I’m going to be mentioned

I heard of this when it launched, but didn’t sign up for it as I was hugely sceptical about the whole thing. So I gave it a go tonight, setting myself the challenge of defeating it with my eclectic musical tastes!

First track: Empty Words by Andrea Parker. Thought this would challenge it, but it grabbed it straight away. Damn. Shazam 1 Me 0.

Next up: The Less You Have, The More You Are by Metrotone. OK, so I’m not really playing fair here and sure enough, Shazam was defeated.

So to be more even handed, I gave it a go at a track from BBC Radio 1: The Vines cover of Miss Jackson, which it failed to identify, in spite of good sound quality and putting my phone right under the speaker. I think it should have got this, as all the kids listen to The Vines – don’t they? (It turns out that the track has not yet been released.)

Next: a trip down to my favourite bar, Woodies. It certainly makes a talking point, and when Shazam correctly identified Wake Up Everybody by Rae and Christian and then One Nation Under A Groove by Funkadelic, everyone was impressed, although there was quite a delay between tagging the song and the text message arriving. A trip next door to the Nag’s Head showed a weakness of the concept, however. The old thick brick walls at the Nags meant no mobile signal = no Shazam.

So, overall, 3 songs tagged correctly out of five. Not bad.

Aside from all that, registering for the service was very quick and easy, and you are given the chance not to opt in to their mailing lists. My biggest worry – it’s a bit tempting to use this service a lot, and at 50 pence a go (about 75 US cents) it would very easy to rack up a large bill (especially after a few beers!).