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Ever heard a song in public that was so good you scrambled to write the lyrics down? Sometimes, you just can't scribble them down in time and never figure out what it was — it's heartbreaking.

Shazam is a useful app that makes sure that won't happen to you again. It can identify not only songs but advertisements, TV shows, and movies from a brief audio sample.

If you absolutely have to know what's playing, whip out your smartphone, open Shazam and tap the icon on the screen. The app will "listen" and once the app recognizes the song, you can follow the lyrics in real time. Shazam is available for iOS and Android.

You can also connect Shazam to your Spotify account. That way, Spotify will quickly add a song to a Shazam playlist or you explore more songs by the same artist. Connecting the two apps only takes only a few steps.

Once you've connected your accounts, Shazam can start adding discovered songs to a Shazam playlist. You will need both apps downloaded onto your phone or device to make the connection.

1. Open your Shazam app. On iOS, swipe up the tab at the bottom of the screen and on Android, swipe left to the Library tab.

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2. Tap the gear icon in the upper left corner.

3. Under "Streaming," you'll see an option to connect to Spotify (iOS and Android). Tap "Connect."

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4. Allow Shazam to open Spotify.

5. Tap "Agree." You'll be allowing Shazam to view your Spotify account data and activity, and create or edit playlists. You can remove this access at any time, but it's good to review these terms for your own knowledge.

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6. The app will ask you to automatically sync your discoveries to a "My Shazam Tracks" playlist.

7. Tap "OK" or "Got it."

You can find the resulting Shazam-centric playlist, "My Shazam Tracks," in the playlists section of the "Your Library" tab in the Spotify app. 

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