Shazam's Song Recognition Superpowers Land On Desktop

By Karissa Bell  on 
Shazam's Song Recognition Superpowers Land On Desktop
Credit: Shazam

Mac users can now take advantage of Shazam's music identifying service without touching their smartphone.

The company added a Mac app to its lineup Thursday, the first time the music recognition service has been available on the desktop.

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Much like auto-shazam on the mobile apps, when Shazam for Mac is enabled, the software will run in the background and automatically recognize any song played on or near the computer, including songs playing in the background of TV shows or YouTube videos.

"No one has ever really used a computer to do this," Shazam's chief product officer, Daniel Danker, told Mashable. "People Shazam YouTube all the time... they're watching the dancing baby video and there's good music in the background and they Shazam it for the music."

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Shazam for Mac will automatically identify all the songs played on your computer or nearby. Credit: Shazam

When the app identifies a song, it shows up as a desktop notification. Clicking on the notification launches the newly-redesigned Shazam website, which displays the album information, music videos, song lyrics and links to purchase the song via iTunes, Amazon or Google Play.

Unlike the company's mobile apps, Shazam on Mac does not have a premium counterpart though Danker says the website will eventually also include links to streaming services, much like the mobile app currently does. The company recently introduced improved streaming for premium Rdio subscribers and the same functionality is coming to the app for Spotify subscribers.

The app is currently only available for the Mac but Danker said desktop versions could potentially come to Windows or the web in the future.

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