumb is that if it's popular enough to be on iTunes, it's probably something Shazam will recognize.
The app also connects you to online stores where you can buy the song and gives you ways to tag and share tracks you've discovered. It can also hook you up with the artist's upcoming concerts. It's available on the iPhone, Android, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile and Nokia platforms, covering the majority of smartphones. The iPod touch is also supported, and Shazam's iPad app just recently launched.
Those are handy features, and it's no surprise that Shazam is the most popular app for music identification. There are, however, other worthy alternatives. For example, Midomi will recognize a song that you hum into the microphone. For more options, check out the list of music identification applications we compiled last month.
#1 Billion: "Gettin' Over" by David Guetta feat. Chris Willis
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