If you want to listen to music on your iOS device, then Apple has some built-in equalizer (EQ) settings within the Music section of your Settings that you can play with.

These EQ settings allow you to select from a range of presets, like 'Acoustic' and 'Classical' or make simple tweaks, like 'Reduce Bass'. You can find out everything you need to know about how to use them in our how to adjust EQ (your music equalizer) on your iPhone or iPad guide.

However, Apple's settings only work with Apple Music and offer limited features – presets only go so far. So if you're looking for ultimate customization and want more control of how your music sounds through your favorite pair of headphones or earbuds, then you should consider a third-party EQ adjusting app for your iPhone and iPad filled with even more options.

We've tested many of the best EQ apps on the market and below you'll find our top recommendations for the best EQ adjusting apps for your iPhone and iPad. 

Our top picks of the best EQ adjusting apps for iPhone and iPad 

• Boom
• Equalizer - Bass Booster
• Evermusic Pro
• Equalizer Fx
• Flacbox: FLAC Player Equalizer
• Razer Opus

Boom

Boom is one of the best EQ adjusting apps on iPhone and iPad. I use Boom on my Macs to get the best sound, and it's also a great option for the iOS platform as well.

With Boom, you get a bass booster as well as a 16-band equalizer and handcrafted presets. You can even create 3D surround sound, which works with any pair of headphones. There are 29 handcrafted EQ presets, including Dubstep, pop, and so much more — no matter what kind of music you're into, one of these presets is sure to amp it up! But if the presets aren't your thing, you have 16 different bands that you can fine tune to your own liking.

Boom works with your current music library, or you can stream Spotify or TIDAL through it as well. The app also has access to over 40,000 radio stations and podcasts too, if that's your jam. The interface for Boom is beautiful, and the app itself is just super easy to use.

The initial download of Boom gets you a 7-day free trial. After the trial is up, you'll have to get a subscription to continue enjoying unrestricted access to all features, which starts at $3 a month, or $15 annually. There is also a lifetime pack that costs $40.

Equalizer - Bass Booster

With Equalizer: Bass Booster, your perception of music on your iPhone or iPad can change! While it doesn't quite match up with what Boom offers, you can still get a 10-band custom equalizer and 16 presets, with the option to create and save your very own custom settings for quick access.

Some of the other useful features of Equalizer include independent equalizer amplifiers for low bass and high treble frequencies. There are even separate settings for Hi-End or Hi-Fi audio equipment, if that's what you're looking for.

Like other apps, Equalizer has a premium version that you can unlock via a subscription ($5 a month or $30 annually) or as a one-time $41 in-app purchase. Premium features include 2x presets, 3D sound, reverberation effects, bass boost, and more.

Evermusic Pro

For those who are looking for an EQ adjusting app that also doubles as a standalone music player, then Evermusic Pro is the one for you.

With Evermusic Pro, you can download your music library directly into the app for offline listening. Evermusic Pro supports the most popular audio formats, including: MP3, AAC, M4A, WAV, AIFF, and M4R. With your music in Evermusic Pro, you can upload them to its own cloud service and free up some space on your iPhone, which is a bonus.

As far as EQ adjustments go, Evermusic Pro has its own built-in equalizer with presets for the most popular music genres. If there isn't a preset for your preferred genre, then you can create your own preset with the manual equalizer settings, and change the preamplifier gain if you require the music to be louder.

This one is definitely more of a music player than equalizer, but it gives you options.

Equalizer Fx

When you want a simple EQ adjusting app that does a little more than the native iOS one, then you download Equalizer Fx. This app lets you improve your music or audio quality easily.

With Equalizer Fx, you get a variety of equalizer presets based on music genre, or you can customize your own using the 7-band equalizer controller. And if you want more bass? No problem! There's a few bass boosting effects, DJ transitions, over eight gorgeous EQ visualizations, and more. You can also access your cloud music library and play offline, so it's even useful when you have no internet access.

Flacbox: FLAC Player Equalizer

Have a lot of music in various audio formats? Flacbox should be able to handle it with no problem — this app can and will open almost any audio file on your iPhone or iPad.

Flacbox allows you to play your music directly from your cloud storage (all popular services supported), home computer, external flash card (if supported with an accessory), or you can download your songs for offline playback. The professional equalizer in Flacbox has several different built-in presets, or you can customize them and create your own for your music. There is also a preamplifier gain setting if the music isn't as loud as you'd like it to be.

Razer Opus

If you have the Razer Opus headset, then you should definitely have the Razer Opus app on your iPhone or iPad. The Razer Opus app helps you get the most out of your Opus headset by changing the EQ modes that it currently uses. There are five presets: THX (default), Amplified, Vocal, Enhanced Bass, and Enhanced Clarity. You can fine tune each preset setting to your desired preferences, and even control the auto-pause and auto-off functions of the headset itself.

How to choose the best EQ streaming apps for iPhone and iPad

If you use Apple Music and only want to customize your music a little, then you'll be fine with Apple's built-in EQ settings. However, if you're an audiophile and want ultimate control of your music, or use a streaming service other than Apple Music, you'll need one of the best EQ settings apps in our list above.

There are a few key things to consider when you're picking out the best EQ app for you. The first is integration with streaming services. If you're a die-hard Spotify fan, you'll need to make sure it's supported by your EQ app. 

You may also want to consider whether you simply want more presets than Apple offers or control over customizing each and every aspect of them. Finally, EQ apps support different file formats, so be sure to check that the resolution and quality you're after is covered by your new app. 

Other ways to make the most of your music on iPhone and iPad

Below you'll find a selection of links to guides, how-tos and best of lists that'll help you make the most of the music on your Apple device.

Apple

• Spatial audio in AirPods Pro
• Noise app and hearing damage
• How to EQ on iPhone
• Apps for EQing
• Fake AirPods
• Should iPhone users buy Pixel Buds?
• Should iPhone users buy Microsoft Surface Buds?

Android

• Android Central's favorite headphones
• How little can you spend on earbuds and still enjoy them?
• Are AirPods good for Android?
• Spatial audio and Android is here
• EQ settings for Android
• Earbuds are changing how we consume audio

Windows

• Windows Central's favorite headphones
• AirPods and Windows
• Headphones for PC gaming
• Should PC owners buy Pixel Buds?
• Should PC owners buy Galaxy Buds+?
• Should PC owners buy AirPods?
• How to pick the right Xbox headphones

Remote video/audio

• Headphones for Zoom
• Headphones for Skype
• The definitive headphones for students

Comparisons

• Apple AirPods vs. Surface Earbuds
• Surface Earbuds vs. Galaxy Buds Plus
• Surface Headphones vs. Earbuds
• Bluetooth vs. wired
• 10 underrated features to look for when buying headphones

Today, Apple launched the latest version of GarageBand for Mac, the company's popular music creation program. However, it's more than just a few bug fixes: GarageBand 10.3 is chock full of awesome new stuff, including free Artist Lessons, new loops, and more.

Sound-wise, GarageBand now features 1,000 (yes, 1,000) new electronic and urban loops overing Reggaeton, Future Bass, and Chill Rap, allowing you to more easily achieve the vibe you're looking for. If you're in the market for more weird sound effects (because, let's face it, there are only so many times you can incorporate the loon), Apple has added 400 new animal, machine, and voice samples. There are also two new Drummers that play in Roots and Jazz-influenced brush styles, and if you prefer to take the drumming into your own hands, you can now play and record using more traditional instruments from China and Japan like the incredibly cool Taiko drum. And, for those of you out there who wanna get real King Crimson with it, there are even five vintage Mellotron patches you can work in.

Arguably, though, the best thing about today's release is that users can get access to GarageBand's entire library of downloadable Artist Lessons for everyone's favorite price: free. If you've never checked them out before, Artist Lessons are tutorials in which the actual artists behind hit songs show you how to play them on piano and guitar, and they used to cost a whopping $4.99 a pop. Now though, you can learn all the intricacies of "Roxanne" from Sting himself without needing to shell out a single dime. Ah, the future.

Apple also noted that 10.3 updates compatibility with the iOS version of GarageBand, as well as providing a few stability improvements.

So, are you ready to be the next vaporwave phenomenon? If so, you can download GarageBand for free (if you don't have it already) by clicking on the link below. If you do already have GarageBand on your Mac, the update is free as well, and should happen automatically unless you have automatic updates disabled.

• GarageBand - Free - Download now

Thoughts?

What do you think of the additions to GarageBand? Share your favorite new features with us in the comments below. And, if you want, send a tweet our way sharing a song you've created using the app!

It's not often you come across really rad smart music accessories, and the Spire Studio is a breath of fresh air and a humongous step in the right direction for the future of mobile recording. Stop recording sloppy demos with your iPhone's microphone and check out the Spire Studio. Just be prepared to fork over some dough (especially in Canada — yikes!).

See at Spire

A studio in the palm of your hands

That's a literal statement. Think of a pack of rewritable CDs you can buy at any electronics store. That's basically the size of the Spire Studio, but the Spire's diameter is even smaller, so it really fits in the palm of your hand. It's magnificent what such a small thing can do. And, you just have to charge it up and you have yourself a cable-free mobile studio, so you can take it to the park or wherever your travels may lead you, and it'll work for 4 to 6 hours, promises iZotope.

You have everything you need to start recording: two rear inputs that double as XLR and quarter-inch jacks (including phantom power for your mics that need it), simple record and play buttons, a "Soundcheck" button, a "New Song" button, and a headphone volume button.

Download the Spire app for iPhone (sorry, Android users, including myself), connect to your Spire via Wi-Fi, and you're ready to go. The best part is that, if you've forgotten your phone, you can just record right to the Spire, and it'll sync up with the app the next time you connect. That's gold, Jerry. Gold.

How it works

The Spire is about as straightforward as you could hope. You quite literally turn it on, and hit record. Or, you turn it on, connect with the app, and hit record. That's really all you need to know to get started. The built-in microphone is excellent. I recorded acoustic guitar, vocals, and even drums, and they all sounded great. Thanks to the magical Soundcheck button, your levels are automatically set — you hit the button, play for 10 seconds, and boom. You can also manually set your levels, which I actually liked a little better for drums, but do what sounds best to you. I was actually very pleasantly surprised by how well the Spire balanced out the drum kit, and there was virtually no clipping — and that's in an echoey, unfinished basement at that.

You'll probably want your own metronome if you want to record to a click track with drums (or an awesome pair of noise-isolating headphones), but other than that, it works well.

You can record up to eight tracks in a single session, so you can lay down drums, then plug in headphones to lay down guitar and bass, and then do up your vocals. I like recording acoustic guitar and vocals the best. Hit the soundcheck button, play and sing a bit together, and it ends up perfectly balanced — it's glorious.

You can add recording effects before you hit record to change the shape of your sound, and if you're plugging electric guitars in directly, you have your choice of a couple amps, where can alter tremolo, reverb, brightness, and other cool settings.

The "Acoustic Shaper" effect is pretty awesome, adding a lovely, almost haunting reverb, which you can crank or turn down to your pleasure. I did a quick cover of "Ache With Me" by Against Me! and was able to get that cool, reverby "ch-ah" breath sound with it. It's cool enough when you can record your own rough songs ideas on the fly, but when you can do covers and actually full-on emulate recordings, that's rad as hell.

Electric guitar is a bit of a sticking point for me when it comes to the Spire. I first tried with my Epiphone ES-339, which has two humbucking pickups, and even clean it was too much for the Spire (even after using the Soundcheck setting). It was a little overblown and distorted.

I then tried my American Standard Strat, which has humbuckers on the bridge, and clean was gorgeous, even with the tone switch in fourth position, and I even added the Hot Tubes side of my EHX Hot Wax overdrive pedal, and that wasn't too bad, but once I kicked in the Crayon side and added more distortion, the signal was fully distorted. I also tried to get a dirty sound with my Super Badass distrotion from Dunlop, and that signal was also overblown, even after soundchecking and turning down the volume knob on my strat.

So I'd say stick with delay, trem, and other non-distorting effects pedals if you don't want a muddy tone. Or, even better, just plug in a microphone and mic your amp instead.

A solid app with a couple caveats

The Spire app is wonderfully straightforward and makes excellent use of 3D Touch. When you're trimming a track, if you firmly press the slider, it'll play the part of the track you're at, so you can trim with precision. The only downside is that you can't slide the tracks at all, so if you're recording multiple tracks, you'll want to get things perfectly in time (where the metronome feature comes in handy!).

The other minor annoyance is the inability to listen to audio from your iPhone when you're recording with the Spire unit itself. Say you'd rather lay down drums after your record guitars — you'd have to plug headphones into the Spire unit in order to hear playback. It can be done; it's just a little cumbersome.

The Mix section is really cool, since you can mix each track the way you'd like it, and even set the fade right or left. You just can't adjust the mix for certain parts of each track; you set the level for a particular track, and that's how it's set for the whole song. That being said, if you export individual tracks to another program, you can adjust them there. The Spire is really about just getting your ideas down to turn them into perfection later on.

Sharing is caring and easy as pie

One of the best features of the Spire Studio is just how easy it is to share your recorded projects. You can simply AirDrop your stuff right from the iPhone app to your Mac, which is ridiculously convenient, or you can email files, send them as texts, send 'em straight to social media or SoundCloud, and even export the individual tracks to work on them after in GarageBand or wherever you like to tweak your music. That makes the the Spire the perfect demo tool.

Celebrity endorsements

I don't usually care to much when a celebrity hypes a product — they're usually paid quite well, and I don't tend to trust anyone's opinion when money's involved.

That being said, one of my absolute favorite musicians (Laura Jane Grace of Against Me!) recorded a fun song using a Spire Studio, and I'd be lying if I said that didn't make me want a Spire of my own just a little bit. Check out "Park Life Forever" in Spire's video below. It's a fun behind-the-scenes look at Laura Jane recording using the Spire, while chatting about the tune's inspiration. "Park Life Forever" is a far cry from "Baby, I'm an Anarchist," but it's a cute, happy way to showcase the Spire's spur-of-the-moment spirit.

And here's the full making of video, where you can watch Grace record the whole tune:

If that's not the most wholesome thing you've seen today, then I don't know what is.

How much?

For $349 US, you get a full-on studio that fits in your backpack. Edit on the fly, record, effects, the works. The app is free to download as well. It just sucks living in Canada right now, where this thing costs me upwards of $500. I feel like that's a bit of a tall order, but if you're a serious musician, then it's likely worth it to you.

Should you buy it? Hell yes

The longer I play with the Spire Studio, the more I absolutely love it. It's incredibly convenient when you have a random idea for a tune and you can just go grab it, pick up an acoustic guitar, and lay it down on the fly. No need to plug it in (provided it's charged), no need to turn on a computer, hell no need to even pick up your phone if you don't want to add any effects or anything. Just soundcheck, play, boom.

If you want a super convenient way to do up demos and even create full songs, with built-in effects, mixing, and more, then yes, you should pick up a Spire Studio for yourself. It's convenient, multi-faceted, and just as great as you'd hope.

See at Spire

Apple Music debuted a new set of social features alongside the launch of iOS 11, which allow you to more easily share the music you love with other Apple Music users. When you first set up your profile, maybe you decided to share everything with anyone who wanted to follow you, but now some time has passed and you've grown a bit more selective. Apple Music has a couple of options for making your account more private.

Here's how you control the privacy of your Apple Music account.

• How to make your Apple Music account private
• How to keep your Apple Music listening history private

How to make your Apple Music account private

These steps allow you to share what music you're listening to and the playlists you've created, but only with people that you specifically choose.

1. Open Apple Music.
2. Tap For You.
3. Tap your avatar in the upper-right corner.

4. Tap Edit.
5. Tap People You Approve under Who Can Follow Your Activity.
6. Tap Done.

How to keep your Apple Music listening history private

This option lets you share your personal playlists and view the music other people have been listening to without exposing your own listening habits to others.

