iPhone App Reviews

Q&F: Boombox

Chrisa | Jan 22, 2009 Music, Quick & Free, Utilities

User rating: (7 votes, average: 4.29 out of 5)

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If you’re an old fart like I am, you remember those days in the 70′s, when guys with big hair carried around enormous boom boxes on their shoulders blasting Kool & The Gang loud enough to deafen a small child six blocks away.  Well, Gorloch Interactive has done a pretty slammin’ job of taking the feeling of the boom box and squishing it into a nice little application that streams pretty much any song you could ever ask for from blip.fm.

Now, I have what I like to call eclectic taste in music.  So imagine how thrilled I was to find both the latest from Red Jumpsuit Apparatus as well as that Glen Campbell classic “Witchita Lineman” both available!  Not only is the music library vast, but the user can select songs found and create their own playlist.  If you like the song well enough to want it around all the time, a handly little “$” button will take you to the iTunes store to purchase the song.

There are a few little irriatations that didn’t really take away from my fondness of Boombox.  First, you have to be connected to WiFi for it to work, even if you’re a 3G iPhone user.  Ok, I get that one, and I can let that slide.  There’s also no way to move to the next song, or back to the last, but the developer says that’s in version 1.1, soon to be available.

Besides that, I’d say Boombox is exactly what I look for in a free application (did I mention, it’s FREE?) – it’s useful as well as entertaining.

I just love the little equalizer.

Tags: internet radio, Music, Quick & Free, Utilities

Q&F: Concert Vault

Michael (Admin) | Jan 19, 2009 Music, Quick & Free

User rating: (6 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5)

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FREEBIRD!!!! Admit it, you used to yell it every time you drove to a concert in your Camaro with your jeans jacket and Bic lighter. And you had a huge mullet. You used to be COOL! But you still dig live music and that’s what Concert Vault is all about: live recordings of mostly long-gone, but often legendary, music acts.

You won’t find anything made this century in the collection of concerts that Wolfgang’s Vault has put together, but if your radio is always tuned to the local classic rock station you’ll probably get a lot of listening time out of this app. Led Zeppelin, Fleetwood Mac, Crosby Stills & Nash… that’s the kind of thing you’ll find here. There’s even some 80s rock including Motley Crüe and Bon Jovi! And Rick Astley (huh?). And for you Deadheads, there’s a LOT of Dead available, over 20 live shows. Sorry, no Phish. And if you’re looking for Cheap Trick’s “Live at Budokan” you won’t find that either because most of the shows available seem to be from more obscure dates, but they’re still quality shows all the same.

You have to create an account which can be done in-app, but after that you’re looking at a pretty good collection of live concert recordings. You can mark concerts as Favorites, search artists, browse several different categories, and there are even a few “radio stations” that are really just big playlists of stuff you probably haven’t heard in many years. Apparently you can also create your own playlists, but I can’t seem to figure out how to do that.

Concert Vault is different from other internet radio apps in that it’s truly a “vault”, kind of like your iPod… if you find something you like, you can go back and listen to it over and over again, and it’s always there. Depending on your tastes the music selection might seem limited, but even so there’s plenty to like about this app, and the price is right! Go get it and start rocking out. Now.

A lot of Concert Vault's artists are dead or retired, but a few are still kicking

Tags: free, internet radio

Q&F: Audiogasm

Michael (Admin) | Jan 13, 2009 Music, Quick & Free

User rating: (4 votes, average: 4.50 out of 5)

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Ooohhh baby… it’s Audiogasm! Great name for an app, and the app itself isn’t too bad either.

Audiogasm is a visualization thingy just like you’ll find in most desktop media players. It reacts to sounds picked up by the iPhone’s mic and creates all kinds of crazy animated patterns in response. Shake the iPhone to change the animation and swipe a finger across the screen to take a screenshot of it.

It’s a pretty cool app that we all knew someone would create eventually… in fact, there are a few different visualizers available in the iTunes App Store right now. Unfortunately they all share one major shortcoming that the developers don’t have any control over: they can’t play visualizations while the iPod is running! Yeah that blows. Blame it on the device, blame it on Apple, but you really can’t blame TMSOFT. They want the app to be able to rock with the iPod but it’s just not technically possible, and they say this right upfront in their app description.

