While the iPhone Remote app from Apple is very cool, I just found an app that will blow your mind. Shazam (iTunes link), is equal parts magic/mystery as it is useful.

There’s nothing worse than catching a song on the radio and not knowing who performs it and the title of the song. Shazam aims to answer both those questions with about 15 seconds of your time. The only thing you need is your iPhone, the song playing, and some type of network connection (Edge, 3G, or Wi-Fi).

The first time you launch Shazam you’ll see the welcome screen. Click the Tag Now button and hold your iPhone microphone near the music source. Shazam will listen to about 15 seconds of the song and send the data to their servers. Within a matter of seconds, the application will show you what it thinks you are listening to.

I’ve tried 11 songs and Shazam has identified 9 of them correctly. 10 of those songs were playing in iTunes on my computer while the other was on the radio. Based on my tests the accuracy is pretty good. Some of the songs were live versions of the song and it accurately named the song, though not the exact version of the song. The song tagged from the radio didn’t even have any words during the part when I used Shazam. Other than the Allman Brothers and Ozzy Osbourne, the other artist were not exactly mainstream. The two song Shazam didn’t identify was a song by Will Hoge and a live version of the Airport Song by Guster.

Shazam will keep a running list of the songs it has identified. Just click the My Tags button and you’ll see a list of the songs and the album it belongs to. In addition to keeping a list of the songs it has identified, you can also directly purchase the song from the iTunes Wi-Fi music store. Just click the iTunes link under the More Tag Options header. You might notice several links under that section, just click one until you’re taken to the correct song in iTunes. On my example Black Keys song, there were three iTunes link and only one of them worked.

I can see people using this at a party to see who can stump Shazam. It truly is an amazing piece of software. I’m really amazed at how fast it returns the results. If you’re into music and find yourself wondering who performs that song on the radio, Shazam just might tell you.