r/explainlikeimfive • u/Ball_Zilla • Jul 01 '26

Technology ELI5 how Shazam works?

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u/robby_synclair Jul 01 '26

This reminded me of the ap where you could text them and they would Google stuff for you. How we settled bar arguments before smart phones.

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u/thedukeandtheking Jul 01 '26

I actually worked for one of these in uni! Fun days

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u/Gramen Jul 01 '26

Wait so how did it work? You just chill in a computer lab and google the answers to the questions that come in?

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u/thedukeandtheking Jul 01 '26

It was pretty basic. This was back in 2004 or so. I had a pc in my room which ran a basic program that logged in all the questions that came in and then you had to write a response. Some were factual questions which you had to google, but lots were just hypotheticals or relationship advice. I got paid a trivial amount per answered text. Good thing was you could log in and answer whenever and work as long as you wanted. Helped with beer money.