1. Open Apple Music.
2. Tap For You.
3. Tap your avatar in the upper right corner.

4. Tap Edit.
5. Flip the Listening To switch to the 'off' position.
6. Tap Done.

Questions

If you've got any other questions about the privacy of your Apple Music account, put them in the comments.

You can add more tracks and instruments to your Music Memos by sending them directly to GarageBand or Logic Pro X. You can also share tracks with friends through email or upload them to your iTunes library, SoundCloud, and YouTube. Just follow these simple steps.

How to export tracks to GarageBand, SoundCloud, and YouTube in Music Memos for iPhone

Apple made it easy to send your song ideas directly to more robust music editing apps, like GarageBand. You can also share your Music Memos to the world via SoundCloud and YouTube.

1. Tap the File icon at the top center of the screen, or swipe up from the bottom of the screen.
2. Tap on the track you want to export.
3. Tap the track again.

4. Tap the Share icon in the upper right corner of the screen. This will open the share sheet at the bottom of the screen.
5. Swipe through the upper row of app icons until you see the one you wish to use.
6. Tap the app icon to export your track and open that app.

Once the app is opened, you can proceed with the action you wish, like adding tracks in GarageBand, adding a summary in SoundCloud, or making a video clip in YouTube.

How to save tracks to Dropbox, iTunes library, and iCloud Drive in Music Memos for iPhone

You can save tracks to a variety of cloud storage services in order to access them from anywhere, including your Mac so you can further edit them with professional mixing programs like Logic Pro X.

1. Tap the File icon at the top center of the screen, or swipe up from the bottom of the screen.
2. Tap on the track you want to export.
3. Tap the track again.

4. Tap the Share icon in the upper right corner of the screen. This will open the share sheet at the bottom of the screen.
5. Swipe through the lower row of sharing options (e.g. Save to Dropbox) until you see to where you want to save your track.
6. Tap the app to which you want to save to open it and save the track there.

When your tracks are saved in a cloud storage service, you'll be able to access them from any device at any time.

How to share tracks with with Messages, Email, and more in Music Memos for iPhone

If you simply want to share your song idea with your bandmates or co-writers, you can quickly do so using the content sharing feature in iOS. Share with such third-party apps as Slack, Messenger, and various email clients.

1. Tap the File icon at the top center of the screen, or swipe up from the bottom of the screen.
2. Select the track you want to share.
3. Tap the track again.

4. Tap the Share icon in the upper right corner of the screen. This will open the share sheet at the bottom of the screen.
5. Drag your finger across top row of app icons until you see the one you wish to use.
6. Tap the app icon to open it and share your track with others.

Apple's Music Memos app is a great tool for recording song ideas with just a tap. However, it is more than just a recording app — it's a surprisingly capable editing tool. The editing features are easy to use once you know where they are. Here's how.

How to add drum and bass to tracks in Music Memos on iPhone

You can add simple drum and bass backing to new tracks in Music Memos. This gives your song ideas a bit more structure so you can hear what it would sound like with a full band.

1. Tap the File icon at the top center of the screen, or swipe up from the bottom of the screen.
2. Select a track.
3. Tap the Bass icon directly below the track.
4. To change the bass style, hold down the icon to call up the adjustment tools.
5. Choose Electric or Upright.
6. Drag your finger on the pad to adjust the style between Simple, Complex, Quiet, and Loud.

7. Tap the Drum icon directly below the track.
8. To change the drum style, hold down the icon to call up the adjustment tools.
9. Choose Modern Kit or Vintage Kit.
10. Drag your finger on the pad to adjust the style between Simple, Complex, Quiet, and Loud.
11. Select the Hi-Hats, Ride, or Tom to change the drum beat sound.

The virtual bass player and drummer don't always sync perfectly with your song. However, you can edit the chords and adjust the time signature and tempo of tracks.

How to edit a track in Music Memos on iPhone

Music Memos provides a number of useful editing tools to better perfect the sound you are going for.

1. Tap the File icon at the top center of the screen, or swipe up from the bottom of the screen.
2. Select a track.
3. Tap the track again.
4. Tap the Time icon in the upper left corner of the screen.
5. Select the adjustment you wish to change in each category.For the tempo, you can switch to Half, Regular, or Double. For the time signature, you can change to 3/4 time, 4/4 time, or 6/8 time. For the downbeat, you can adjust it up or down in increments of one beat from zero to 7/8 by tapping the arrows.
6. Press Play to hear back the edit.
7. Make new time adjustments as necessary until the rhythm of the drum fits with your track.

1. Tap the File icon at the top center of the screen, or swipe up from the bottom of the screen.
2. Select a track.
3. Tap the track again.
4. Tap the Chord icon next to the Time icon.
5. Tap on the chord you wish to change.Chords are displayed on the track in sections labeled by what Music Memos thinks the appropriate chord should be (like E, Gm, D#, etc.).
6. Tap the chord you wish to change it to (or, select No Chord or No Band if you don't want a backing track here).
7. Make new chord adjustments as necessary until the virtual bass player plays the notes you want it to play.
8. Press Play to hear back the edit.

1. Tap the File icon at the top center of the screen, or swipe up from the bottom of the screen.
2. Select a track.
3. Tap the track again.
4. Tap the Trim icon in the upper center of the screen.
5. Drag the red trim handle at the beginning of the track to where you want it to start.
6. Drag the red trim handle at the end of the track to where you want it to end.
7. Tap the red Trim banner at the bottom of the screen
8. Tap "Save as new idea" when prompted. This will make a copy of the original track.
9. Press Play to hear back the edit.

1. Tap the File icon at the top center of the screen, or swipe up from the bottom of the screen.
2. Select a track.
3. Tap the track again.
4. Tap the Note icon next to the Trim icon.
5. Tap Capo to identify the capo position.
6. Tap Tuning to identify the guitar tuning.
7. Tap the memo field to add any personal notes, like lyrics or adding instruments.
8. Tap Done to go back to the editing screen.

By editing a track, it will be easier to share it with others or send it to a more robust music editing app, like Garage Band or Final Cut Pro X.

Once you start building up a library of song ideas into the dozens in Music Memos, it gets harder to find what you are looking for. Apple added a few organizing features that makes tracks searchable. Tag and rate tracks as you edit them. We'll show you how.

How to rate songs in Music Memos on iPhone

The song rating feature makes it easier to filter tracks when you are searching for them later on.

1. Tap the File icon at the top center of the screen or swipe up from the bottom of the screen.
2. Tap the Star icon in the upper right corner of the selected track.
3. A ratings window will pop up; tap the star rating you wish to add. You can now narrow your search by using the star rating filter.

How to add tags in Music Memos on iPhone

Tags are the best way to organize tracks for searching purposes. You can use the premade tags or create your own. I added the names of my two bands to help separate content when I'm looking for a song.

1. Tap the File icon at the top center of the screen or swipe up from the bottom of the screen.
2. Select a track.
3. Tap the Tag icon in the lower left corner of the selected track.
4. Select a tag.

5. To add a custom tag, tap in the "Search or add a new tag" the text field at the top of the screen.
6. Type in the new tag.
7. Tap "Add 'X' tag" (where X is the name of the tag) just below the text field.Once tags and star ratings are in place, you can quickly search for a specific track.

How to search for tracks in Music Memos on iPhone

With a few dozen song ideas in your library, scrolling down the list is going to get annoying. Use the search feature to narrow down your choices.

1. Tap the File icon at the top center of the screen, or swipe up from the bottom of the screen.
2. Pull down on the track screen until you see the Search Field.
3. Tap the Search Field.
4. Enter a tag or song title in the Search Field.
5. Drag the Filter Bar to the right to exclude lower star rating tracks, or to the left to include them.As long as you've tagged and rated tracks, finding what you are looking for in a search is much easier.

Inspiration comes at a moment's notice and sometimes a napkin is just not going to cut it. Music Memos makes it possible for you to get your song ideas recorded with a simple tap, not unlike recording audio in the Voice Memos app, but with special features for the musically-inclined and the ability to easily share the files in a variety of third-party apps. Getting started with Music Memos is simple. Here's how!

How to get Music Memos onto your iPhone

Music Memos is made by Apple but it doesn't come pre-installed on your iPhone. So, before you can start using it, you need to download Music Memos from the App Store.

• Free - Download now

How to set up iCloud and turn on iCloud Drive for Music Memos on iPhone

Apple's iCloud makes it possible for you save content from your various devices in, well, the cloud, including everything you create in Music Memos. If you haven't already enabled iCloud, don't worry — you can enable it at any time in the Settings app.

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Scroll down the list and tap iCloud.
3. Enter your Apple ID and password.
4. Tap Sign In.
5. If you already have Safari data, reminders, contacts, and calendars on your iPhone, you can merge them with iCloud. When prompted, tap Merge.

6. While still in the iCloud settings, scroll down and tap on iCloud Drive.
7. Toggle the switch to the On position.

When you open the iCloud Drive app, or log in via a Web browser, all of your recorded ideas will already be there waiting for you.

How to use the tuner in Music Memos on iPhone

Before recording a song, you'll want to make sure that your guitar, ukulele, or other instrument is in tune and ready to rock. Luckily, Apple included a tuning feature inside Music Memos that is easy to use and works great.

Note: You will need to know the note for each of your strings; to make the tuner useful for as many instruments as possible, Apple doesn't provide you with the proper notes to tune to, only whether your instrument's string is in tune on that note.

1. Tap the Tuning Fork icon.
2. Pluck a string on your guitar, uke, or other instrument.
3. Adjust your string's tuning based on the note identification. Too sharp will show a red bar to the right of the note. Too flat will show a red bar to the left of the note.

When the bar is perfectly centered and glowing blue, you're in tune.

How to record a Music Memo on iPhone

This is what makes Music Memos so great: All you have to do is tap the big button in the center of the screen to start recording. You can either just hum notes in order to capture a riff, or, if you have a guitar, bass, or even clarinet on hand, grab your instrument and start playing.

1. Open Music Memos app.
2. Tap the big blue button in the center of the screen. The Music Memos color scheme will turn red and recording will begin.
3. Play your riff, chorus, solo, or whatever inspiration has just hit you.
4. To stop recording, tap the big red button.

How to automatically record Music Memos on iPhone

The Auto Record feature is probably the best feature in Music Memos. It identifies when you've started playing and automatically begins recording. When you stop playing, it automatically stops recording.

1. Open Music Memos app.
2. Tap the Auto icon in the upper left corner of the screen.
3. Start playing music. The screen will turn red and Music Memos will begin recording automatically.
4. Stop playing music. The screen will stop recording automatically and create a track, then wait for you to begin playing again.

Whenever you stop and start playing again, Music Memos will automatically create new tracks, which are saved separately so you can don't have to scrub through an entire recording to find the part you liked the most. If you want to stop using the Auto Record feature, tap the Auto icon in the upper left corner again.

Questions?

Want to know more about Music Memos? Have a question about what we went over? Let us know in the comments.

For as long as I've had my iPhone, I've used Apple's built-in Voice Memos app to record my song ideas, collecting iterations of a riff or melody I don't want to forget. But Voice Memos is clunky, has no built-in organizational system, and the editing tools are borderline nonexistent.

For me, the songwriting process usually goes something like this: I sit down with an acoustic guitar and play around until I stumble upon something I like. Then I play it on a loop, letting myself get comfortable enough to twist it around and see how it works with other notes and different voicing. Once I can hear a song in the noise, I'll start singing gibberish lyrics until I come up with a vocal melody that works.

Then I record it, over and over, in Voice Memos.

That's kind of a problem; I see "New Recording 233" and I sigh. Sure, I could have given the clip a real name, but why bother? I have hundreds upon hundreds of clips, with no way to search or filter them. I occasionally go spelunking in the Voice Memos table view list to discover long-forgotten ideas that I really wish I'd taken the time to flesh out. My entire musical idea system is a ghetto.

Enter Music Memos

Conversely, Music Memos offers so many ways of organizing my clips that I'm finding myself recording more just because I can. As I progress through a song I can tag the recordings with the song's name, ensuring that a search for "Elevators" will return all of the clips I recorded for that song. Each recording also gets a name and a star rating, so I can keep everything, refer to earlier recordings if needed, and no longer rely on date-based grouping to keep it all together, or wonder which if the ten clips in the group was the one I liked most.

If Voice Memos are Post-Its — a quick and dirty tool to make sure I didn't forget an idea — then Music Memos is a sketchbook. This is where I start the songwriting process, and every part of the app is designed to help facilitate the process and, most shockingly of all, guide me to the next step in fleshing the song out.

This level of organization also makes me want to start recording practice sessions and charting progress. Having that much raw material available and easily searchable also means more clips we can share on Connect, more early listens we can share with our Patreon supporters, and more options for comparison and background content for our podcast. That's a whole lot of upside for one feature.

Music Memos has so many other tricks up its sleeves that I almost feel like someone at Apple has been reading my dream journal. An app for recording song ideas that uses a robust tagging system is something I've personally wanted to build for a long time, but throw in a guitar tuner, chord and tempo detection, exporting to GarageBand, and magical automatic backing instruments, and the dream becomes borderline pornographic.

My experience with the chord detection feature has been mixed, with me watching the app struggle to average out the chords I play with the notes I'm singing. I had the idea to try using it for something else: I've been writing a new song, starting with just a vocal melody. Because I'm a self-taught musician with only an intuitive understanding of music theory, this gets a little tricky. Rather that spending time working out what the chords should be, I decided to just sing the melody into Music Memos and see what it suggested.

This is obviously a bit of a mess, but that's perfectly okay for my purposes. Playing exactly the chords of the vocal melody would be really boring (and on guitar, hard to pull of), but this gives me a great view of the chord set I should be working from. From here, I can start singing over one or two of these chords and work my way out from there. Music Memos has taken one of the most annoying parts of songwriting and made it fun for me. I really can't overstate how great that feels.

The other major songwriting tool in Music Memos is backing tracks. Record your song the way you normally would, and the app will put drums and/or bass behind it. As with everything else in this app, the controls are dead simple: turn drums on by tapping the drums icon, bass by tapping the bass icon.

On the first few tries, Music Memos was comically bad at figuring out where the drum beats should go. I thought that maybe my strum pattern or songwriting style defied rhythm detection, but a few tweaks with the time editor to set the correct downbeat, and things were more or less okay.

I gave it a second chance with a different song — something new I made up with a more obvious tempo placement — and the results were surprisingly good. A couple of adjustments later and I had a beat and a bass line that I liked. Several hours passed with me recording new ideas riffing on what was supposed to be a test song.

That's not to say it sounded great, but it did sound good enough to keep (and even increase) my momentum. Even just testing the app for this article has generated a new song. I'm hard-pressed to think of a better endorsement for a songwriting app.

Automagic

My other favorite feature is a subtle one: "Auto". With this option turned on (again, via a dead-simple button in the main UI), Music Notes does exactly what you'd expect: it sits and listens, and starts recording automatically when it detects that you're playing a song.

The magic behind this feature is pretty easy to guess: the app listens passively, Siri-style, recording everything, and simply saves the recording starting at the beginning of the waveform. But it's these little details that add up for me. Since many (if not most) of my clips and recordings are full of dead air at the beginning while I pull up a lyric sheet or get my capo set properly, this is a big win for me. Sure, I could edit by hand, but I don't, and I never will.

Taking a step back: while I love the organizational options, the guitar tuner, automatic recording, and the ability to chart my chords right inside the recording, the joy of recording a quick demo is almost overshadowed by how easy it is to escalate.

You can send the song to a friend via email, like before, but you can also send it to GarageBand. Not exactly my cup of tea, but GarageBand files can be opened in Logic Pro X, and at this point things are starting to get really interesting. My quick recordings can blossom into something entirely new and dramatically more sophisticated.

New Post comes up empty. Apparently Connect got distracted and forgot what it was doing.

Or, if I just want to show off a snippet of something I'm playing around with, I can send it off to Apple Music Connect, SoundCloud, or YouTube. I couldn't get Connect sharing to work in my testing — unsurprising if you've ever tried to get Apple Music Connect to do anything — but given Connect's place in the iTunes ecosystem, the day is definitely coming where an artist could write, record, produce, and distribute an entire album using nothing more than their telephone.

