iTunes is great and everything, but it’s still just a standard music player. The most exciting feature of the whole program is Genius, at least in my opinion, and even that can be off from time to time. But Shazam wants you to ingest your music a bit differently from here on out, and has launched the Shazam Player app to give users a better chance to leverage its new feature, Lyric Play.
Lyric Play is already available in the premium version of Shazam, Shazam Encore, and allows users to see lyrics playing in time with the music, as the song is being discovered. This technology is clearly nothing short of impressive, but the 20 seconds spent tagging a song isn’t really the ideal platform for this feature to be shown off.
That said, the Shazam Player app lets you get your Lyric Play on throughout the entirety of songs. However, there will be a small fee. The app itself is free, but unlimited Lyric Play functionality requires either a monthly ($.99) or yearly ($5.99) subscription. But there are plenty of other features worth trying out, even if Lyric Play isn’t your thing.
For one, most of the same core functionality found in the Shazam apps is still available here, save for Shazaming of course. Users will be able to share their music via Facebook and Twitter, check out the Vevo music video on YouTube, and have access to touring information for the artists of their choice.
Once the app is downloaded, music from within the user’s iTunes library is automatically indexed within the app, at which point the user can filter by artist, album, or track. All your iTunes playlists will make the migration, too. Users can also limit selection down to only those songs with Lyric Play support (Shazam doesn’t have every song covered just yet).
The Shazam Player app gives users the option to build playlists on the go, along with some cool good/bad buttons for an existing queue. Let’s say you’re listening to Michael Jackson’s Greatest Hits, but realize that the song Man In The Mirror makes you way too emotional. You need a break from that song. Shazam Player lets you add it to the “Bad List” with one tap of a button, and it’ll stop playing in any of your queues until you bring it back over to the good side. In the same way, Shazam Player lets you mark songs for the good list, which will then get more plays.
Update: When I was originally briefed on the Shazam LyricPlayer, I was told there would be a fee. Since, Shazam has made the app, including all features, entirely free. Yay!