7. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions for identifying an audio content sample, the instructions which when executed by a processor cause the processor to: monitor a plurality of broadcast stations, fingerprint and save the fingerprints of broadcast audio content in a database of unidentified broadcast content as it is received; access playlists, comprising portions of identified broadcast audio content from the plurality of monitored broadcast stations, and fingerprints corresponding to the identified broadcast audio content; receive data representing sampled audio content from a portable device and search for a match between fingerprints of the sampled audio content and the fingerprints corresponding to at least parts of multiple playlists, further including: upon finding a fingerprint match against the fingerprints corresponding to a particular playlist for a particular monitored broadcast station, report the particular monitored broadcast station as a source of the sampled audio content, and identification of the sampled audio content back to the portable device; and upon not finding a fingerprint match against the fingerprints corresponding to any of the multiple playlists, further search for a match the fingerprints of sampled audio content, against at least one of: parts of the database of unidentified broadcast content from the monitored broadcast stations, to identify a source of the sampled audio content; and a reference database of identified audio content not associated with a particular broadcast station, to identify the sampled audio content; and report back to the portable device at least one of the source of the sampled audio content and the identity of the sampled audio content.
7. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions for identifying an audio content sample, the instructions which when executed by a processor cause the processor to: monitor a plurality of broadcast stations, fingerprint and save the fingerprints of broadcast audio content in a database of unidentified broadcast content as it is received; access playlists, comprising portions of identified broadcast audio content from the plurality of monitored broadcast stations, and fingerprints corresponding to the identified broadcast audio content; receive data representing sampled audio content from a portable device and search for a match between fingerprints of the sampled audio content and the fingerprints corresponding to at least parts of multiple playlists, further including: upon finding a fingerprint match against the fingerprints corresponding to a particular playlist for a particular monitored broadcast station, report the particular monitored broadcast station as a source of the sampled audio content, and identification of the sampled audio content back to the portable device; and upon not finding a fingerprint match against the fingerprints corresponding to any of the multiple playlists, further search for a match the fingerprints of sampled audio content, against at least one of: parts of the database of unidentified broadcast content from the monitored broadcast stations, to identify a source of the sampled audio content; and a reference database of identified audio content not associated with a particular broadcast station, to identify the sampled audio content; and report back to the portable device at least one of the source of the sampled audio content and the identity of the sampled audio content. 10. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 7 , wherein: the monitoring of at least one broadcast station relies on a web-based feed that is delayed from an over-the-air feed from the same broadcast station; and matching the fingerprints of the sampled audio content against one or more playlists for the at least one monitored broadcast station is limited by a predetermined delay bound.