Music Memos is less a tool than a toolbox. Each tool works remarkably well for a 1.0 release, and most of them feel like they were designed with my exact needs in mind. The designers could have approached this like recording software, with a series of menus and sub-menus of options, and that would have been more or less fine. But instead Music Memos has the weight and simplicity of spirit of a guitar effect pedal. One button and a handful of dials. Beautiful. My iPhone is only further solidified as an indispensable part of my composing process.

Microphone technology may not be making the same quantum leaps as digital cameras, but putting them to better use is a good start. After all, the best recording studio is the one you have with you.

To my parents' dismay, I am not what you would call a professional musician. They are both 30-year classical veterans, having held the title of classical concert pianist, conductor, voice coach, and a million other little jobs in-between. I... dabble in string instruments and belt musicals in my car.

But when you grow up in a house full of music, you respect it. And though I've never sought to make singing or piano-playing my career, I still love the art of learning a new song, or building a tune from an assortment of random chords.

It's probably why I squealed over Apple's Music Memos, released Wednesday. The iOS app lets you record song snippets, pair them with a simple backing drumkit or bass, and tweak tempos before sharing it to your friends and fans, or sending it to a more pro-level editing suite.

After only an hour with it, I'm pretty confident that it's going to delight true musicians. But for music dabblers like myself, it might actually spur more regular tune creation than you previously thought possible.

Out of a single chord progression doodle in Music Memos, I recorded, produced, and created a song in 30 minutes.

Sing for me

Music Memos isn't quite like any app Apple has made so far: It compares most closely to Voice Memos, of course, but with several music-specific elements that make me wonder if I'll ever use Voice Memos again.

Off the bat, Music Memos's best feature is automatic recording. Tap the Auto button in the upper left corner, and the app will automatically start and stop recording whenever you play or sing a segment. This is something I've longed for in Voice Memos for ages: I've recorded many a 40-minute chord-and-random-lyrics dabble in Apple's older recording app, only to never listen to it because the thought of going through almost an hour of material for 3-4 solid minutes made my head hurt.

With Music Memos, you can dabble away. I played six or seven sets of ukulele chord progressions, and the app intelligently recognized my big pauses as "places to split," and did so seamlessly.

You can mess around a little bit with Music Memos's tagging and backing system on the last clip recorded, but the app's real power comes when you tap the Files icon in the top center. This displays all your clips; tap one, and you get options for time signature, auto-chord recognition, trimming, notes, tagging, automatic instruments, and sharing.

Edit away

To put Music Memos through its paces, I took one of my test ukulele chord progressions—Dm, A, Bb—and called it "Down in the Dismal Deep" (alliteration!). I added both bass and drums to the track by tapping the tiny bass and drumkit icons in the bottom toolbar, and tapped and held on one of the icons to bring up some (limited) customization controls. The drums are limited to two kits—Modern and Vintage—and three styles, with a music square that offers Loud, Complex, Simple, and Quiet beats. The bass is even simpler than that: It lets you choose either Electric or Upright, with the same music square options as the drumkit.

The lilting little uke ditty I put together practically demanded an upright bass, so on it went; I also added a Quiet/Simple Vintage drumkit with a little bit of cymbal action.

After doing this, my little three-chord progression already sounded like something of a song, but there were many more options to play with from here. You can adjust the tempo of the song (and AI instruments) from Half, Regular, to Double; the original "Regular" tempo is however you initially played your snippet. You can also change the time signature from 4/4 to a more artsy 3/4 or even 6/8, and alter the downbeat.

While the AI drumset relies on tempo, the AI bass uses automatic chord generation based on your initial song drabble. Overall, the bass's chord recognition was pretty spot on, though I did have to use the chord alterer in the toolbar to change one Gm to a Dm.

The detailed Music Memos view for individual songs also lets you trim your snippet; add notes about the capo, tuning, or lyrics; and tag it with various pre-made tags or your own custom variations. For my clip, I trimmed a little bit off the start and end of the clip; added a notation in the notes field about "Down in the Dismal Deep" being a blues song of some sort; and tagged it with "Chorus," "Chords," and my own custom "Ukulele" tag.

From here, you can share your song clip to a number of different sources, including AirDrop, Workflow, Slack, Apple Music Connect, iCloud Drive, YouTube, SoundCloud, and more. I did share an early memo directly to SoundCloud, which worked seamlessly after an initial log-in, but for this clip, I wanted to do a bit more editing before having it make a SoundCloud debut.

Unfortunately, one thing you can't do with Music Memos: record additional tracks alongside it, or let a current recording play in the background while you sing or record an additional memo. I would love to see a feature like that in the future; it'd be almost like Final Cut Pro's "Audition" option, and give you the chance to experiment with different vocals.

That said, Apple does offer an app for multitrack recording right on iOS: GarageBand.

Out of the frying pan...

You can edit Music Memos with GarageBand for iPhone, but because I like the bigger screen, I sent my clip via AirDrop to my iPad Pro, where it arrived as a .band GarageBand file. Opening it was as easy as selecting GarageBand as an import option; from there, I had full access to all GarageBand's features.

In GarageBand, I adjusted the volume and start times of the various tracks; added some more ambience to the ukulele track, and recorded two quick vocal tests with nonsense lyrics I dreamed up on the spot. The result: I had a publishable chorus in 30 minutes. It's not a perfectly mixed tune, nor is it particularly high art. But it's listenable, and moreover: It makes me want to do more with this song when I have a little extra time on my hands.

It's exciting. GarageBand was supposed to be the fiddling musician's answer to iMovie, but as easy as it's gotten over the years, you still have to know some basic music theory and mixing to truly enjoy working in the program. Music Memos, in contrast, offers tools for both the professional musician and the hobbyist tinkerer. Want to record and share a little ditty in 30 minutes? No problem. Want to use it to write a song over six months? You can do that, too.

And that makes this hobbyist musician so happy she could burst into song.

Music Memos, an app straight from Apple that's available on the App Store, was designed to help singers and musicians quickly and easily sketch out their audio ideas on iPhone. It's like Voice Memos, which was introduced with iOS 3, but offers additional features specifically for music.

You start by recording your music through the iPhone's built-in mic. You can record any instrument, and your iPhone will save it in a high-quality, uncompressed file that you can tag, rate, and add to your library. Over time, you can build up a collection of ideas around a single song or group of songs.

Apple showed Music Memos to acclaimed singer, songwriter, and producer Ryan Adams, who had this to say:

Music Memos will also analyze the rhythm and chords of certain instruments, like acoustic guitar and piano, and let you instantly add virtual backing in the form of drums and a bass line that fit right in with your recording. Basic chord notation is also available.

Thanks to iCloud, Music Memos are available in GarageBand for iPhone, iPad, and Mac, and Logic Pro X on Mac, so you can take them from ideas, through development, and into finished material. Artists and bands can even share them with fans through Apple Music's Connect.

Music Memos is available for free on the App Store and compatible with iPhone 4s or later and iPad 2 or later.

• Free - Download now

Apple Music doesn't (yet?) integrate lyrics, but if that's something you care about, there's a workaround you can use right now: a widget called Musixmatch. Federico Viticci noticed the functionality and wrote about it on MacStories:

You can get Musixmatch on the App Store, and you can read more about how else Ticci uses it on MacStories.

• Free - Download now

Years ago I had to shrink my iTunes library down because I'd run out of hard drive space, and one way that I did it was to get rid of all the album art included with my music. Now that space isn't as much of a premium, I'd like to get the album art back. iTunes has a way to do it but it doesn't always work. That's where Equinux's CoverScout comes into play.

Finding lost album art

To be clear, you can recover artwork with iTunes alone. If you select the File menu and choose Library, you'll see a dropdown menu appear that says Get Album Artwork.

Selecting that causes iTunes to go to the iTunes Store and try to match your songs to ones it knows about. But that's all it can do. First of all, it's predicated on the assumption that you have an iTunes account. If you choose not to use the iTunes Store, it won't work. What's more, if you listen to music that isn't in the iTunes Store, or if your music is tagged in such a way that it can't find a match, you won't get any albums.

So what? What's the big deal? Just do a Google image search to find the album covers I need, right? To find out how big a project this might be, I created a Smart Playlist in iTunes to find out how many tracks in my library didn't have artwork.

Turns out that I had thousands of tracks without any artwork. Many of them were stripped in my previous downsizing attempt. Some of them were tagged badly, with inaccurate track or artist names. Some of them were obscure music that iTunes was never going to find on its own.

Enter CoverScout

So I downloaded Equinux's CoverScout, and it's helping me get this project under control. It takes account of all the music in your library that doesn't have any cover album art associated with it, and it searches Google and elsewhere on the Web looking for matches. If it finds them it shows you, then it gives you the option of which one you want to select. Click the Apply button and there it is, all nice and pretty in iTunes.

Double clicking on the album art lets you refine it; you can adjust levels, bracket it with a frame, straighten it and more. If you have the original album or CD, you can even use your Mac's built in iSight camera to snap a picture of it, if you'd prefer to use that.

CoverScout 3 doesn't always find an exact match, so it's a good idea to have an idea of what you're looking for before you apply an album cover that doesn't match what you have. But if you trust it, you can just select the tracks you'd like to see adorned with artwork and hit command, shift and return; CoverScout will scour the Internet and will automatically apply the best matches it finds.

CoverScout can be customized to search specific web sites including international Amazon stores in Germany, France, the U.K., Canada and Japan; it also supports searches on Google images and Walmart. General web searches yield default results from CDuniverse.com, Discogs.com and Hitparade.ch; you can customize this with additional search sites if you want.

CoverScout doesn't bat 1.000 — no one does. That's partly my fault for really butchering the metadata associated with some of the songs in my collection, and partly because some of what I've acquired is out of print or so obscure that I can't find matches to it online, at least not using easily recognizable criteria.

But CoverScout has saved me a lot of time looking for missing album art, automating the process. To that end, I've gotten my money's worth, and I keep it around with the expectation that I'll need it again at some point.

• $26.99 - Download now

Capo, the renowned song-learning app for Mac, is now available on the iPhone and iPad. Called Capo touch, all the power of the original, the ability to "reverse engineer rock and roll" as they put it, now fits into the palm of your hand. Whether you're a working guitarist or strings player on your way to a last minute gig, a songwriter needing to quickly note down a new song or riff, or an aspiring musician who just wants to learn more, faster, Capo touch provides a remarkably powerful toolset for doing all that, and more.

Made by Apple Design Award (ADA) winner Chris Liscio of SuperMegaUltraGroovy, Capo touch for iPhone and iPad is a distillation of Capo for Mac. It takes the same great engine, the same great beat detection, the same great looping, and puts it behind a cleverly layered interface ideal for mobile. That means it's simple, clean, and approachable on the surface, but just as functional and capable as you dive deeper into it.

Now, I'm not a musician. Whatever the opposite of talent is, that's what I have when it comes to music. But on a purely technical, purely design level, it's hard not to be impressed by what Capo touch does.

The idea here is that you want to learn a new song "by ear". To do so you launch Capo touch and load the song in from your iTunes library. Then the fun begins. Capo's chord intelligence engine automatically detects and renders out for you the chords, and then lets you change them up if you want to. There's also automatic beat detection with bar/beat display, metronome count-off, and impressively, an incredibly easy, intuitive way to loop regions you really want to focus on.

There are also independent speed and pitch controls, so you can slow a song down and play along at exactly your own pace. (Capo calls it a "mastering-quality time stretching engine" which needs to be used in a Doctor Who episode, and soon.)

So let's say you're a guitarist and you get a call to fill in for a few shows or part of a tour, you can grab Capo touch and learn all the new songs you'll need. Let's say you're on a bus in-between gigs when suddenly you want or need to change up a song for the next show, you can pull your iPhone or iPad out and get right on it. Let's say you're a songwriter who has finished a great new piece but now has to note it all down for recording and legal reasons, you can let Capo touch do a lot of the heavy lifting for you. Let's say you've learned how to play the basics but really want to expand your repertoire of songs, Capo touch can get you well on your way.

Here's a quote MegaUltraGroovy provided from Billy Morrison, guitarist for Billy Idol and Royal Machines:

And from Kenny Wright, bassist for John Legend, Pharrell, Wiz Khalifa, and more:

If you run Capo on multiple iOS devices, or on both iOS and Mac, iCloud Sync will make sure the song you're working on is everywhere you want to work on it.

Beyond music, it's great to see more powerful, sophisticated software making the jump from Mac to iPhone and iPad. As with any translation, it helps the developer really come to terms with the core of what makes their app useful, and the provides that to us, the consumers, in what often amounts to a new and delightful way.

Such is the case with Capo touch. There are elements of it that may arguably be better on iPhone and iPad, but inarguably Capo touch's existence makes iPhone and iPad better. More like this, please.

Capo touch is available now, on sale for a limited time at just $4.99. It'd be an absolute steal at twice that. Capo 3.1 for Mac is also available now as a free update for existing customers, and also on sale for a limited time at just $14.99 for new customers.

• $4.99 - Capo touch - Download now
• $14.99 - Capo for Mac - Download now

djay, the Apple Design Award-winning music mixing app for iPhone and iPad, has just been updated to version 2.5 and the game-changing news is this — they've partnered with streaming music service Spotify and their 20 million track library and, what's more, created technology that lets you quickly, perfectly mix and match all of it. Imagine an old school DJ crate filled with vinyl. Now image it's bottomless. Now imagine a selection of perfectly matched songs is always on the very top just waiting for you to grab and spin. That's djay 2.5.

Karim Morsy and Michael Simmons gave me a short demo of the djay + Spotify integration — a good thing because I have absolutely no musical talent whatsoever, and Spotify is not yet available here in Canada — and what they showed was mind blowing. djay has a long history of making very physical, very complicated music mixing methods and concepts incredibly digital and incredibly elegant and that's exactly what they've done with Spotify in djay. You do need a premium Spotify account to access the 20 million tracks, but that's not only an incredible bargain for the material, its an incredible resource for anyone who wants to mix music. Your Spotify account is then instantly available to you, on the virtual turntables, at your fingertips, and works just like local music.

• Hear Karim talk about all about djay on the Iterate podcast

Thanks to the echonest and Intelligent Song Selection, even if there's a track you've never heard before and down't know how to mix, djay can suggest other track that match it perfectly so your flow never gets interrupted. If, like me, you can't mix to save your life, djay can even do the mixing for you with Automix Radio.

Spotify integration also allows for an entirely new, cloud-based way to share your personal mixes. All another person needs is a Spotify account of their own and, once you share your mixes, they get all the music along with it. No need to hunt down and buy all the individual tracks. It's just there.

There are also additional effects and, of course, all the great stuff that was in djay 2.0.

djay is incredibly thoughtful, incredibly smart software. It's so good, terrible as I am, when I play with it I can close my eyes and see myself in a club, lights flashing, speakers pounding, people dancing... And for a brief moment I can imagine what it must be like to create something as beautiful as what real DJs do everyday. That's the power of the iPhone and iPad, and software like djay.

And now it's in the cloud so anyone with an account can not only have the same dream but live it. Amazing.

djay 2.5 is available for iPhone and iPad now. The iPad version is currently on sale for $4.99 and the iPhone version is on sale for the unprecedented price of free. Sprint, don't walk to the App Store.

• djay for iPhone - free on sale - Download now
• djay for iPad - $4.99 on sale - Download now

Sonos finally updated their Sonos Controller app to version 5 and not only matched the interface and design of iOS 7, but gave it a better, more streamlined and fluid experience. Other than making the software match the ease and elegance of their hardware, however, how well does it work?

For those already familiar with using the Sonos Controller app, all the services you hook into and all the settings will remain the same. A huge amount of the update contains an update interface. Luckily, that means the navigation and user experience has also been rethought and it even better than ever. Swipe to the right in any screen to access the main menu. From here you can use the universal search to look up anything you want. The search displays results from all the services you have hooked in.

