Shazam revamps iPad app, adds auto-tagging feature

Shazam, the app that identifies a song’s name and artist, is being updated for the iPad, giving tablet users many of the tools already found on the iPhone app as well as a cool new feature: automatic tagging.

The feature comes turned off by default, but if users choose to turn on auto-tagging, the app will automatically identify songs, TV commercials and other audio that your iPad picks up.

Previously, if users heard a song or saw a commercial they wanted to tag with Shazam, they had to unlock their device, launch the app and touch the tag icon. The auto-tagging feature is intended to eliminate that process.

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For now, the feature will not be available on the iPhone version of the app or for Android devices, but Shazam hopes to add auto-tagging to more devices.

Aside from auto-tagging, the update to be released Thursday will give Shazam’s iPad app an entirely new look.

Currently, the company has an iPad app that is very basic and that it admits does not make proper use of the space available on tablet devices. The new design, which can be seen above, adds larger icons, more color and features that were already present on the iPhone app.

The update also adds a neat new map feature that lets users see the top 20 songs being tagged all around the globe. Users can see the top 20 songs by continent or they can zoom down to the country, state, city and even neighborhood level to see what others are tagging. This feature will also be added to the iPhone app Thursday in an update.

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