Showdown: Shazam Encore vs Shazam Free [Video] [Update--both apps pulled!]

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By Daniel Rubino
last updated

As some of you may have noticed, yesterday Shazam released two updates to their popular music ID program.

  1. Shazam (free) went to v2.0 with new features e.g. YouTube, discography, biography
  2. Shazam Encore, for $5.99, gives a "premium" experience e.g. unlimited tags, lyrics & recommendations

Some of you may have also noticed Shazam free has been pulled from the Marketplace--we're pretty sure that's a temporary problem due to the fact that the free version installed itself under Xbox Games and not applications. Obviously, that's a big problem (though quite common), so we bet it will be up in a day or two.

The next question though is this: Is Shazam Encore for $5.99 worth it?

Short answer: If you've been using the free version prior to May 11th, then you get unlimited tagging and no, Encore is not worth it. Watch the video for a more direct head to head.

Update: And like that now Shazam Encore has been pulled from the Marketplace. What's the reason? We really don't know though Windows Phone Daily speculates it's due to the negative response. Perhaps. Hopefully we'll learn more once it returns. Thanks, Derek!

Grab Encore here and the free version here, in the Marketplace.

Daniel Rubino
Daniel Rubino
Editor-in-chief

Daniel Rubino is the Editor-in-chief of Windows Central. He is also the head reviewer, podcast co-host, and analyst. He has been covering Microsoft since 2007, when this site was called WMExperts (and later Windows Phone Central). His interests include Windows, laptops, next-gen computing, and watches. He has been reviewing laptops since 2015 and is particularly fond of 2-in-1 convertibles, ARM processors, new form factors, and thin-and-light PCs. Before all this tech stuff, he worked on a Ph.D. in linguistics, watched people sleep (for medical purposes!), and ran the projectors at movie theaters because it was fun.