This Week in Love is a series of blog posts where Sachi and I share what we love. Browse the archives and follow @weekinlove on Twitter.
This Week in Love: Shazam's LyricPlay
Over the years, Sachi and I have had an ongoing discussion about song lyrics. In general, Sachi doesn't really care about the lyrics. As long as the melody and rhythm are good, she's happy. While I appreciate those things too, I love knowing the lyrics of songs and often seek them out online. When I share them with Sachi, it usually leads to an "I had no idea!" moment.
I've always wondered why online music players or iTunes don't provide lyrics for every song. Recently we discoverd an almost perfect solution in the free Shazam Player (or the normal Shazam app), which uses a technology called LyricPlay. Lyricplay syncs songs up with lyrics that scroll on phone or tablet screen in a readable and fun format.
This video shows how it works with the normal Shazam app:
A couple of example formats:
Now, I said it's "almost perfect" and here's why. While Shazam says there are over 30,000 tracks with lyrics, we're often left wanting. The free "Shazam Player" app scans the music library on your device and tells you what songs have LyricPlay lyrics. About 40% of the songs in my phone have lyrics currently and Shazam is adding more all the time. The paid Shazam app ($5.99) will detect any song it hears (via speakers in a bar for example) and if there are lyrics, it will provide the LyricPlay option. The paid app is the only one with the ability to detect songs.
Why we love it:
We love this app because it makes listening to music a little like karaoke, with both of us able to sing along. It adds something to the experience. And Sachi gets to see the lyrics, for perhaps the first time ever.
Quick note on our policy regarding products. As always, This Week in Love is not a paid advertisement. We have no connection with the products we love. However, some products we cover may be for sale on websites like Amazon and we may use affiliate links. This means that if you click an Amazon link from this page (for instance), Amazon will know it came from our website and give us a small slice of the purchase price. We'll let you know when this is the case.
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