Just like previous versions of the Sonos Controller app, you will use it to add components, edit room settings, and more. If you frequently use the Queue feature, you can access and add tracks to it as you could before. The updated design makes the queue itself easier to access and more obvious than the older version.

One feature that has and still does bug me about the Sonos Controller app is that liking or disliking songs is never consistent. While I can do this with Pandora and Beats Music, it doesn't work with Spotify and a few others. I'm sure this has everything to do with how each service allows Sonos to hook into it, but it creates an inconsistent experience nonetheless. This is one of the big reasons I would really like to see AirPlay support in the future.

The good

• Great interface that now matches the ease of use Sonos hardware offers
• Complete setup of a system takes only seconds with the Sonos Controller app
• Gesture support makes it easy to get back to the home menu in one motion

The bad

• Still no AirPlay support
• Liking and disliking songs works with some services, but not others

The bottom line

The Sonos Controller app always did what it needed to do but wasn't nearly as easy to use as the Sonos hardware itself. Luckily the 5.0 version changes all that and gives it the design it deserves. The only thing that could make the Sonos experience better in my opinion, would be native AirPlay support.

If you've given the Sonos Controller app a spin, what do you think of the new design? Are there any missing features you'd like to see in a future update? Let me know in the comments!

• Free - Download Now

When Beats Music launched at the beginning of this year, it was iPhone only. Luckily that's now changed and Beats has now launched a dedicated iPad app as well. That's right, it isn't just a blown up version of the iPhone app, but one specifically designed to take advantage of the iPad's larger screen size. But does it fix any of my previous issues with Beats? Let's find out!

Beats Music released their dedicated iPad app right after I decided to ditch the service altogether and go back to Rdio. And to my surprise and delight a lot of the quirks and issued I'd been having with the iPhone app didn't seem to be present in the iPad version. Whether or not the streaming issues have all been fixed as well will take longer to tell. Since I don't typically rely on my iPad like I do my iPhone, which is with me when I work out and when I travel, I'd be interested to hear from some Beats subscribers that do and whether or not they've had issues with offline playback on the iPad version.

I was also happy to see that Beats didn't take the lazy route and actually crafted the interface to take advantage of the vast amount of screen real estate the iPad offers. While the main home area remains largely unchanged, all the other sections feature a cascading menu that fans outwards so you can easily tap in and out of any section in just a tap. This is definitely better than having to back out of a section in order to visit another. Any area you want to explore is only one tap away.

The main home area of Beats Music for iPad lets you swipe through several sections of curated music based on your tastes. You can read more about a playlist, follow a curator, and much more. Beats Music for iPad really focuses on helping you discover music you may not have ever found on your own. I've loved this part of Beats since it came out and despite my issues, curation really is the heart of the Beats Music service, not library size or exclusive artist content.

While I've had reliability issues with Beats Music, I still think the curation aspect of it is what makes it such a great service. You can find a custom curated playlists for almost any scenario and the suggestions are always spot on. It's why I think Apple is interested in Beats Music to begin with. They really do have something special. Some may argue the app isn't as pretty as Spotify or Rdio, but Apple knows how to do design. That's not what they're after.

The good

• I'm not experiencing any of the same issues I have had with the iPhone app in terms of offline playback and streaming issues
• Great layout that takes advantage of the iPad's larger screen
• Playlists are front and center, which is at the heart of the Beats Music service

The bad

• No complaints

The bottom line

Much of what I said in my Beats Music for iPhone review still holds true. Beats does an excellent job at curation and music discovery. You'll never run out of new things to listen to and the iPad app just adds even more value to the service. Streaming hiccups aside, it's hard to not recommend the Beats Music service. It will however be interesting to see how the supposed deal with Apple will unfold.

• Free, requires $9.99/month subscription - Download Now

I have an ongoing love hate relationship with pretty much every music streaming service available. I just want them to be better as none of them as a whole are the best. That's why I was excited when Spotify majorly overhauled their iPhone app. It was a chance to try the service out again and see if the glaring issues that push me on the Rdio side of the fence are finally remedied. Is it good enough for me to give it a second chance? More importantly, is it good enough for you, our readers, to choose it over the many available options? Let's find out...

The first thing you'll notice upon launching the new Spotify app for iPhone is the completely new look and design. It's not a bad thing either. I never particularly cared for the overwhelming amount of green Spotify chose to use in past versions so the solid black design with subtle accents and overlays was a welcome surprise. When it comes to actually navigating the app, there are very few buttons since most of the interface relies on gesture navigations. Swipe from one list to the next and so on. The top menu button always stays fixed in the top left corner making it easy to get back to your collection and main sections of Spotify in just a tap.

However, there are a few things that irk me about the new design — and I do mean only a few. First, when browsing through the artist section of the Your Music category, I don't like that it shows every artist I follow. If I don't have any songs saved by that artist, I probably don't want it cluttering up my collection. I want to drill down and find what I'm looking for quickly. Of course, the search feature is the fastest but if I'm just browsing, it's odd to me there are artists I'm following even if I don't currently have any music by them in my collection. I feel that should be a separate section.

My next and only other issue is really two issues. I'm having trouble figuring out what the point is for starred and local tracks anymore. I have offline tracks saved but they don't show up in local. I understand this is where you used to sync tracks from your computer to Spotify wirelessly but is this section really needed anymore? Perhaps I'm missing something and if I am, someone please point out what it's for, because I'm at a loss. The same goes for starred tracks. I don't see a way to star a track with the new design so why is the section still there? Is it simply to show songs I have starred in the past? Are they just stuck there for all eternity unless I had everything to my collection manually?

Aside from the above mentioned quirks, I've been finding my experience with the newly design Spotify app to be an enjoyable one. It doesn't drain my battery any faster or slower than Rdio but I do feel like there is a hugely noticeable different in sound quality. Obviously this is due to the fact that Spotify streams at 320 kbps while Rdio is supposedly only at 192 kbps, at least for now. They've already stated they're upgrading their catalog to the same but we aren't sure when that's officially happening. So for now, Spotify wins that fight and may make a switch more tempting for current Rdio users.

Unfortunately Spotify for iPad has not received the same treatment the iPhone app did. It's still the same clunky mess that's really a mirrored version of their web streaming service. Have music saved to your collection on your iPhone? Too bad, you can't access it on your iPad. It really is a terrible app and one that's in desperate need of an overhaul. I'm really hoping an iPad app revamp is on Spotify's urgent list of to do's. Right now I'd be hard pressed to recommend Spotify to anyone who streams music frequently on their iPad, no matter how good the iPhone app is.

The good

• The design is worlds better than past iterations
• It's obvious that great care was given to navigation, it's one of the easiest apps to navigate and explore
• Reliable streaming and less skips or hiccups in playback, at least in my experience

The bad

• No love for the iPad, and that app really is a mess
• Some design quirks such as the confusing starred and local sections under the Your Music section

The bottom line

I've always had reasons in the past to stay away from Spotify, due to one irritating issue or another. This version of Spotify for iPhone is a huge improvement and shakes off most of my past complaints. Minus a few small quirks, Spotify did a great job this time around. I only wish the same could be said about the iPad app.

If you only stream music on your iPhone, the Spotify service paired with its new iPhone app won't disappoint. For those that depend on their iPads for streaming music, other options such as Rdio are still more worthy of your money.

• Free - Download Now

When I did my initial Beats Music review back in January, I found the service to be so good I was almost certain I'd switch from Rdio and leave it behind. I did just that and for almost three months, I only used Beats Music on my iPhone, the web, and through Sonos. Unfortunately, small issues turned into much bigger ones that, ultimately, have led me to cancel my subscription. Here's why...

I'll start by saying that I stand by the points I made in my initial review of Beats Music. It does an amazing job at curation and playlists. The listening possibilities are endless and they're adding new music all the time. That's the part of Beats Music I love and that I'm really sad to let go.

My issues with Beats Music started with their app. It caused excessive battery drain. Beats was aware of the problem and pushed out an update fairly quickly. Unfortunately there were and are many other, sporadic issues that remain. Playback and streaming problems are something I experienced on a rather regular basis. The most peculiar part about it was that it happened even when a song was supposedly downloaded to my iPhone. That means there should be zero buffer time and the song should instantly play locally.

For the most part I overlooked the playback issue since quitting the app from multitasking and restarting Beats typically fixed it. At least at first. Slowly the problem got less sporadic and more frequent. Several updates later and it was still a problem. At this point I'd have to reboot my iPhone or toggle Airplane mode on and off. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't. This issue was particularly annoying when I got to the gym and wanted to play a workout mix I had created. Beats Music would get stuck at certain songs and I've have to stop what I was doing in order to remedy the problem. Eventually I just closed the app and opened iTunes Radio to finish my workout.

Around the beginning of April I re-downloaded Rdio to my iPhone and iPad and fired it up. I renewed by subscription and all my stuff was still there. I decided to try and use Beats Music and Rdio for 30 days. Then I would make a decision on which one to keep. Over the first week, I found that I still preferred Beats Music for curation but I just couldn't rely on it. I listen to music through my headphones at the gym and while at Starbucks or somewhere else working. When I'm at home in my home office, I alway have Sonos going throughout our entire condo for background noise. When using Beats Music, I continually experienced long buffer times or gaps in playback. When using Rdio, I never once had to interrupt my workflow to launch the Sonos app in order to see what the problem was, because there was never a problem.

I thought about keeping both Rdio and Beats Music since there were bits and pieces of both I was reluctant to let go of. At least until I flew across the country to San Francisco. As usual, the plane's wifi was not working properly. The first thing I did was fire up Beats Music and put my headphones in. I turned on Offline mode and selected an album I had saved for offline playback. Instead I got the buffer wheel that just circled and circled and did nothing. I rolled my eyes and tried another album. The same thing happened. I only found 3 songs out of several hundreds that would actually play. The worst part? Those hundreds of songs were definitely eating up my iPhone's storage, yet none of them would play.

On a whim I launched Rdio. I didn't expect to have any music because I hadn't synced anything for offline playback since I had re-subscribed. However, Rdio had brought back down everything that I had previously synced to my iPhone before canceling my subscription. All of my songs and playlists were right there and available to play offline.

That's when I held my finger down on the Beats Music icon and tapped the x to delete it. Then I set a reminder in Fantastical to cancel my subscription as soon as I got home. To supplement music discovery and radio functionality — something I've never found Rdio to be great at — I'm using a combination of Songza, Pandora, and iTunes Radio. When I find something I really like, I add it to my collection in Rdio. Is it the most elegant solution? No. But it's one I know I can rely on. I'd really like to give Beats Music another go at some point, but I think I'll give the service some time to mature first.

What about you? If you're using Beats Music, have you experienced any of the same issues I've struggled with? And if you don't use Beats, what streaming services do you use and why? Let me know in the comments!

On-demand music streaming services are made for the hardcore music lovers and audiophiles. Not only should they get to know our tastes and preferences over time, on-demand services are also tasked with letting us have more control over what we listen to, when we listen to it. Streaming radio may be fine for some but if you want to listen to an entire album all the way through or be able to play music offline, you want on-demand streaming.

Spotify, Rdio, Beats Music, Google Play All Access, and Slacker are the best on-demand services currently available with full iPhone support. Now the question becomes, which one is the best if any? And more importantly, which one is right for you?

I'm going to preface this by saying that I only looked at true on-demand streaming services for this comparison. That means services like iTunes Radio, Pandora, and Songza can't be compared since they don't support offline playback of any kind. I'll take a look at those services in another comparison.

Quick comparison

The above chart isn't meant to cover all points but it gives you a fairly good idea of what you can expect with each service at a quick glance. I only compared what you get as a paying subscriber. Free offerings vary from time to time and from service to service so I saw little value in comparing them. If you want on-demand streaming, you're most likely going to pay for it.

Design

When it comes to design, none of them are created equal. I'll start off with the two apps I take issue with. First is Slacker. The layout is confusing at times and the tiles used to represent stations are cheesy. If you can get past that, the actual song information screens aren't terrible. It's just getting there that makes your eyes bleed. Second is Spotify. I've just never been okay with making lime green a themed color. Buttons are also overly large and create a lot of wasted space. The layout has gotten better over time but the design is still not very appealing. Play Music will be familiar to anyone who has used any other Google app for iOS. And if you like that style, you'll like Play Music. If you don't, you won't.

That leaves Beats Music and Rdio. Beats Music is easy on the eyes and makes good use of darker colors. This makes it rather enjoyable to use in the dark even if your screen brightness isn't all the way down. Navigation also makes sense and it easy for anyone to just pick up and use. Rdio is designed equally as well but very different. It exuded iOS 7 before iOS 7 even existed. They may have taken a little longer than I would have liked to update basic design elements like the keyboard, but I dealt with it mainly becasue the design was already so great.

Rdio does design better than the rest with a gorgeous yet simple design that has controls that are smart and intuitive. What more could you ask for?

Offline listening

All five services feature offline listening options. Where they differ is how they restrict those options. All are on an even playing field in regards to price as you'll need the highest offerings to have access to it. Slacker's $3.99 plan lets you store playlists but not specific albums and tracks. For that, you need the $9.99 version.

When it comes to limitations, all services but Spotify give you unlimited offline downloads. As long as you've got the storage space, you can keep downloading albums and tracks as long as you're a paying subscriber. Spotify however taps you at 10,000 songs per account. If you have the max of 3 devices on your plan, that's 3,333 songs each. That doesn't sound like a bad deal if you're only mobile, but what about on your Mac or PC? That may become an issue if you want to build a solid collection.

Play Music pulls ahead as on top of unlimited downloads, you can also upload up to 20,000 songs (300MB limit each) to your own storage locker at no additional cost. That means you save device storage space and can either stream that music or download what you want on demand. It's very similar to how iTunes Match works.

When it comes to offline listening, Play Music All Access wins.

Curation

If you like to listen to playlists created for you in radio style, curation is super important. You don't want New Kids on the Block randomly thrown into a playlist based on Black Sabbath. In my time with all four services, I've found that Slacker doesn't have a ton to choose from, especially when you get into more obscure genres. I also didn't find that disliking tracks kept them completely away. Unfortunately I had some of the same results with Spotify when it came to preferences. They had a much better selection of stations but there were songs thrown in that I felt were out of place. I also didn't feel like they were particularly catered to my tastes even though I'd given the service an ample amount of data to go off.

Rdio does a decent job with curation but it took a while to get there. Since Rdio has been one of my personal choices for a long time, I've spent the most time with it. It took a good month or so before I felt as if Rdio really started to cater to my tastes and even then, it still mixed up dance and electronic music regularly. For that I just gave up and started curating my own playlists. Play Music never wants to give me good recommendations. It took me adding several things to my library before it would even suggest anything. That to me was a turnoff.

Last but definitely not least is Beats Music. Given how new the service is, I've been blown away by how good the curation is. In less than 2 weeks, Beats Music gets me. Every time I launch it I can't wait to see what playlists it has picked out just for me.

Beats Music wins the curation war, hands down.

Specialty stations

Comedy and sports is the one thing Slacker does exceptionally well. None of the others hold a candle to it. Honestly, it's what Slacker does best. Spotify supposedly has a service called Comedify but I couldn't find much on it. I'll give it a point for that but I couldn't find any radio offerings, which is what most people want. Play Music has a comedy genre but again, Slacker does better.

If you want comedy or sports, there's only Slacker.

Catalog size and selection

None of the services in this comparison give exact numbers but some do give roundabout figures. Some of this probably has to do with licensing in different countries. Each service as of this writing claims the follow when it comes to the size of their song library:

• Spotify - 20 million
• Beats Music - 20 million
• Rdio - 20 million
• Play Music - 18 million
• Slacker - 13 million

One other thing you have to consider is whether or not a service has the music you actually listen to. I have a hard time finding a reason to use Spotify while our own Richard Devine swears by it due to the music he prefers. For example, Spotify has Metallica, Rdio and other services do not.

