Apple is reportedly close to buying Shazam in a deal worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

Shazam is the app that lets you not only identify (almost) any song, but also movies, TV shows and adverts, just from a snippet of audio or bit of visual info.

Sources have tipped off TechCrunch to the possible purchase, though the price being bandied about is varying quite a bit.

One figure being quoted is $400 million (£300 million), less than half the supposed $1bn plus valuation that was spoken about back in 2015.

It's claimed that the deal will be signed by the end of play this week and announced as early as Monday – though they have loaded that claim with caveats.

Apple is seemingly looking to continue to expand via acquisitions following the launch of the iPhone X and iPhone 8 earlier this year.

Earlier this year the company was reported to be considering buying Disney for a sum in excess of $200 billion.

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Shazam has been available since 2002, in the pre-smartphone era, and was restricted to helping users identify songs.

Pre-apps, people would dial 2580 while holding their phone to the music, and would get a text telling them the name of the song and artist.

It joined the app era in 2008, and in 2011 its functionality was extended to cover TV shows and adverts. It even launched a built-in music player in 2014.

That feature brought deeper integration with popular streaming services, allowing subscribers to play tagged songs instantly without leaving the app.

Shazam teamed up with loads of celebs in 2015 to allow users to see what music their favourite artists were tagging.


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