# "iTunes Match Ends Piracy As We Know It" - A bold statement - Is it plausible?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/itunes-match-ends-piracy-as-we-know-it-a-bold-statement-is-it-plausible/603521>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [November 20, 2011, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/itunes-match-ends-piracy-as-we-know-it-a-bold-statement-is-it-plausible/603521 "2011-11-20T04:57:18Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![JSexton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@JSexton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JSexton)\
**Post date:** [November 21, 2011, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/itunes-match-ends-piracy-as-we-know-it-a-bold-statement-is-it-plausible/603521/21 "2011-11-21T16:43:54Z")

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> [@Chronos](#):
>
> I don’t know; how does Shazam work? Other than by giving you favorable attributes of an acrostic assortment of deities, that is.

I don’t know the details, but it can listen to any portion of a song for ten seconds or so, then identify it from its database. I assume Apple is using something similar, in that it can “play” a sample of the uploaded file and match the characteristics using an algorithm like Shazam’s to ID the track.

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