Even though you should check into catalog selection before you make a final decision, it's a pretty close war between Beats Music, Spotify, and Rdio. Spotify gets the win by a slight margin due to some of their exclusive deals.

Availability

In terms of availability, Rdio and Spotify are available in the largest amount of countries. Rdio comes in just under Spotify but by a very narrow margin. You can hit the links below to see complete lists of countries on each respective site. Slacker and Beats Music both have very limited audiences. While Beats may expand that over time, Slacker probably won't at this point. Beats Music is US only and Slacker is only available in the US and Canada. Play Music does a lot better at over 20 countries, but still doesn't touch Rdio and Spotify.

Tie between Rdio and Spotify.

• Rdio availability
• Spotify availability
• Play Music availability

Pricing

If we're talking true on-demand, pricing is a wash since all three services offer the same exact thing. $9.99 per month. That includes offline listening and complete control over what you listen to and when you listen to it. All services offer free web streaming and some content via their mobile apps without paying, but if you've read this far, you already know that's not what you're after. You can however get away with $3.99 through Slacker if you're okay with just on demand playlists and not whole albums and specific songs.

Slacker gets the win for having a cheaper scaled down version of on-demand. But if you want no compromises, you'll pay the same across all five services.

Which one deserves your cash?

Unfortunately, no one service is the clear winner. They each kick ass in some ways and frustrate in others. So, which is best for you will depend on what's most important to you. Here's the breakdown:

• Slacker: The best options for sports and comedy, poor sound quality isn't great.
• Rdio: Best experience, international availability, okay sound quality isn't great.
• Spotify: International availability, exclusive rights with certain artists, and good sound quality,
• Google Play Music: Combines music locker storage and all the Google things in one place and good sound quality,
• Beats Music: Best for playlist and music discovery, good sound quality,

Figure out what's most important to you, what frustrations you can live with, and then you'll know which is the best streaming music service for you.

• Spotify - Free - Download Now
• Rdio - Free - Download Now
• Beats Music - Free - Download Now
• Google Play Music - Free - Download Now
• Slacker Radio - Free - Download Now

What service did you pick?

Now that we've given you some data to think about, be sure to hop in the comments and let us know what service, if any, you went with. What ultimately brought you to that decision? And does any of the above information have you contemplating switching streaming music services? Be sure to let us know that too!

Now that Beats Music is finally available, it has a lot of folks wondering how it stacks up to the likes of existing services and whether it's worth making the switch. I've been taking a look at what Beats Music has to offer for the exact same reason. I've completely set aside my main streaming services, Rdio and Songza, in order to give it a fair chance. And after a few days, my decision has become harder than ever.

I've been using Beats Music in replacement of Rdio and Songza since it launched. iMore is my full time job and working from home means I've always got music playing in the background. When I'm on the go, my iPhone is also my main source of music whether in the coffee shop, in the car, or what have you. I'll start off by saying that I've only experienced about two to three hiccups with streaming issues. All of those times I was on the cellular network so I'm not quick to pass blame on the service itself. Either way, I know many people have had legitimate issues, but I'm glad to see Beats Music is attempting to make them right by extending trials.

Moving on the the actual experience of using Beats Music, we'll start with initial setup. Upon first launching the app you're asked to pick from random artists you like, don't like, and really like. The same thing goes for genres. Beats Music then loads curated content based on what you've selected. Just like any other streaming service, you can like and dislike songs from here on out. The service should then get smarter and start to cherry pick content based on your listening habits. On almost every artist page and now playing page you can also scroll down and see a list of recommended artists and songs based on your tastes, which in my experience have been awesome suggestions.

As far as curation goes, I'm extremely impressed with what Beats Music has served up in the few short days that I've been using the service. I've been using Rdio for a long time now and while it also does an excellent job, it took several weeks for the service to finally pick up on my tastes and preferences. Beats Music managed to be on par with Rdio in a matter of days, which leaves me excited to discover even more music even faster than before.

When it comes to actually using Beats Music and navigating around the app in order to find things to listen to, the layout is one of the best I've used in terms of simplicity. The tabs that run along the top make it easy for you to choose how you want to find music. From there you can drill down further. The sentence method of selecting a playlist is not only entertaining but curates some pretty damned good playlists. This is the method I'd recommend using for parties and beach days. It reminds me of Songza to a certain extent, but with less boundaries.

Over the last several months we've seen multiple streaming services such as Rdio, Spotify, and Pandora switching up their offerings and making them more accessible. For many of them, that means free web streaming and limited access to their mobile apps without having to pony up any cash. Beats Music doesn't offer any of this and doesn't pretend that it isn't a premium service. Even though other streaming services also let you vote music up and down in order to learn your preferences, they aren't creating their entire service around it. For the most part, you're on your own. Songza initially broke this barrier but Beats Music appears to have completely shattered it.

Similar to Rdio and Spotify, Beats Music also gives you the option to physically download music for offline listening. One thing I've never cared for with Spotify is that they limit the amount of music you can do this with. Rdio and Beats Music both allow you to store as much music as you like, as long as you have the space available.

Pricing for Beats Music is $9.99 a month which puts it directly in line with other competitors such as Spotify and Rdio. AT&T subscribers can get an even better deal as a family plan for $15 a month. In my opinion, other services such as iTunes Radio and Pandora aren't on demand so pricing comparisons between them probably don't have much value since they cater to different audiences.

The good

• Well thought out design that makes discovering music not only easy, but fun
• Lots of ways to browse and sort your music which should suit almost anyone's preferences
• There's already over 20 million songs available in the Beats Music library
• Offline mode doesn't limit the amount of songs you can store on your iPhone
• As far as curation goes, Beats Music is dead on accurate 99.9% of the time

The bad

• No Mac app currently available
• Somehow MMMBop was played, and that's never okay

The bottom line

When it comes to music curation, Beats Music doesn't disappoint. The care and attention that went into balancing usability and feature set shows. Music is meant to be a personal experience and in that aspect, Beats Music has succeeded.

I'm going to give Beats Music some more time before I make a final decision, but I think I'm leaning towards finally letting go of Rdio, Mac app or not. Songza I'm still undecided about since it's only a few bucks a month and is super convenient for parties and random genres. If you've given Beats Music a trial run, let us know what you think so far. Are you thinking about ditching your current streaming service or are you sticking with it? Let me know in the comments!

• Free, Includes trial - Download Now

Musi for iPhone is a streaming music app that lets you build a music library that costs you literally nothing, with the help of YouTube. When you search through Musi, it's basically like searching YouTube for music. The only difference is that Musi only streams the audio portion.

You can start by searching for your favorite artists and adding the tracks you like. They are then added to your main library. From there you can sort songs into playlists however you'd like. Playlists are unlimited so you can create and manage them however you want. For many people, this may be a way to create albums. This is the only downside of Musi. Since it's simply searching YouTube for tracks, you need to add tracks one by one. It's not a huge deal if you don't mind creating playlists for artists or aren't the type of person that downloads entire albums anyways.

Musi also has support for AirPlay so you can stream anything you want to any AirPlay enabled device. Along with that you get background streaming as well so you can close out the app and continue doing something else while Musi continues to serve up tracks in the background.

Obviously Musi isn't an all-in-one music solution since it won't work if you don't have an internet connection, but it's a super convenient ones for folks like me who are finicky with music. I have a nasty habit of only listening to things for a few weeks and then never really returning to them again. For stuff like that, Musi is perfect since I'm not spending money on songs and tracks I won't even want to listen to in a few weeks.

If you give Musi a try, let us know what you think of it in the comments! Could you see yourself using it for music discovery and then only purchasing the albums and tracks you want to keep forever?

• Free - Download Now

I have no musical talent. I feel like we know each other well enough by now that I can confide this to you. I'm tone deaf and incapable of keeping a beat. So, I will not be reviewing djay 2. I can't. It's beyond me. What I can do, however, is relate how I've seen it used by those with actual talent, and how easy it was for me to use despite having none at all. And it turns out, when it comes to djay 2, that's a lot.

From the same team at Algoriddim that brought you the original, Apple Design Award (ADA) winning djay, djay 2 takes everything great and makes it greater. All the same super-approachable user interface elements from the first are back and not only easier to use for novices, but more informative to use even for seasoned professionals.

The turn tables, perfectly skeuomorphic as ever, now contain accurate groove representations for the albums. So, not only do they look more realistic, but trained eyes can pick out the patterns the same as on vinyl, and position the virtual needles with the same accuracy they could previously position the real life version.

The wave form representations, digital as ever, are now color coded so not only can you see the shape of the music, but you can see its composition better than ever, and that makes it easier than ever to pick just the section or instrument you want.

You get two turn tables (but no microphone, not where it's at) in landscape mode, and a single turn table view in portrait. That lets you easily choose between quantity and size, even on smaller devices like the iPad mini or iPhone. If you're just having fun, two turn tables is great even in the back of a car, on a road trip, killing time. If you're a pro, and want a multitouch screen in your setup, one big turn table on a full-sized iPad in portrait might suit you far better.

Automagic PerfectSync makes lining up two songs and keeping them lined up ridiculously easy. It just works, and with music, that's no small achievement. Slice mode divides the waveforms up by beat, and almost turns those synced waves into buttons. You can DJ like it's a keyboard. Unbelievable.

Again, I suck at music, but from an interface perspective there's just so much to love about djay2. There's a ton of functionality but djay 2 does a great job layering it so the simplest, most common stuff is up front, and the more granular, more specialized stuff is just a tap beneath, but only a tap or two away.

I had a chance to watch the Algoriddim team demo djay 2 for me a couple of weeks ago, and to speak with them about what was new and why. I came away considerably impressed. This isn't some intimidating, inaccessible pro audio tool. This is an inviting, intuitive pro audio tool that beginners can just as easily embrace and get something out of.

Hell, I've been using djay 2 for the last week or so as a music player. Watching those turn tables is a great experience. And being able to scratch like I'm in Breakin or Beat Street - only badly - is pure joy.

Pro DJs use djay, but I can't help but imagine people who dream of being DJs, or being musicians in general, will get even more out of djay 2, because they won't be afraid to play. They'll mold music like digital clay. They'll finger paint with it. Before iOS, and before apps like DJ, owning turn tables and large collections of vinyl was incredibly expensive. Learning to DJ was as much about opportunity as it was desire.

Now the first barrier has been lowered almost out of existence, and only the second remains. If you want to own the turn tables, all you have to do is reach out and touch them.

Usual disclaimer: djay 2 is a new app. Apple doesn't provide developers with a way to do paid upgrades, discounted or otherwise, on the App Store, so in order to be fairly and appropriately compensated for all their hard work and effort, they have no choice but to create a new app and charge for it again. Like many others, djay has chosen to offer a discounted sale price to everyone at launch, which is the only way Apple allows sale prices to be offered. The sale is so cheap, your next burger and fries will likely cost more, and djay would still be cheap at double or even quadruple the price.

• $0.99 - iPhone - Download now
• $4.99 - iPad - Download now

Songza for iPhone is a streaming music service that takes a different approach to discovering music than traditional apps such as Pandora. Songza comes complete with your own personal concierge. Just tell Songza what you're doing or what kind of mood you're in and you'll instantly be served with playlists curated by experts based on what you've specified.

Let's not forget that Songza also has the most beautiful and easy to use interface of any streaming service we've used thus far.

Upon launching Songza you'll be asked to either create a Songza account or log in with Facebook. After that you'll be taken directly to the concierge page. Here you can choose times of day and the activities your performing and you'll be given choices of playlists based on those activities. You can also auto-generate playlists based on your mood.

If you aren't one to listen to curated playlists without specifying at least an artist or genre that you like, you can do that as well. Searching for an artist will bring up playlists that contain tracks by them. Choosing a playlist will automatically start streaming it, typically starting off with the artist you specified. Just like other popular services such as Slacker, Pandora, and Spotify, you can vote songs up or down and add playlists to your favorites for easy access later.

While Songza doesn't seem to specify how large their music library is, they do seem to have a rather large collection with tracks spanning almost every genre I could think of. I listen to a lot of electronica and I've always had issues finding streaming services that actually have good selections outside of mainstream titles. I've found that Songza actually has a very good selection for electronica that allows me to discover new music and artists that I enjoy. And sometimes that's hard to do with more obscure genres. If you find a song you like and that you want to purchase, tapping on the shopping cart icon will instantly take you to that track in iTunes for purchase.

Another neat feature I really like about Songza is that high quality audio doesn't seem to be limited to just premium subscribers. You can actually customize it in settings to your exact model of headphones as well. There are lots of brands supported and I have no trouble finding the most common ones including manufacturers such as Bose, Harman/Kardon, iHome, JBL, Beats, Sennheiser, and more. You can also create playlists on the web version that other users can listen to. Due to licensing restrictions, you won't be able to listen to them yourself which is a bit of a letdown, but it is a way to add more value to the community.

As for a premium subscription to Songza (referred to as Club Songza), it'll cost you $0.99 a week so about $4 a month. With that you'll get no ads on the iPhone app as well as the web version. When it comes to song skips, you are limited and it seems to be about 10 tracks an hour or so.

The good

• Drop dead gorgeous interface
• High quality audio not limited to only paid subscribers
• Decently priced for the quality and track selection, one weekly fee without the complicated pricing tiers to deal with
• Concierge is an intriguing and unique feature that really makes Songza stand out
• Buffer times even over cellular network are surprisingly quick, dare I say quicker than Pandora and Spotify

The bad

• No custom curating playlists for yourself
• No way to really search and just play individual songs, but playlists based on them are good enough for users that just want to find music and go

The bottom line

Songza is not only the most gorgeous music streaming app I've ever come across, it also works amazingly well. If you're looking for custom song searches and the ability to make your own playlists, Songza isn't for you and you'll be happier with a service like Spotify but be aware the price tag will be much higher for the privilege.

But if you're looking for a way to discover new music instead of simply streaming what you already know, Songza is a perfect option. The playlists are well put together and the iPhone app is a joy to use. If music discoverability is your number one desire, give Songza a try. You'll be glad you did.

• Free - Download Now

Couch Music Player for iPad is not only a lot more visually appealing than the default music player, it functions like a music player should on the iPad by taking advantage of the screen real estate in more functional ways. Outside of just being a replacement music player, it's got support for AirPlay and up next playlists built right in.

I've never been a huge fan of the default Music app on the iPad. It seems like a port of the iPhone version that Apple never really took time to fine tune specifically for the iPad. Couch Music Player for iPad does just that but combines some of the features of iTunes for an even better experience. The first thing you will notice is the interface, which is a lot more slick and refined than the default Music app.

Couch Music player has support for both landscape and portrait orientation. Your controls will be either along the top and bottom or bottom and sides depending on the orientation. Your music controls are the usual suspects with support for scrubbing, playing and pausing, shuffling, volume, and AirPlay. You'll also see a thumbnail of the album cover as long as you've got album art in your library. The binocular icon will automatically take you to the currently playing track when tapped.

Along the sides or top you'll see tools to filter your library including the options to sort by artist, album, songs, or search. Not too much different than the options you've got in the default Music app. You also have some playlist controls that allow you to create playlists super quickly, and as many as you want. The paintbrush tool will allow you to quickly clear a playlist (queue) in a single tap. If you want to remove a single song from a list, just swipe it to the right and it'll disappear.

To add a new playlist, just tap on the plus sign. You can either tap song names in order to add them or simply drag them over. You can reorder them within a list however you'd like. Tapping the icon with two squares will take you to a grid view of all your playlists. Just tap on one to add or view it or tap the "x" in the upper right hand corner to remove it completely.

The good

• Great interface
• AirPlay support which allows you to completely replace the default Music app with Couch Music Player
• Playlists are super easy to create and edit, much easier than stock iOS

The bad

• No existing playlist support

The bottom line

If you aren't a fan of the default Music app for iPad, Couch Music Player will make a much better alternative. Whether you've got music on your device physically or use iTunes Match, Couch Music Player will auto import it with no work on your part. The playlist queue feature is excellent and something I plan on using a lot going forward.

