← Front page

Waveform: The MKBHD Podcast · Friday, July 10, 2026

Shazam vs. SoundHound: A Nostalgic Look at Song Identification

The hosts reminisce about the early days of song identification apps, comparing Shazam and SoundHound. They recall SoundHound being superior for humming or mumbling, while Shazam was better for radio hits. The conversation touches on how these features are now integrated into smartphones.

companyShazamcompanySoundHoundcompanyApplecompanyGoogle

The tape

4 quotes
I remember this is probably like almost 15 years ago. Shazam was pretty good for identifying certain songs, but SoundHound was pretty good at identifying other certain songs.
Andrew
So it's like if you knew, you knew. SoundHound is better.
Andrew
Shazam gets acquired. It's like literally built into your quick sayings on the iPhone now.
Andrew
If you have a Google phone, you can just hold the Google phone up in the air and it'll just tell you what song is playing without you even asking.
Andrew
Heard on Waveform: The MKBHD Podcast — “Nothing Beats Phone 4b with Ear 3a?, published Friday, July 10, 2026. Heardvine summarizes and quotes with attribution and timestamps, and links to the original everywhere.
Transcribed via Gemini audio transcription · $0.08
Shazam vs. SoundHound: A Nostalgic Look at Song Identification — Heardvine