Shazam getting a Windows Phone 8 upgrade, now works with Nokia Music

By Daniel Rubino
last updated

We’re actually pretty big fans of Shazam, the popular music ID service, as it tends to do a slightly more accurate job than the Bing music service. Throw in the ability to pin the scanner to your Start screen for 1-touch access and we’re happy campers.

Today, Shazam is announcing an updated Windows Phone 8 version of their popular app and it looks quite polished. Probably the biggest improvement comes from the tie in to Nokia Music, which is becoming an ever more popular service on Lumia Windows Phones.

We haven’t had a chance to try the new version ourselves, but we do have a Changelog of the new features, including the above new screenshots:

  • Stunning tile display interface for a seamless user experience with larger artwork for tags and a richer blue background
  • The ability to set local tags as a tile on your homescreen
  • Music links to XBox Music and for Nokia phone users, Nokia Music hubs where fans can purchase the songs they tag

That's all in addition to the previously supported features. Clearly with a Windows Phone 8 optimized version, the tie in to Nokia Music and the Lumia 925 being feature, you can see just who Shazam is partnering up with here, right?

You can find Shazam for free here in the Windows Phone Store as well as the “premium” Encore edition for $5.99 here. Full press release below!

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London – 30 May 2013 - Shazam (opens in new tab)®, the world’s leading media engagement company, today announces the launch of the Shazam App for Windows Phone 8, with an innovative user interface and features including the industry’s fastest tagging, local tags and tagging from the home screen.  The Shazam App is free with unlimited tags and helps consumers discover new music by identifying any song in mere seconds, then enabling them to go on and purchase their favorite tracks from either XBox Music or, if using a Nokia phone, Nokia Music.   Also, with Win Phone 8, TV fans can use the Shazam App to get a great interactive second–screen experience with the TV shows and ads that interest them. The app also provides convenient social features with Facebook and Twitter. 

“We are incredibly excited about this launch as it brings so many of Shazam’s key features to Windows Phone 8 fans,” said Daniel Danker, Chief Product Officer for Shazam.  “Windows Phone 8 users now have access to a great smartphone experience, from faster tagging and a new interactive map, where users can discover the music people are listening to around them.  This is more than just the music that’s already popular; these are often songs people are discovering for the first time.”

The new Shazam App for Windows Phone 8 will include popular Shazam features such as unlimited tagging, so that Windows Phone users can tag all the music, TV shows and ads they like, as well as:

  • Local tags – Shazamers can check out the current tagging activity in their location, updated every 30 minutes, using the interactive mapping feature.  This feature can also be set as a tile on the home screen.
  • Social sharing – Shazam users can share their finds with friends over Facebook and Twitter
  • Lyrics – With one touch, fans can see the lyrics to the songs they tagged.
  • Music reviews and bios – people can get more information about the albums and artists they tag.
  • Music Links – Now, it’s easier than ever for people to buy the songs they like with links to XBox Music and, if they are using a Nokia phone, Nokia Music hubs.
  • Lock Screen background – Music fans can set their favorite cover art or tag charts as their phone’s wallpaper.
  • Tag from the home screen – When Shazamers pin the tagging button to their home screen, they have faster access to discover, buy and share the media that interests them.

Additionally, the launch of Shazam on Windows Phone 8 features the great new look and feel of the Shazam App.  The new Shazam design also includes larger artwork for tags and a richer blue background.

Downloading Shazam onto your Windows Phone 8 desktop, laptop or tablet is easy.  The Microsoft Windows Store (opens in new tab) is built into every platform, making downloading the app a simple transaction.

About Shazam

Shazam is the world’s leading media engagement company with more than 300 million people in 200 countries and adding another 10 million new users each month.  With the industry’s unlimited fastest tagging in the Free and premium Encore Apps on iOS and Android devices, Shazam is the best way for people to discover, explore, buy, and share more music, TV shows and branded content they love.

Shazam makes it easy for people to share their discoveries with their friends on Facebook using the Shazam Friends feature, as well as on Twitter and Google+.  For people who don't yet have the Shazam application (opens in new tab) on their smartphone, it is available for FREE on every major platform and can be found on iTunes App Store (opens in new tab), Google play (opens in new tab), Amazon App Store (opens in new tab), AT&T’s AppCenter, Verizon VCast app store (opens in new tab), Nokia Store (opens in new tab), Windows Phone Marketplace (opens in new tab), BlackBerry App World (opens in new tab), and GetJar (opens in new tab)..

For further information about Shazam Entertainment visit www.shazam.com (opens in new tab) and @ShazamNews.  You can also follow us on Facebook (opens in new tab) or Google+ (opens in new tab).  For daily music updates follow the Shazam Blog (opens in new tab) and @Shazam.

Daniel Rubino
Daniel Rubino
Editor-in-chief

Daniel Rubino is the Editor-in-chief of Windows Central, 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 for some reason, watches. 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.