The only options I'd like to see in a future version is the ability to view playlists I've already created in the default Music app as well as maybe social share options. I can live without options to share songs but sometimes I want to send a song title via SMS or Facebook to someone and it'd be a nice add-on. Regardless, Couch Music Player is already replacing the default Music app on my iPad.

• $1.99 - Download Now

Chordion is a music creation app for iPad that makes it easy for non-musicians to make music, yet includes advanced settings and modes for experienced musicians to get even more out of Chordion.

Chordion is setup with a keyboard on the right and big chord buttons on the left. Holding down a chord will either play through the notes set up in the arpeggiator or strum a chord, depending on the settings (arpeggiator is default). The keyboard is also setup so that only notes that are associated with the chord and key you're playing in for will be available. This means that anything you play will sound good. Hitting the play button will play a drum beat for you to play your music with.

Right out of the box, Chordion is ready for music creation, but the main screen is completely customizable. These settings include which key and scale to play from, how many chords are displayed (7, 12, 14, or 24), and the range of the keyboard. You can also create custom beats with the drum machine using kick, snare, closed hi-hat, cowbell, clap, and cymbal as well as customize the arpeggiator. For even more control, you can adjust the reverb, envelope, timbre, tremolo, wah, vibrato, and delay.

Chordion also allows you to record you music and supports MIDI which lets you play other instruments using Chordion's interface.

The good

• Simple enough for anyone to make music, yet advanced enough for an experienced musician to enjoy
• Play chords with left hand and melody with right hand
• Keyboard notes changed based on what chord you're playing
• Record your creations

The bad

• No local storage. Must save recordings to iTunes, Dropbox, or SoundCloud.

The bottom line

I grew up playing piano and a little guitar and consider myself an intermediate-level musician. Chordion is a great music app that lets anyone, even young children, pick up and immediately create music that sounds good. And those who have more knowledge of chords, scales, and beats, can make custom adjustments and use a more complicated setup for even more control.

• $4.99 - Download now

A like for music is something almost every human being has in common. While tastes can differ greatly, there's no denying almost all of us like listening to music. Soundtracker Radio aims to make not only listening to music more engaging, but finding music easier than ever. The premise is simple, you listen to the music you've already got on your iPhone or iPad through the Soundtracker Radio app and others around you can see and listen in.

The whole premise of Soundtracker Radio is to be able to interact with other users around you so everyone can find more music and discover what others enjoy. The music that's played through Soundtracker Radio is the music you've already got on your device or music your friends and contacts have that they're sharing. If you don't have any friends currently using Soundtracker Radio, that's okay, you can still check out trending music and stream those tracks live as well.

The main menu of Soundtracker Radio pulls out from the side and lets you switch between your activity feed which will feature what you and your friends have listened to lately to stations that you've created and more. The most engaging way of discovering music is to view the map around you by tapping on the Nearby tab. This will launch a map of your current location and show users around you and what they're currently listening to.

To create a station, you can tap on the main menu button and choose the create station option option underneath your name. From here you can choose to add up to 3 artists that you'd like to a mix and give it a name. Once you're done the station will automatically start streaming. One thing I have noticed is that album art doesn't always pull in correctly and mach the artist's name. For instance, one of my albums pulled in the cover art for Calvin Harris but it was actually Ellie Goulding. Hopefully bugs like this will get fixed quickly.

The good

• Clean and useable interface that's much more enjoyable than the default Music app
• Favorites makes it easy to find and tune back in to stations that you've found through discovery
• Nearby is an awesome feature if there are quite a few people in your area using the service, this is common is larger city areas

The bad

• Album art and actual artist don't always match up correctly which can throw you off when creating mixes
• If you use iTunes match, that music doesn't appear to be loaded, only songs and albums you have physically saved on your device

The bottom line

Soundtracker Radio is only as engaging as you and the people around you make it. If you've got a lot of friends that are always eager to learn about and download new music, this is definitely an app you'll want to share with them. The nearby option is really the best feature of the app but if no one around you is using the service, it makes it irrelevant pretty fast. While there are lots of mixes to discover under the trending section, sharing and exploring new music with friends is a lot more engaging.

Whether you're an audiophile or are just in search of new music to check out, we'd still suggest giving Soundtracker Radio a try despite some of its limitations.

• Free - Download Now

Every week, the editors and writers at iMore carefully select some of our favorite, most useful, most extraordinary apps, accessories, gadgets, and websites. This week's selections include an app that tracks your sleep, an app that displays updates from your social networks, a few games, an app for History geeks, a fun photo apps, and a music streaming service.

Sleep Cycle alarm clock - Chris Oldroyd

Sleep is the most important thing you can give your body and it is also one of the most popular areas that people have trouble a with. Having knowledge of how well you are sleeping can be invaluable so you can see what effect alcohol has on your sleeping and much more.

To get this information, I use an app called Sleep Cycle alarm clock, its main purpose is to monitor your sleep so it can wake you up during light sleep so you awake relaxed and in a good mood. I don’t use the alarm part of the app but instead solely use it to monitor my nights sleep.

All you need to do is put your iPhone under your sheet next to your pillow and it will sense your movements during the night and tell you how long you were asleep for and how deep that sleep was too. The app needs at least 5 consecutive days of data to be able to tell you how good your sleep is and then you can also start comparing different sleep patterns on different nights. Because of this app, I can see how drinking alcohol severely reduces the quality of my sleep and the length too. Little things like this can help you make good life choices.

I you want to use it as an alarm, you pick a a 30 minute period when you want to wake up. The app monitors your sleep patterns during that 30 minutes and wakes you gently when it thinks you are ready to wake. Quite clever but not something that I want to use.

• $0.99 – [Download Now](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/sleep-time?at=10l3Vy&ct=UUimUdUnU17772 -alarm-clock-sleep/id498360026?mt=8&at=10l3Vy&ct=d_im)

Screenfeeder - Joseph Keller

Sometimes I don’t want to keep opening apps in order to stay current with my social networks. Staying up to date requires jumping between apps several times per day. To make sure I keep on top of everything without constantly moving between apps, I use Screenfeeder. Screenfeeder puts all of your social feeds in one place and shows you new items as they come in, one at a time. While Screenfeeder limits you primarily to reading your feed, you can interact a little with different items. For instance, you can retweet and mark tweets as favorites or like posts from Facebook and Instagram. Screenfeeder keeps your screen on while in the app so it’s best to use it while your device is plugged in.

Screenfeeder is universal, offered for free, and allows you follow one of your feeds for free, with an option to buy access to each successive service for $0.99 each, or all services for $3.99.

• Free - Download Now

Wacky Rapids - Chris Parsons

I have to admit, although I've been playing this game for quite some time now I initially discovered it on BlackBerry. Not that that's a bad thing by any means, just rather interesting all things considered. Wacky Rapids comes to us via Paw Print Games with the goal of course being fairly simple. Get your racer down the river as fast as you can to both come in first place and score the largest amount of points. That may sound easy but given the obstacles and different levels you'll face its gets harder as the game goes on. Wacky Rapids is an accelerometer based game so there will be plenty of twisting and turning your device in order to keep your racer on the right track. Overall, it's a pretty fun game that's enjoyable for all ages plus, it's available as a free download. With over 120 missions to complete, it'll keep you busy.

• Free - Download now

## PWN - Simon Sage

When I was a kid, my dad assumed that because I spent all of my time playing video games, I could have a future in programming. If I was more industrious and less insolent, that might have panned out, but at least now I can pretend I'm a bad-ass hacker in this new competitive puzzle game called PWN. Players battle over nodes, which are computers embodied by little cubes connected in a network which is visible as a 3D mesh. Players can only hack into one node at a time, and it takes a few seconds to capture it. You can only capture nodes connected to ones you already control, and if nodes ever become separated from the rest of your network, they become vulnerable to attack. Players use a variety of special defensive and offensive abilities to control the whole network, and pick hacker characters that have certain bonuses when using those abilities. Every character has their own single-player campaign, or you can go up against a buddy in a multiplayer match over Bluetooth. If you've got a soft spot for the mid-90s movie Hackers, definitely check this one out.

• $1.99 - Download Now

History Here - Ally Kazmucha

I am a huge History Channel nerd and if I'm not watching my regular shows, I've always got a learning channel or home improvement channel on. When I came across the History Here app, I was slightly intrigued. It basically shows you all the historical areas and attractions in your vicinity. I was past intrigued when I realized there are lots of things in my immediate area that I never even knew about.

History Here will use your current location to find things around you that are of historical importance. Some of these are attractions or museums while others are parks or geographical locations. Whether you're into history or not, it's worth taking a look. Never hurts to learn something new!

• Free - Download Now

Photolettering - Rene Ritchie

John Gruber of Daring Fireball linked to Photolettering yesterday and I've been playing around with it ever since. The gist is this: take or open photos, neaten them up the way you like, then add House Industries fonts and Photo-Lettering alphabets to take them to the next level, and share away.

There's an art to layering finely crafted lettering onto eye popping photography that makes the end result far more than the sum of its parts. It's something high end posters, postcards, and book covers have done for years. And now, thanks to Photolettering, you can do it simply and easily right on your iPhone.

Photolettering is free with a few fonts, additional fonts are available via in-app purchase. They're $0.99 each or $9.99 for all of them. Check it out and let me know if you have as much fun with it as I'm having.

• Free - Download now

Slacker Radio - Leanna Lofte

This week, I started working out at a gym today and since I don't have a single song stored on my iPhone and must have music to work out, I turned to Slacker Radio. I've had a membership with Slacker for a long time now and the interface on the iPhone (and web) recently received a nice makeover. There are other similar services out there, but I've always been happy with Slacker.

• Free - Download now

Your choice?

Now that we've chosen our favorites for the week, we want to hear yours! Did you pick up a killer app, accessory, or game this week? Let us know in the comments below!

Imagine you're at a party. A totally epic all-night event with hot girls walking around the pool, wearing bikinis and sipping champagne. With ping pong tables covered in red SOLO cups, surrounded by guys with popped collars wearing ironic retro sunglasses and saying "bro". There's a guy in cargo shorts doing a keg stand, and you're pretty sure not everyone here is old enough to drink. You hear cheers from behind you and turn around just in time to see a young man run by, wearing nothing but aviators and carrying a beer in each hand.

It's okay, I wasn't invited to that party either. But I was invited to Party Monster.

Created by Canadian app makers Steamclock, Party Monster is available as a universal app for the iPhone and iPad, and despite an identical feature set, they each—to my mind—offer a different utility. But I'll get to that in a moment.

You can't have a party without music. The creation of a party mix used to be the exclusive job of the host, but in recent years we've seen dramatic advances in party music technology with the invention of iTunes, the iPhone, and the Apple TV. Now we live in a world where anyone can grab the Apple TV remote and find something they like. Or, if you're a jerk about it, criticize your host's taste in music. (That last part wasn't a joke—I once had a date sift through my music in iTunes and genuinely criticize me for not listening to John Mayer. I mean, really.)

I didn't have time to throw an awesome party to test Party Monster, so I sat down with my a martini and my dog Pixel to see how well it worked in a me-and-my-dog party environment. I tested both iPhone and iPad versions, streaming music over AirPlay to my Apple TV and imagining a few scenarios where I might be doing this while my attention was divided.

With both the iPhone and iPad versions, you create a playlist on the fly, either based on an existing playlist or by pulling songs from your library ad-hoc. The primary difference is that, with the iPad, you can keep an eye on the playlist view while looking for the perfect track to add. On either device, adding songs is as easy as finding them. Once tapped, they appear in the playlist, next in queue. If you want it to play later in the list, you simply tap and drag it to where you want it.

The gestures don't stop there. To play a song, swipe to the right. Swipe right again to pause. To delete a track from the list, swipe left. If it seems like the creators are borrowing from Clear (the gesture-based todo list app), that's no coincidence. Steamclock tells me they were inspired by the simplicity of swipe-based actions, which seemed like a perfect fit for a party music app.

Back to my martini party with the dog. It wasn't all rock and roll; because Party Monster uses the iOS music library, you're limited to on-device DRM-free music. That means that older songs from iTunes won't play, but more notably it means that you'll be hearing a lot of silence if you rely heavily on iTunes Match. Party Monster is kind enough to show a little circle-and-line icon next to unplayable tracks, but as my iPad will attest, using iTunes Match means either a lot of downloading or a lot of repeated songs.

Assuming you do have plenty of music on your device, I found the iPhone app to be exactly the sort of thing I would want to use to discretely add songs to a party playlist as the night goes on. Because maybe it's a Halloween party and everyone has kazoos and right now is the perfect moment for Don't Stop Believin' to come on for everyone to kazoo along with. For a more social experience, I'd probably leave my iPad out with the app open and encourage my friends to poke around and help create the perfect mix.

And that brings us to the two areas where I think Party Monster really shines. First, as a social experience. With digital everything, gone are the days when you could casually recognize an album cover on a shelf, then poke through a friend's record collection and get a sense of their taste, chatting about your shared favorites and "oh my god you have Harvey Danger's first album dude you should check out their later stuff it's SO much better". Party Monster for iPad gives us a chance to get a little bit of that back. While looking for the next track, your friends will get to learn a little bit about the music you like, for better or worse. That's sure to lead to plenty of laughs and at least a few recommendations. It isn't the first app to do this, but it's the first I've seen that does it well and makes it fun.

But then Party Monster offers something completely unexpected: the perfect musical road trip experience. Man, what I wouldn't have given for this app when I rode shotgun with my friend from Denver to Vegas years ago. Or any other time I've ever been a passenger in a car, really. The old method of queueing up each song individually means constantly staring at your device, and while the Music app has offered ad-hoc playlists forever, you have to create the list before listening. Less than optimal. Party Monster not only simplifies the process in a way that any passenger could both use and enjoy, but it democratizes music for the whole car. Pass the phone around and give everyone a chance to contribute.

Aside from utility, it's worth mentioning that this is a good-looking app. The interface is light, but where it shows it shines. The purple highlighting is just enough to give you a sense of familiarity and context without feeling heavy-handed like branding. Some of the shadows are a little strong, but if that's how far I have to go to find something to complain about, we're in pretty good shape. Steamclock clearly cares about sweating the small stuff. If I had to request a feature, it would be the ability to save playlists. I know they can't save them to the music library proper, but even in-app saving would be plenty.

My dog and I both enjoyed the app. But in case you're still not sold, Party Monster offers the single best settings option ever:

It's on by default. Canada, we forgive you.

• $1.99 - Download now

Pandora for iPhone and iPad received a huge update that includes a complete redesign and tight social integration. It still includes the same great ability to create personal stations of music that include your favorite artists and songs and similar music , but now you can share your latest discoveries to Facebook and Twitter, follow your friends, re-discover your favorite music on your profile page, get full lyrics, and more.

Pandora 4.0 features 4 main tabs: Stations, Feed, Profile, and Settings. From any of the tabs, you can quickly and easily get to the Now Playing screen where you can mark the song you're listening to with the thumbs up/down, pause, skip, and more. Tapping the button in the top right corner will you take you the current artist's page where you can explore and learn about the artist and track including biographies, album discographies, lyrics, and more.

New to Pandora 4.0 are the Feed and Profile tabs. In the feed, you'll see what your Pandora and Facebook friends are listening to, what they like and dislike, and listen to their stations. From your Profile, you'll basically see what information is being pushed out to your friends' feeds including what you're listening to, stations you've created, and who you've started following. You can also leave comments on profile pages.

Some of the other new features in Pandora 4.0 include a timer to the track progress indicator, support for the iPhone 5's larger display, support for BMW vehicles, and several stability and performance enhancements. It's also important to note that the iPad version has a bug that prevents iOS 6 users from using landscape mode. Pandora says they will release a fix shortly.

Pandora is is a free ad-supported music service. To drop the ads, you can subscribe to Pandora One for $3.99 per month and also enjoy higher quality audio, a desktop application, custom skins, and fewer interruptions.

