According to Bloomberg, Apple is working on adding a song identification feature as a new addition for iOS 8. They want to partner with Shazam to allow users to quickly identify songs that they hear on the radio, TV, or out and about.
Shazam is one of several apps offering sound recognition technology, the other prominent one being SoundHound. They use the user’s microphone to record short clips of a song, and then match that to a database. After it’s identified, the user is offered links to buy the track and information like lyrics.
Shazam is one of the most advanced recognition services with support for recognizing television shows. This would make it very appealing for Apple, which may be working on adding extra identification features to iOS.
If Apple were able to offer a song identification option, it could then link to the track on iTunes. It’s been reported that Apple is planning to revamp the iTunes music store to boost falling digital music sales.
If this is a feature that iOS 8 will include, we’ll likely hear about it during the annual Worldwide Developers Conference on June 2.