Audiogasm is currently “free for a limited time!” so if you like zoning out to psychedelic patterns while your non-iPod music is blaring, go get it. The visualizations are pretty cool and very responsive so even the most discerning stoner should be able to enjoy it.

Whoa dude that's a trippy phone you got there

Tags: free, strictly visual

Q&F: Greater Media Christmas Channel

Michael (Admin) | Dec 11, 2008 Music, Quick & Free

User rating: (2 votes, average: 2.00 out of 5)

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The Greater Media Christmas Channel touts itself as a “great mix of holiday favorites with a Jersey flavor”. Wow… Jersey flavor!! I have no idea what the hell that is, but if you’re looking for an all-Christmas-all-the-time internet radio station, this oughta do it.

The sound quality may not be the greatest, but Quick Bridge Solutions is giving it away for nothing and it seems to be commercial-free except for occasional station announcements in between songs. If you find yourself trapped at your awkwardly-silent office holiday party, whip out this app and see if you can liven things up a bit.

Willie Nelson sings Christmas! Proof positive that this app delivers variety

Tags: Christmas, free

iKoto

Michael (Admin) | Nov 7, 2008 Music

User rating: (1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

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I’m not Japanese, and I have no musical talent whatsoever… but iKoto is a pretty kickass iPhone instrument.

Says Wikipedia, the ‘koto’ is the national instrument of Japan and was invented like 1,600 years ago. It’s really freakin’ old. iKoto puts a virtual koto on your iPhone that you can play pretty much any way you like. Tap the strings one by one, tap several at once, or run your fingers up and down it like a harp.

I can’t really comment too much on the sound quality because I’ve never played a koto before, but it sounds really Japanese! I mean, it sounds very familiar, like I’ve heard this instrument many times over the years in movie soundtracks and whatnot, so I’m guessing the sound reproduction is pretty accurate.

The most impressive thing about iKoto, though, is the recording option. You can press record, rock out on the strings, and then replay what you just did… and the recording will still be there for replay later on if you exit the app. There’s also an option to let iKoto play a sample song if you’re a talentless hack.

The only thing that’s missing from this app is the ability to save and email your recorded mini-concerts. If it could do that I think it would go a long way towards encouraging people to really practice and try to gain some competence on this instrument.

I think this app qualifies as a “must have” if you already know how to play the koto. If you’ve never touched one of these things before but you’ve got some musical ability and want to give it a try, $.99 is a very small price to pay.

Tags: $.99

Shazam

Michael (Admin) | Aug 2, 2008 Music

User rating: (37 votes, average: 3.08 out of 5)

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There’s a reason Shazam has 4.5 stars after 1,880 reviews… it kicks ass! We’ve all been in the situation that Shazam is designed to remedy: you’re in a bar or a store or maybe you’re just driving along in your car and you hear a song. You love this song but you have no idea what it’s called or who sings it, and neither do any of the knuckleheads you’re with.

Back in the Stone Age (a couple months ago) you would have spent the next few days humming the song for your friends while they look at you like you’re an idiot, but now all you have to do is whip out your iPhone in mid-song, launch Shazam, tap on “Tag Now”, and wait for it to tell you the artist, song title, album, genre, and it also displays the album cover. It might even find you the music video on YouTube! And of course you can buy the song from iTunes.

Shazam is one of the few apps that belongs on every single iPhone on the planet. It may not recognize 100% of the music you throw at it, but my unscientific estimate is that it’ll tell you what you want to know about 80-90% of the time if what you’re listening to has ever been released on a semi-major record label. It’s even pretty good at sniffing out more obscure titles, but the more obscure the more hit-or-miss your experience will be.

If you listen to music and don’t have this app yet, go get it right now. Seriously, go. Now!

P.S. A little tip: There’s no way to mass-delete tags, so if you want to delete them quickly without opening every single one, just swipe your thumb left-to-right under the time in My Tags. This will bring up a red delete button, but be careful because it doesn’t ask you “are you sure” before deleting.

Tags: free, Music