47 Comments
  • Looks awesome but I'll probably stick to Bing Music.
  • The problem is that Bing Music is not available everywhere. In Belgium I only have Bing vision. I also have the local scout icon since I messed with my region settings but seeing that it doesn´t know anything in Belgium it´s 100% useless.
  • The problem with Bing Music tagging is that I can't share results on Facebook or Twitter. I have no idea why not either. Lyrics would be nice but.....do that and I can get rid of Shazam and Soundhound.
  • yep, I miss sharing with Bing music, and it seems to take 2-10x as long as Shazam or Soundhound to ID songs sometimes
  • I'm also from Belgium. And it's pretty sad to miss out on these Bing services and Nokia music...
  • Pretty much just UK and US got Bing Music.
  • Canada too!
  • Yeah I don't see the need to have all these apps (in the US) that do what the phone already does. Sure they are probably better but I like to have a simple layout.
  • Looks pretty nice, but the YouTube button should start the YouTube app instead of displaying a web page. Spotify could be added, too.
  • Kinda hard to link to an app when we don't even know the state of the app going forward...
  • Disappointing that none of these apps have Spotify integration on the WP8 platform. Spotify is the only one of these services being used where I live. That is where you socialize and share playlists and links. Not Nokia Music. Nobody uses that.
  • I use Nokia Music and not Spotify.  shrug
  • Me and my two friends who have lumia use Nokiq Music daily. Nokia Music is free on mobile, spotify isn't. Pandora is available only in US, UK and Canada.
    You might be surprised how many use Nokia Music with over 83% of WP8 market share being for Nokia.
  • don't think Pandora is in Canada yet and we just recently got Nokia Music. 
  • I don't know what it costs for Spotify, but I use Nokia Music and Pandora, daily.
  • I guess I'm in the "nobody" crew, because I use Nokia Music.
  • Well, it depends on where you live of course. In Norway, I have yet to meet any Nokia Music users, whereas Spotify is as common as... well maybe not Facebook, but it is one of those apps that everyone has. It is more common to have it than Netflix for instance, just to use some other unrelated apps as popularity comparison. Spotify btw is free with extremely annoying ads. Some carriers also include the full version in their subscriptions. I pay a monthly fee, which lets me use it on my cell phone, TV, iPad, computer etc. There is no Pandora here.
  • I love Nokia music...the 3.99 a month for unlimited offline downloading and high quality is well worth the price! I love how the app works seamlessly with the Nokia Monster Purity Pro headset! I always share my music via email to myself to another email address with all emails being redirected to a folder set up in that email! A permanent record that I can print etc...so many times with Shazam in the past I have ended up losing all of my tags because of one thing or another. At least email is more reliable in that sense!
  • I second that. Spotify integration is what i'm missing.
  • What does the "premium" edition add?
  • It removes daily/monthly limits on tagging, and has no ads.
  • I thought this WP8 version has unlimited tags?
  • What's the limit? Because on their webpage it says it has no limit at all (the free version).
  • I will probably continue to use Bing Music as well. What is added with the pay version?
  • I forgot I even had this installed,... :P
  • I wish you could login via FB or something to see your tags from other devices...pretty sure that's a feature on other platforms, no?  As well as auto-share to social networks? 
  • I use soundhound for audio identifying.
  • Soundhound, Soundhound!
  • I wish Bing Music worked outside of a few select countries...
  • The new design is just gorgeous.
  • I use shazam because it was the originator. Both soubdhoubd and shazam are accurate though. A touch above Bing music. And with this update shazam how "listens" in a shorter amount of time. Love this update. It has commentors on Engadget saying how beautiful modern UI is
  • I want a music app that finds me arists i will probably like. Nokia Music does this pretty well, but i want to try others, too.  
  • I use Shazam but wish Bing Music didn't take so long to identify. New update looks are awesome.
  • Woot! :D
  • Was the version before this WP7??  I just uninstalled that puppy because it simply quit working and did not find anything.
  • i just like how good apps apply good designs on their tile!!
  • Soundhound is the better service. You can even hum and whistle tunes too.
  • Just tried Shazam and I'm pretty impressed that it recognized most of the older anime songs I threw at it. It also recognized some of my video game music too though more obscure things like Guilty Gear didn't pan out. Just a bit of extra info for those who are interested in such things.
  • I use Shazam as a backup to Bing Music. I like the convenience of it through the Search button but sometimes find it very hit or miss and sometimes tagging a song can take forever. So that's where Shazam comes into play. New app looks great!
  • Finally some love from the Team. Paid for Encore and it always felt broken. With WP8 it got better and better.
  • what's the point of this when SoundHound has lyrics tracking and is completely free
  • Id use bing if there were lyric options and share to networks. I still think Soundhound is better.
  • This update is awesome. If you pin the 'Tag Now' tile to your home screen, it launches blazing fast! Overall UI is excellent as well. Another high quality Windows Phone app. Well done Shazam!
  • I prefer SoundHound
  • Well soundhound just crashes on me when it finishes listening for music... Shazam's been my replacement until this is fixed... 920
  • Microsoft should purchase shazam and integrate it with bing
  • I upgraded from the free version because I've used the free version for a long time and been very happy with it. I thought I would show my support by spending the $6.00 to buy the Encore version. (I was disappointed though, to find that my tags from the free version, don't show up in the paid Encore version?)