Have you ever been out in public, heard a song, liked it, and wanted to know the name of it? Well, there’s a very cool app that’s been around for a while called Shazam. You simply fire up the app when you hear the song, press TAG, and voila! The app identifies (or tags) the song title and artist for you and provides ways to purchase the track via an online store or find it on YouTube.

Shazam Encore

Today Shazam finally revealed its business model with the announcement of Shazam Encore - a premium version that costs £2.99 ($4.53 US).

The free version, accompanied by ads, will now be limited to 5 tags per months. It also comes with:

  • tag charts
  • tour info
  • videos
  • a variety of sharing options
  • biography and discography
  • track reviews
  • ringtones

The paid Encore version offers:

  • unlimited tagging and recommendations
  • no ads

The key point to note here is that unlike with the Astro fiasco, Shazam pleased its customers by providing unlimited tagging to everyone who already had the free version installed. Now that's what we call taking care of customers!

Take note, app developers.

Shazam: AppBrain, Official Site