How To: Get the Google Ears Song Search Widget on Your Android Device

Having the ability to decipher any song that plays over the radio or during a commercial is a must for any music-loving fiend. That's what made Shazam so popular.

Well, the Google team took a few notes from Shazam and created their Google Ears widget for Android devices. The widget listens to the song that is playing and provides the album image, song name, and a link to the song in the Google Play Store, making it easy to get the tunes you want right away.

Google Ears is available on most devices running Jelly Bean 4.1 or higher, but it has been blocked in certain regions. You also won't have it if you've got Ice Cream Sandwich or lower. But, you can have Google Ears anyways, and you don't even need to root your device!

Thanks to some devs over at XDA-Developers, the .apk files are available and can be installed hassle-free. You can download the regular or transparent ones using the links below.

• Google Ears APK
• Google Ears Transparent APK

Just Push the .apk to system/app, fix permissions (rw-r--r--), and reboot your device.

For international users, the process is slightly tweaked. You may have to move and delete some files, but it has been confirmed to work. Check out this this post for more information and troubleshooting tips.

The full version of Shazam is $5.99 in the Google Play Store, which makes this widget even better.