So what do you think of the new Pandora? Personally, I find the new features and social integration to be a great addition, but I'm not a huge fan of the new look as it seems very basic and boring. I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!

Free - Download Now

There are always new movies, music, books, TV shows, and apps coming out and friends giving recommendations about the old and new. It can be hard to keep track of what blockbuster hits you wanted to see, which Indie band your friend was telling you about, and that classic book you've been meaning to pick up for ages. With Recall for iPhone, you'll never forget again! Recall lets you quickly add music, movies, tv shows, apps and books to your list and provides you with all the info you need, allowing you to get in and out of the app within seconds. If you want to be reminded on a release date, Recall will do that for you, or if you want to be reminded to download that book on the night before you travel, Recall will do that too. Unfortunately, it's U.S.-only at the moment, so you'll need a U.S. iTunes account to use it.

The interface of Recall is nice and basic and easy to use. The default tabs are Music, Movies, Apps, and Books, but you can swap out with TV Shows, Other, or All if you wish by tapping Edit from the More tab. From the sidebar, you can choose what content appears on the tab: My Items, New Releases, or Top Charts.

To add an item, simply tap the plus sign and type in the name of the movie, artist, song, app, book, author, or tv show. When you make your selection, you'll be given the Rotten Tomatoes rating, a description, and the cast, if available. Tapping on the Rotten Tomatoes rating will take you to the website or Rotten Tomatoes app if you have it installed.

If the item you searched for is currently available in iTunes, the App Store, or the iBookstore, you can head directly to appropriate store to purchase it or you can add it to you list and set up a reminder to purchase it later. If it's coming out sometime in the future, you can have Recall remind you when the release date has arrived.

Although Recall is integrated with Apple's stores for purchasing, the database is not. Recall is using their own database for release dates, and since DVD and iTunes release dates are not always the same, this can be rather annoying and you'll need to set up custom reminder dates if you want to be reminded on an iTunes release date. Hopefully the developers tie in better iTunes integration in the future.

The good

• Quickly search for Music, Movies, Books, Apps or TV Shows
• Schedule reminder notifications
• Browse new releases and top charts
• Archive items you like for later reference
• Share items via e-mail, Twitter or Facebook
• Add non-media related recommendations

The bad

• Release dates are not integrated with iTunes
• U.S. only

The bottom line

Recall is a very beautiful and efficient way to keep track of and be reminded of movies, music, books, TV shows, and apps that you don't want to forget about. Adding items is super fast so that it's not a hassle to quickly use Recall in an situation. With Recall, you'll never forget another media recommendation again.

To see Recall in action, check out the promo video below.

$0.99 - Download Now

Recall from Overcommitted on Vimeo.

As is often the case when fall approaches and an Apple event draws near, rumors have begun to swirl about Apple starting a Pandora-style streaming/subscription music service. Even though Apple has resolutely stuck to iTunes purchases for music, and added the subscription-based iTunes Match music locker service, the allure of true streaming solution is such that everyone and their journal of record seems to agree Apple is working on something like it, to launch sometime. Today Ethan Smith and Jessica E. Vascellaro of the Wall Street Journal report:

Ben Sisario and Nick Wingfield of the New York Times add:

iAds would subsidize the service, reportedly, much as they do with Pandora already.

With Apple having explored but not pulled the trigger on streaming/subscription music offerings before, it's hard to tell just how likely they are to pull the trigger on this version, this time. Apple's had incredible success, both with Steve Jobs and Eddy Cue, in making content deals -- more than any other company on the planet. That's a mixed blessing, however, as they've faced equal and opposite push back from media companies who fear their online dominance.

Apple has the iPhone 5 event scheduled for September 12, and is rumored to be holding an iPad mini event sometime in October as well. iTunes and music will probably get some attention at one of those. It would likely take a lot of movement, and a lot of deals, to see any streaming/subscription music announcements made by then.

Of course, if they do, they'll have my money at "boom". How about you?

Source: Wall Street Journal, New York Times

SoundShare for iPhone is a social networking service that focuses on sharing your music with others as well as discovering new music based on what your followers are listening to. It does for music what Instagram already does for photos and a little more than current music sharing services already offer.

SoundShare will currently integrate into your built-in iPod app and will share what you're listening to with your SoundShare followers. There's already support for services such as Spotify and Pandora built-in so as soon as developers start taking advantage of those you'll be able to share from a lot of services other than just the music you have in your iPod app.

If you'd like to share what you're listening to with your Twitter followers and Facebook friends you can link up both services but unlike Spotify, you aren't forced to share your listening history with either network. You can also toggle on a privacy setting in Settings that will require followers to be approved by you before they can see your music history and share with you.

From the main screen of SoundShare you'll see a list of songs you've listened to and a few statistics about yourself. SoundShare makes it easy to like, share, preview, and comment on music right from your main screen. Swipe to the right on any song title to bring up an options menu. You can also view what songs are popular under the Trending tab.

The best part of SoundShare is the ability to preview songs that others are listening to natively in the app. You'll see any comments or likes that your friends have left as well. If you like what you here you can jump right to that exact song in the iTunes store to purchase it. It will just get better once services like Spotify and Pandora start filtering into the app.

The good

• Great interface that's easy to use and learn your way around
• Privacy settings make it easier to control who sees what you're listening to which is something services like Spotify don't offer
• Native previews make it easy to check out songs that your friends are commenting on or liking with a single tap

The bad

• Since it's a private network your friends will need to have a SoundShare account. This may limit the social aspect until the app gets more publicity
• If you heavily rely on Spotify or Pandora, SoundShare can't (yet) filter your content in until those services jump on board

The bottom line

SoundShare definitely has the potential to become a great social network focused strictly around music. While Spotify and Pandora allow you to explore new music and create playlists off music you already like, neither gives you the opportunity to heavily network with the people that matter the most to you. With SoundShare you can choose who to follow and since it's based on the music you already own and love, you'll have a better idea of what users have simliar tastes in music.

The only current issue many users will run into is the lack of friends and family members to follow and share with. You'll either need to recommend the app to them or find others that are already using it. If the service gets the hype it deserves hopefully that'll change in the very near future.

Free - Download Now

Apple gave GarageBand a substantial update after the release of iOS 5.1 – in preparation for the new iPad. The graphics have been bumped up in quality and the options for creating music have been enhanced by the inclusion of iCloud integration, multiple users over Bluetooth and new instruments.

The premise of GarageBand is just as the name implies – amateur musicians and musician wannabees can play, record and share music they create using instruments on the iPad.

Getting Started with GarageBand

From the startup page of GarageBand, touch the “+” icon in the top left corner. You are immediately presented with the option to start a New Song or copy a song from iTunes. For our purposes, we will select a New Song.

Choosing an Instrument

Selecting a New Song brings you to the instrument selection screen. Swipe through the various instrument choices to choose your first instrument to play.  The instruments are in two formats – Smart instruments and regular instruments. Smart instruments let you jump right in an hit one button to play an entire chord (as opposed to holding down all the notes individually. While Smart instruments seem to be the clear choice for people with little or no musical background, they are still very useful even to seasoned musicians.

The instruments included in GarageBand are both Smart   versions of:

1. Guitar
2. Keyboard
3. Bass
4. Strings – Brand new in GarageBand
5. Drums

There are then regular versions of:

1. Keyboard
2. Drums

Lastly, GarageBand also includes a Guitar Amp which allows you to plug in your guitar using a third party accessory to classic amps and stompboxes.

The options are actually pretty staggering. In this example, I chose Keyboard and then when I touched the Grand Piano icon I could choose from eight different Keyboards.

Options from Within each Instrument

The instruments in GarageBand are very true to life. For example, when I chose Electric Piano from the options in the Keyboard, I now had nobs for Decay, Bell, Tremolo and Chorus. With each adjustment, the tone and character of each note changes.

When I chose the Smart Guitar, I could then choose to play an Acoustic, Classic Clean, Hard Rock or Roots Rock guitar. Just like with the keyboards, each guitar comes with its own controls. I can play an entire chord by touching the name of the chord – for example, if I touch Em, I play an E minor chord. Or, I can play individual notes within a chord for “fingerpicking” just like a real guitar.

The options are so comprehensive that you can spend hours just tinkering with musical possibilities before you are even ready to record a song.

Recording a Song

GarabeBand allows you to not only play around with all these instruments, but to actually record a song and layer it with different instruments.  Once you pick your first instrument, touch the red Record button along the top bar of icons.

As soon as you touch record, the recording bar – divided into measures – appears at the top. Just keep playing your song and when you are ready, touch the Stop icon. You can then touch the Play icon to play back what you recorded. Your recording gets saved and is now available to “layer over” other instruments or edit.

Editing a Song

Next to the instrument icon along the top bar of icons is the Edit icon. When you switch to Edit mode, you see the timeline of the song at the top. To edit your song:

1. Double tap the song in the timeline.
2. Choose to Cut, Copy, Delete, Loop, Split or Edit the song.
3. In Edit mode, touch a note to Cut, Copy, Delete or change the Velocity
4. Touch in an empty part of the song to add a note.

I found the editing process a bit cumbersome and complicated and it in involved some trial and error to actual pin down a specific note and change its character or delete it entirely.

To add a pre-recorded instrumental accompaniment to your musical creation, just touch the Apple Loop icon along the top right hand bar of icons and choose an instrument to add to the time line. You can select the number of bars, the genre along with the instrument. Just hold and drag to the timeline. In this example, I dragged the 70s Electric Piano 08 right the position in the timeline where it was needed. Now, when I hit play, both instruments are playing simultaneously.

To Add a New Instrument to the Project

Touch the “+”icon in the lower left hand corner to get to the main instrument selection screen.  Choose your instrument as you did above and practice, practice and practice some more! When you are ready, touch the record button like you did earlier and start recording your new part to the song.

What is incredibly cool here is that everything you have recorded to this point is played along with the metronome to help you keep your beat. Just come into the song at the right time with the new instrument and it will be “layered” with the other instruments you record to make your song.

Touch the Edit icon again and you will now see the new layer of the song. You can edit out parts or add in notes just as you did above.

Adjusting the Settings from the Edit Screen

There are a few additional icons along the right hand side of the top bar. The icon next to the Apple Loops icon adjust individual settings in the instruments. Just highlight a section of one of the instrumental recordings and adjust  settings like Reverb and Echo, for example.  Next to that icon is a general Settings icon which allows you to adjust:

1. Metronome – turn it on or off.
2. Count-In – this gives you time to jump into the song.
3. Sound – of the Metronome
4. Tempo
5. Key
6. Time Signature
7. Fade Out
8. AirPlay.

To Save your project, tough the My Songs icon and you will return to the main screen after saving the new song.

Using the Guitar Amp

One of the very cool features of GarageBand is the ability to use built in guitar amps and then record yourself actually playing your guitar.  There are third party accessories like the Griffin Guitar Connect Cable and the Apogee JAM Guitar input which work well for electric guitars. You can also use the built in microphone of the iPad and an acoustic guitar.

I used my Martin acoustic and the iPad mike to record a few tracks. The first thing to do is to pick an amplifier.  The default is the Clean Combo amp, but just touch the Clean Combo name to see all the amps available. You can also just swipe left or right to choose an amp.

Each amp has true to life controls, so if you own an old American Tremolo, the controls will be just like those on your own amp. I recommend playing with the controls to get the right sound, practicing your song over and over and then get ready to record.

Prior to recording, you can add beat boxes by touching the icon just under the timeline. You can also add sections to your song – giving you additional bars of recording by touching the “+” icon at the end of the timeline. If you know that the section you want to record repeats over and over – just select the Duplicate function.

Tuning your Guitar

Touch the icon of the tuning fork to find a built in tuner for your guitar – which is very handy. Strum one note at a time and the tuner will show you how far off you are from the actual note. What you want is to get the note to show up Green – meaning that your string is in tune.

Recording From a Real Guitar

Once you are ready to record, touch the red Record button as you did above and just start playing.  When you are done, touch the Stop Recording button. You can then Undo the recording if you made some mistakes or touch the Edit button as you did above to get to the editing sections. From there, you can add Apple Loops of add some percussion or maybe a piano riff or two to your guitar recording to make a complete song. Touch the My Songs icon to save your composition and get to the main screen.

Starting a Jam Session

A good GarageBand has lots of folks jamming, and now you can do this with GarageBand as well. To start a Jam session:

1. Touch the Jam session icon next to the volume control in the top bar.
2. Turn on Bluetooth if it is not already turned on (the iPad will prompt you to do this)
3. Then, you can either Create a session or Join a session if someone with an iPad near you already started one.
4. Once the iPads are connected, the “host” controls the tempo and the recording.
5. Both parties (or, up to four) play their tracks and then all tracks will show up on the iPad that started the Jam Session for editing.

Deleting Songs

After you start playing with GarageBand, you might collect a few songs in your start up page that you want to delete. Deleting a song in GarageBand is very intuitive:

1. Touch the Edit button in the top right corner
2. The songs in your start up page begin to shake.
3. Touch and hold the song you want to delete and the top bar indicator will now read “1 Song Selected.”
4. Touch the Trash Can icon and delete the song.

Using iCloud

New in GarageBand is the ability to use iCloud to share songs or store them for future retrieval.  To share a song that you create on GarageBand with your iCloud account just:

1. Touch the edit button in the top right hand corner
2. Touch and hold the song to select it.
3. Touch the iCloud icon (the icon furthest to the right along the title bar)
4. Touch on the Upload Song to iCloud prompt
5. You will then notice a small iCloud icon on top of the song.

All is not a bed of roses here. What I wanted to do was upload to iCloud and then just have it magically appear on my Mac. If I upload to iCloud, that works between iOS devices.  So if I use iCloud on my iPhone and my iPad, any project done in one appears on the other.

However, to get a song onto Garage band on my Mac, I have to:

1. Touch the Edit button.
2. Touch the Share as button.
3. Choose iTunes from the menu.
4. Then Choose either iTunes or GarageBand.
5. Choose GarageBand, and sync your iPad with the computer.
6. Click on the Apps tab in iTunes and then if your click on GarageBand – you will see your song.

You can also use the Share Song to icon to send your song to Facebook, YouTube, SoundCloud, iMovie or via email.

The good

• Same great iPad interface, now in Retina
• New jamming features makes for an incredibly fun, social experience
• Additional instruments broaden GarageBand's range

The bad

• Editing process is still a bit cumbersome and not always intuitive
• iCloud still doesn't work as it should with the Mac (and might not until OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion launches later this year.

The bottom line

GarageBand for the iPad is an incredibly deep and powerful app to play around with. It was very easy to get lost in this app for hours and not really produce anything except a few hours of fun.

Once you master the feel of the app and learn how to record and edit, it really is possible to turn out some quality songs. Throw in the built in amplifiers and the ability to connect an electric guitar or just play an acoustic and use the built in mike and you have a great tool.

If you are a musician  - for real or just in your own mind – this app will provide hours of fun.

Are you a GarageBand user? Check out this forum thread and share your thoughts!

I'm not the most spontaneous person in the world – my wife and kids would say that is a huge understatement. I am a bit programmed and disciplined and really work on "trying new things."

So, in my disciplined way, I decided that at 48 years of age, it was time for a mid-life crisis. Since I'm not terribly spontaneous, I have an amazing, beautiful wife and six great kids, my mid-life crisis needed to be something out of the norm.

I thought about getting a motorcycle, but my family seems to think I lack the proper coordination and that it might end very badly for me if I tried that. Then it dawned on me – what I wanted to learn how to do was play the guitar. I have been playing the piano since I was about six, I knew music theory and I played in bands in high school; but what I really wanted to do was learn the guitar.

I found my goal, and set upon my journey with iPad 2 in hand to start my adventure. The first thing I needed to do was buy a guitar. I fired up my eBay app to see if I could get a good used one. When nothing jumped out at me, I launched the PriceGrabber app and looked for a guitar that got a great write up in Guitarist Magazine that I had just read using iOS 5's Newsstand.

