If you are a spotify user, you know what a hassle it can be to find songs, and albums to add to your Spotify library, without knowing the song title or artist. Whether you are listening to the radio in the car, hear a song in restaurant, or at a friend's house, you can instantly find that song and add it to your Spotify library. Android and iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch users can use the Shazam app to match songs they like and play them in Spotify.
Spotify can stream millions of songs.
Spotify is a music streaming service that offers over 15 million songs to play on your computer or device. You can search Spotify's massive library for songs, artists, or genres and add the songs and albums to your account's library and playlists.
While it's great that Spotify has the massive number of songs available, it begs the question, "how do I sift through all that music to find what I want?" When I chose Spotify as one of my music streaming services, I wanted to play songs I didn't have in my iTunes library.
Each Spotify user has an accout library. Spotify adds your friends (through Facebook). Their music can be added to your library—akin to the days when our friends made mix tapes that we liked and copied. But, to create a library with your favorite songs, you must search for them. Invariably, I wouldn't think of many songs that I wanted. Sometimes, I hear the song in my head, but can't think of the name or the artist.
I'm reminded of songs I like when I hear music in a restaurant, or I'm listening in my car and want to hear it again and I want to remember them to add to my Spotify library. Unless I'm listening on HD radio or Sirius Satellite Radio that display the song title and artist, I often don't know the names of songs. Plus, I usually mix up songs by Boston, Journey, Kansas or I don't know the singer or band.
Shazam identifies songs and finds them in Spotify.
The Shazam app has been the answer to identifying those songs that I hear and who sings them. Available for Android and iPhone, tap the "touch to Shazam" button in the Shazam app and it will "listen" to the song that's playing. If you're in a noisy restaurant you may need to hold your phone up near a speaker. Shazam "tags" the song, identifying the artist, song title and album. The album cover art will appear in Shazam with sharing and buying options listed below.
One option is to "Play in Spotify." Tap on it to open and switch to the Spotify app. Spotify will search for the track and find song (track) titles that match. Choose the track you want and it starts to play.
Add the song to your Spotify playlists.
When the song starts playing, tap on the "i" button. This brings up a list of options including the album name, the artist, and adding the song to a playlist. To add the song to your Spotify library tap on "add to" and choose one of your playlists. If the song doesn't fit into any of your existing playlists—it's country music and all your music has been jazz—create a new playlist. Tap the "Playlist" icon, then tap "Edit" and the plus sign. Type a name for the new playlist and tap "create."
Shazam and Spotify only work on smartphones and tablets.
There is one caveat to this cool feature. It works on your Android or iPhone, tablet or iPad, but not on the computer. Spotify is free to play on your computer, but requires a $9.99 per month premium subscription to play on your phone or tablet. It's the price you have to pay to take your music with you.
Spotify music in the mobile app is available even when you don't have cell phone coverage or WiFi. Choose a playlist and turn on "available offline" to download the music to your phone and listen anytime (as long as your subscription is current).
If you often listen to your Spotify music on your smartphone, it's best to download the songs and listen offline. Streaming music can use up a lot of your phone's data allotment.
