Shazam and eBay have teamed up to offer Android users a nice freebie. From now until January 1, 2012, Android Shazam users can enjoy unlimited song tagging without having to buy Shazam Encore. “This is the first exclusive App sponsorship deal agreed by eBay anywhere in the world, and the first time Shazam has selected a partner to provide free services to their customers,” reads the press release. The company’s self-titled, free application gives users the ability to tag up to five songs each month, after which Shazam Encore must be purchased. “In addition, we’re pleased to offer Android Shazamers access to the Shazam Friends social feature, allowing them to share their music discoveries with their Facebook friends and family while discovering exciting new music and content themselves in a continuously updating feed.” The full press release is after the break.

Shazam Launches “Unlimited Tagging” Globally in Free App for Android

First of its Kind Sponsorship with eBay and

Facebook® Integration with Shazam Friends makes Discovering and Sharing Music Effortless

London, UK – 28 April 2011 – Shazam®, the world’s leading mobile discovery company, today announced a major update to its Shazam App for Android which brings with it two exciting new features: unlimited tagging sponsored by eBay for all Shazamers using the Shazam Free App and “Shazam Friends”, a real-time feed within the App of songs that Facebook friends have tagged, creating a continuously updating list for Shazamers to discover and share new music with their friends.

This is the first exclusive App sponsorship deal agreed by eBay anywhere in the world, and the first time Shazam has selected a partner to provide free services to their customers.

Alex Musil, Executive Vice President of Product Marketing at Shazam said, “eBay is a brand people know and love, and we’re excited to announce them as our exclusive sponsor, bringing all Android Shazamers the benefit of unlimited music discovery.” Musil continued, “In addition, we’re pleased to offer Android Shazamers access to the Shazam Friends social feature, allowing them to share their music discoveries with their Facebook friends and family while discovering exciting new music and content themselves in a continuously updating feed.”

This update of the Shazam Free App – which usually comes with five tags per month – will enable new and existing users to receive free unlimited Shazaming until January 1, 2012.

Steve Yankovich, Vice President of eBay Mobile said, “Like eBay, Shazam connects consumers with the content, products and information they want.  We are excited to sponsor Shazam’s Android App offering millions of consumers the chance to do even more of what they love, while expanding their ability to Shazam and share the music they’re most passionate about.”

Shazam Friends is easy to set up and, upon updating the App, a new “Friends” tab will appear.  Once a Shazamer logs into their Facebook account and confirms they would like to connect and share with friends, they can:

·         Browse all of their friends’ tags, watch music videos, read reviews, access biographies and get artist tour information

·         See all recent tags from a particular friend in one list

·         Add friends’ tags to their Shazam tag list

·         Purchase the track

·         Where available, use streaming services to play the song from their playlist

·         Post tags to Facebook and Twitter, add comments, and give their friends a chance to comment

·         Encourage friends to join them in using Shazam Friends

Shazam Friends is already available in both Shazam Free and Encore Apps on Apple’s iOS devices and now on Android devices. Shazamers can manage the sharing of their tags and decide to stop sharing at any time, while still being able to see their friends’ tags. For two friends to see each other’s tags, they both have to connect their Facebook accounts to Shazam.

Phandroid is reporting that Verizon Wireless has started taking shipments of the Samsung Fascinate into their distribution warehouses. The report has a screen shot of one of Verizon’s systems that has the SCH-I500 prominently displayed. The blog is speculating a September launch which, at least to us, seems accurate. As one of our readers pointed out, the MTV Music Awards (of all things) will be officially sponsored by the “Samsung Fascinate a Galaxy S phone” and “Verizon Wireless,” amongst other things. The show is set to air on September 12th and it is hard to imagine a high-profile sponsorship such as this not to coincide with a release of some sort.

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If you’re one of those people who hates it when celebrities meddle with your phones, you might want to skip this one. We’ve known for about a month now that U2 has partnered up with RIM for U2′s upcoming “U2 360″ World tour, but according to Canada’s Globe and Mail, there might just be a bit more to the RIM/U2 deal than a bunch of BlackBerry posters and SWAG at concert venues. When asked about the partnership, Bono had this to say, “I’m very excited about this. Research In Motion is going to give us what Apple wouldn’t — access to their labs and their people so we can do something really spectacular.” When asked if this meant that there is a possibility of a custom BlackBerry app that would allow the band to communicate with their BlackBerry-toting fans, Bono only responded with “you’re not far off.” Now, we’re not ones for unsubstantiated rumors at BGR, but was Bono trying to hint at a special edition BlackBerry loaded with U2 content much like 2004′s U2 Special Edition iPod? Perhaps a Product RED BlackBerry seeing as Bono was a founder of the initiative? We’re not too sure, but if all that does come out of this is a crummy app, color us unimpressed especially since there was all that talk of a “shared vision” when the partnership was announced.

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Apple and pop band U2 have long enjoyed a successful business relationship that proved to the world there is such a thing as an overwhelming display of smugness. It all started back in 2004 with the release of the iPod U2 Special Edition but now it looks like those days are over. RIM has signed on as official tour sponsor of U2′s upcoming “U2 360″ tour which will see U2 play in both Europe and North America. U2′s manager has already hailed this partnership as something that will foster a “shared vision”, but we’re not too sure we even want to know what that could possibly be.

There’s no official word yet on this one, but rumors are already circulating that John Mayer (who left Apple for a free BlackBerry Bold) is desperately trying to fill the void felt in Cupertino by winning back Apple’s heart via the sloppiest seconds the world has ever seen. Seeing as Mayer has no plans for a world tour let alone new album however, we doubt very much that Apple will take him back. Guess he’ll have to keep resorting to creative ways of earning income as the global recession has left his fanbase of pre-teens and pensioners without a penny to spare. Pitty.

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