I ordered my new guitar and started looking for apps to teach me how to use it. I was very surprised that when I did a search for "Guitar" in the App Store, I found over 800 iPad apps and close to 2000 iPhone apps. Where to start? I narrowed my search to "Beginner Guitar" to narrow the field a bit. Pay dirt!

I found Beginner Guitar Songs from GuitarJamz.com. Marty Schwartz, who is an amazing guitar teacher, showed me how to hold the guitar, how to hold the pick, basic strumming patterns and then introduced easy chords to learn. I quickly progressed through the Beginner Lesson Series and advanced to Important Guitar Chords. After an afternoon, I could play an E minor, A major, D major, G major, E major, A minor and C major chords –not bad for the first day.

The next morning of my first weekend with a guitar, I fired up the Beginner Guitar app again and went through the Strumming Patterns and tried to learn some songs from the Easy Guitar Songs section. This was so much fun and I could really see some progress.

One thing that Marty did mention in the lessons was keeping your guitar in tune. I had forgotten about that. I touched base with some musician friends and read up on line. It seems that the "purists" like to use a tuning fork, the "realists" like to use an analog chromatic tuner and the "techies" like the digital chromatic tuner. I just couldn't see dropping close to a hundred bucks on a tuner when I knew there must be "…an app for that." Back to the App Store – this time searching for Guitar Tuner. I came across many options, but I settled on Cleartune Chromatic Tuner. For $3.99, I figured it would be worth a shot and it is great. Play a note on the guitar and the "analog looking" dial shows you how far off from the actual note you are. I just tuned my strings and kept plucking and tuning until the guitar was in perfect tune.

Now I was ready to learn more chords – I had about seven under my belt and I wanted more. I found the Howcast Guitar Lessons app and found over 140 video lessons – mostly chords and progressions. I spend the better part of the day learning more chords. I continued each day; adding a new chord and then reviewing the ones I had learned. By the end of the first week I had about 10 chords I was comfortable with. By the end of the second week, I had about fifteen I could remember and play. The Howcast app also taught me how to play scales and I learned the Pentatonic scales and the Blues scale and felt like I was ready to dive into some music.

I so enjoyed the GuitarJamz app that I looked for more stuff from Marty Schwartz and found Blues Licks, Solo Guitar and 100 Lessons and I downloaded all those apps. I then saw that in addition to the apps and the website, Marty had hundreds of lessons for free on his YouTube channel. I watched, learned and experimented to see what I could do. I had to remember, I was only a little over two weeks into my new hobby.

What I learned was that some of my favorite classic rock songs were pretty easy. America's "Horse With No Name" – two chords. The Beatles' "Let it Be" – four chords. Cat Stevens' "Peace Train" – four chords. I could do this.

Over the next few weeks – and now after about four months – I have been watching YouTube videos, using the Chromatic Tuner app and downloading guitar sheet music via the Songsterr Plus app. The guitar learning apps showed me how to read guitar tablature and chord diagrams – so I can do that as well.

As I write this, I have just learned the guitar solo to Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here" – something I never envisioned I would be doing four months into learning how to play the guitar. Now, I still need lots of work and I'm sure my technique needs improving. Thanks to a Valentine's present for my first "in-person" guitar lesson, I hope to work on those things and more. However, the reality is that I really did learn how to play the guitar using my iPad.

Have you learned how to do something new using your iPad? Let us know by posting a comment below or joining this discussion thread in our forums.

Ringtonium is the best app for creating custom ringtones -- and alert tones -- on your iPhone. While record labels are happy to resell you ringtones for the same tracks you've already bought -- often at the same or even higher prices than the full song -- if you don't mind a few quick steps, you can save some money and get exactly the ringtone you want, exactly the way you want it.

Although there are plenty of ringtone creation apps available in the App Store to do just that, none of them are a well rounded or useful as Ringtonium. The user-interface is extremely easy to use and builds on some of the unique syncing abilities available in iTunes, along with a number of outside apps like SoundCloud, and of course social network sharing.

Upon launching the app you'll be asked to choose between an existing track from the iPod music library, or creating your own track by using the iPhone's built-in microphone. Once you've got a track to work with, you can then jump into the mix and get into the details with a fine-tuned audio scrubber for selecting your start and stop times. If you need even more control over your start/stop times, Ringtonium offers a dial with the ability to drill down to milliseconds for absolute precision.

If you chose to record from the microphone, the quality is remarkably high and distortion free, even at higher input volumes. That's surprising and very welcome.

Ringtonium also has an included FX panel where you can add fade in and fade out, adjust the pitch or reverse the audio, and add flange or echo effects. The quality of the included effects are top-notch and Ringtonium lets you go for the longest ringtone duration Apple allows -- something most other ringtone apps haven't caught onto yet.

• Fast to use
• Well thought out design and user interface layout.
• Supports exporting using iTunes or with 3rd party cloud integration.
• Fine-tuned slider and dialer let you set perfect start/stop times.
• Modify or delete custom ringtones within the app -- no iTunes required!
• Video tutorials included.

• Cannot mix/combine multiple tracks.
• Limited built-in FX.

#

The bottom line

Ringtonium is simple and easy to use, and best of all saves you money by letting you use your already purchased songs as ringtones. If you've been looking for the best ringtone app for your iPhone, look no further than Ringtonium -- it's the best option currently available and excels in every area.

If you've created home videos with your iPhone but are having a hard time finding music to accompany them, YouTube Producer has come to the rescue! YouTube Producer offers tens of thousands of copyright-free music tracks that you can add background, ambiance, and mood to your personal productions.

Copyright-free is the key point here. Most of us have big music libraries we'd like to use, but the songs they're filled with are copyrighted. If we add them to our videos, we could get complaints, and YouTube could remove the videos. Using YouTube Producer alleviates this concern completely. It has a great selection of music that can be sorted by genre, mood or tempo, and it's 100% safe to use.

There are some limitations, however. Namely, the music you choose for your video must be placed in the background of the entire video. Using it's music for just your intro, for example, is not an option. You do have control over volume, however -- either mix the music with the video's existing audio, or have the new music replace the audio track completely.

Also, YouTube Producer isn't a full blown video editor. If that's what you're looking for, you need to pick up a copy of Apple's iMovie instead.

If you just want to add a soundtrack or some background music to your the videos in your iPhone Camera roll and easily upload them to YouTube, then this is the app for you.

• Free - App Store link

Play It is a music player for the iPhone and iPad that is controlled solely with gestures. It also lets you customize the look and syncs with iCloud so that your settings match on all devices. Additionally, Play It supports the new Twitter function in iOS 5, so that you can quickly tweet about the music you're listening to.

Check out the promo video below!

Play It is a fun and useful app to control your music with innovative, but simple gestures.

• iCloud
• Personal colors
• Twitter
• Multi touch
• Useful on the road
• AirPlay support
• Headphone remote support
• Controls from the lock screen
• Synchronization with iTunes
• Uses the music from the iPod app
• Also plays popcasts and audio books
• Shuffle function
• Search function
• Sort albums by album or artists

The updated includes:

• iCloud
• Colors and scroll style personalization
• iOS 5 Twitter (auto and manual)
• Lyrics
• New gestures
• Albums crash fix
• Other important bug fixes

Play It is available on the iPhone and iPad for $0.99.

[App Store link]

Have an app you'd love to see featured on TiPb? Email us at iosapps@tipb.com, tell us about your app (include an iTunes link), and we'll take a look.

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Progression is a guitar tab editor for your iPad that gives you the convenience of an easy-to-use guitar tab creation tool right at your fingertips. It is loaded with features and functions such as vibrato, slides, string bending, hammer-ons, pull-offs, whammy-bar, bass slap, effects, mutes, and harmonics.

• Enter, edit, and playback tab, notation, or both
• Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar, and Bass Guitar samples included (add additional instruments such as Classical Guitar, Acoustic Fingerstyle Guitar, Mandolin, and Banjo)
• Search for tabs online
• Open NOTION files
• Open Guitar Pro files (versions 3-5)
• Clean and intuitive user interface
• Interactive 24-fret guitar fretboard for fast entry
• Quick and simple selection palette
• Distortion and reverb effects
• Full audio mixer
• Convenient file sharing
• Full-range of guitar functions and articulations including: bends, vibrato, slides, hammer on, pull off, mutes, whammy bar techniques, bass slap, harmonics, and more…
• Drag and drop cursor option
• Insert text
• Quick “Undo” and “Redo” functions
• Chord and melody modes
• Easy delete and erase capabilities
• Help Files
• Enter and edit title and composer information
• In-App Purchases to add more instruments and gear
• Free scales and exercises included

If you pick this one up, let us know what you think! Check out the screenshots after the break.

[$4.99, with in-app purchases - iTunes link]

Have an app you'd love to see featured on TiPb? Email us at iosapps@tipb.com, tell us about your app (include an iTunes link), and we'll take a look.

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YouTube Link

Ampkit is a guitar rig emulation app available for both iPhone and iPad. For this review, I was using the Ampkit+ iPad version and had access to all the extra add-ons and packages. It's worth noting there is a free version of the app as well. Hardware wise, you'll need to pick up the Ampkit LiNK in order to connect your guitar to your iPad or iPhone, available for $39.99. This is similar to the same process as Amplitube 2 and the iRig which I took a look at earlier this month.

Click through for a video demonstrating sound quality, some thoughts, and how I think it stacks up against the competition.

[iTunes Link]

The first thing I noticed upon installing Ampkit+ for iPad is that it's a universal binary. Seeing as the paid version is currently $19.99 in the US app store, it's nice to see you have the choice to run it on your iPhone and/or iPad without paying twice. Amplitube 2 has two separate apps, so if you have an iPad and an iPhone, you'll have to purchase both if you want to use both versions. Amplitube 2 is also currently $19.99 for the full version on both iPad and iPhone.

As far as what's available within the app, you'll see exactly what you'd expect. You have the ability to scroll through several different presets as well as create your own rigs. You can then save them in a favorites list for future use. While filming the video, we didn't have trouble finding sounds or rigs to match what type of sound we were looking for. If you can't find it, you certainly have the option to build your own custom rigs.

One issue I did notice with Ampkit that we never experienced with Amplitube was bad feedback. We tried both apps with headphones, surround sound systems, and standalone tower speakers. We never received any bad feedback with the Amplitube + iRig setup. We did, however, experience some annoying feedback with Ampkit + LiNK. This typically only happened when applying distortion pedals. It didn't happen very often but we could never find an explanation as to why it would do this sporadically.

When it comes to the regular app, I preferred the layout of Ampkit over Amplitube. In Amplitube's defense, I did use the iPhone version while I had access to the iPad version of Ampkit. I didn't enjoy how cramped the Amplitube layout was on the iPhone. I downloaded the iPhone version of Ampkit as well just for comparison. The layout just seems to be a bit more thought out than Amplitube's is. When it comes to software, I think Ampkit is a more pleasing experience.

The hardware comes out about the same, minus the feedback issue we experienced with the Ampkit LiNK. When it comes down to it, I think you'll have to decide which application you enjoy using more. If you're debating between Ampkit and Amplitube, I'd say download the free versions and play around. Whatever app you feel more comfortable navigating, that's what you should use. Cost wise, you'll spend a bit more on Amplitube if you want the iPhone and iPad version. Hardware costs about the same so if you're only looking for a rig emulator for use on a single iOS device, it comes down to preference.

Any of you guys tried out Ampkit? What are your thoughts?

Pros

• General app UI seems well thought out
• Rigs are easy to set up and customize
• App is a universal binary, unlike other competitors, one purchase will get you access to both iPhone and iPad versions

Cons

• Experienced some bad feedback while using distortion pedal settings
• Some rig names may be a bit more "fun" than they are descriptive

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Amplitube 2 by IK Multimedia is an awesome little app that allows you to convert your iPhone into a full on guitar rig. Their iPad version was recently featured in one of the new Apple iPad ads. The app has 3 versions currently - Amplitube Free, Amplitube LE ($2.99), and the full Amplitube version ($19.99). We are using the full version for this review to give you a complete picture of what's available.

To use this app, you'll need to purchase an iRig, which are currently priced at $39.99. You'll simply plug your guitar or bass into the iRig which then plugs into your iPhone or iPad. The 3rd outlet allows you to plug into the audio output of your choice. We just used a standard surround system (receiver) for this review. You're also free to use an amp or headphones, which can be great if you'd like to practice quietly. And hey, it's a lot easier to carry around the iRig than an entire guitar rig.

iTunes Link

When you first launch Amplitube, you'll see a plethora of different options. You can choose between different cabinets as well as add effects pedals. The full version of Amplitube comes with most of the effects pedals and tons of extras. You can also purchase more gear via an in-app purchase. We also purchased the four track recorder, which is not included in any version. We tested the iRig and Amplitube 2 with not only a surround sound system, but headphones as well. The results really were quite pleasing. In-app purchases are easy enough and add even more features to the app. They are also extremely reasonably priced when you look at what a new physical effects pedal would cost, for example.

This app is great for anyone who wants to learn to play guitar but doesn't want to invest into a major setup right off the bat. It's also great for professionals who may travel a lot and don't want to always carry a full rig with them. The app also features basic tools like a built-in tuner and metronome as well. The song feature allows you to drop in songs from your iTunes library through file sharing. Then when you launch the app, you can play along with your favorite songs within the app. This is a great feature for wearing headphones and practicing when you don't want to disturb anyone else.

The only down sides we noticed when testing this app was the cramped layout. I pulled my brother in on this review, as I do not pretend to be a master guitar player. He really enjoyed playing with this app and using it, but he was sometimes frustrated by the cramped layout. If you have an iPad that you carry around with you frequently, I'd suggest using Amplitube with the iPad over the iPhone. The layout is much more spacious and it's harder to press buttons on accident. He would frequently hit the wrong tab along the top when trying to toggle between effects pedals or other settings. This is one thing I'd like to see some improvement on in the next iteration. Other than that, this is a great app and one I'd suggest any guitar player to look over. If you aren't sure about buying an iRig just yet, check out the free version of the app and browse through what's available first. It's definitely a decent investment for anyone who wants to be more portable with their guitar or bass.

Pros

• Easy setup with iRig
• In-app purchase makes it simple to buy more effects on the go
• iRig and app are reasonably priced for what they offer
• The Songs option is a great feature that takes advantage of file sharing

Cons

• The layout on the iPhone version is a bit cramped
• The four track recorder is not extremely easy to learn, but once you figure it out, it's a nice feature to have

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Apple has just released yet another new pricing model onto the iTunes Music Store: D45s [iTunes link]-- two songs for one lower price ($1.49 to $1.99).

Confession: I'm old enough to remember the original 45s, those lovable little vinyl (Google it!) records with a hit song on one side, and something ranging from awesome to ridiculous on the other.

Those days are gone, as are the days of $0.99 fixed pricing (though admittedly albums were alway a volume discounted exception), but Apple's hoping the Digital 45s prove to be as popular as the record companies no doubt hope they'll help move more music through the age old bundling scheme.

Apple Insider reports that D45s will be exclusive to iTunes only through July 27, at which point other digital music retailers will be able to offer them as well (which, until Amazon MP3 bothers to roll out internationally, means they'll likely stay exclusive to iTunes in most countries outside the US and UK...)

So, if you've been dying to get your jukebox fix, 2009 style, head on over and drop the needle hit the buy now button...

According to CNet (via Apple Insider), Apple is in talks with the remaining 3 out of the Big 4 record labels who still refuse to allow iTunes to sell DRM-free music.

Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, and Sony BMG currently provide DRM-free music to rival services like Amazon MP3 as a way to promote competition to iTunes, though the lack of availability of these services outside the US, along with iTunes continued (and growing) dominance in digital music, may be causing them to rethink that position.

EMI, of course, has been offering DRM-free music via Apple's iTunes Plus service since it launched, and at double the bit rate (quality) of the regular music.

Hopefully we'll soon see the day that big music decides to stop treating their customers as de facto thieves and realizes offering quality goods at fair market prizes is the only real way to stop piracy. Or am I the crazy one?