Shazam

Last.fm is really handy for finding new music, and Shazam is great for finding information on that great song you just heard for the first time. Separately, they are essential for any music lover. Now they're becoming even better by joining forces and crossing functionality. Shazam has just updated both Shazam Encore [App Store, $4.99] and (SHAZAM)RED [App Store, $4.99] to incorporate features from Last.fm for songs you tag.

Shazam has announced that they are joining product (RED) with the release of (Shazam)RED [App Store, $4.99], which will donate 20% of the purchase price of the app (a little less than $1) of the proceeds to the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. As part of the (RED) brand family of products, it dons the (RED) logo, name, and color, joining the likes of Apple, Nike and others.

Shazam Entertainment today announced the availability of a paid version of their wildly successful Shazam application. For those who don't know, Shazam allows you to identify music as its playing using your iPhone or iPod touch's microphone. Shazam Encore [App Store, $4.99] includes several enhancements over the free version such as improved tagging speed, music recommendations, and search. One very cool new feature is the ability to see the top tracks being identified by Shazam.

The company also notes that they will continue to support the original free version of Shazam [App Store], although it will be limited to five tags per month. Current users of the free version will not have a limit.

Shazam [App Store] announced yesterday that new partnerships with record labels promise to increase their music database from 6 million tracks to 8 million. The application, which is the fourth most downloaded App Store app, picks up music over the iPhone's built-in speaker and identifies the artist name, song title, album title, artist bio and a purchase link.