Digressions and Other Inconsistencies

My wife and I had been eyeing the iPhones for a while, but two things always held us back.  First, we would have to ditch our cell service, which we’d been quite happy with, and sign up with AT&T, of which we’d heard mixed results at best.  Second, it meant finally forsaking subscription music, as iTunes – and therefore the whole iPod/iPhone lineup – didn’t offer a plan.  (As I’ve raved plenty about subscription music in the past, I won’t go into it now.)

In the end, neither of those reasons stopped us.  We both ended up at the Apple store about a week ago, emerging with two shiny new iPhones.  So far, AT&T has been fine – at least in the Boulder area, and I’m coping with not having subscription music tracks available.

I won’t bore you with an in-depth review of the iPhone, since pretty much everyone knows what it is, what it does, and whether or not they like it.  I would, however, like to occasionally point out interesting applications I find for it.  Already, I’ve found two such applications that, by themselves, pretty much justify an iPhone, and assuages any misgivings I had about leaving subscription music behind.

Simplify Media for iPhone

I’ve talked about Simplify Media before, and how it allows you to share iTunes libraries among friends by streaming music over the internet.  I even had a couple friends of mine try it out with me.  It was simple to use, and a nifty idea.  Over time, though, we simply forgot about it.  That is, until I got my iPhone.  You see, one of the problems with the iPhone is that it only comes with either 8GB or 16GB of space – not enough storage for most peoples’ music libraries, these days.  I grudgingly accepted that, from now on, I would be picking and choosing the music I take with me.  I was glad to find out I was wrong.

This is where the Simplify Media application for the iPhone steps in.  This amazing little app brings the streaming libraries to your iPhone, meaning that, wherever you are, whether you’re connected via wi-fi, or 3G, you have access to your entire library of music stored on your home computer.  That includes albums, artists, and playlists you’ve created, along with things you may not have in your library: artist info and song lyrics.  Who cares whether you have 8GB or 16GB when you can listen to your entire home library wherever you happen to be?

Simplify Media is $3.99 for the iPhone, but, in my opinion, well worth it.

(Actually, seeing how well this app works makes me a little greedy.  Why can’t LaLa take this one step further, and create their own iPhone app that streams all those 10 cent web songs you’ve bought?  Hmm… )

Pandora for iPhone

A lot of folks have heard of the Pandora Radio website – the one that plays music based on songs you’ve rated and allows you to save “stations” of similarly styled music.  What’s the iPhone app like?  Well, think of the functionality of the website crammed – quite neatly – into a tiny interface, and you have the idea.

One of the things I liked most about subscription music services was being able to discover new music without having to buy albums that I might end up not liking.  I’m finding that Pandora does this quite well, with the ability to bookmark songs that it plays, create new stations based on specific songs or artists you like, rate music as you listen to it, and even being able to purchase the track in iTunes. It doesn’t quite have all the features that Rhapsody has, but then again, it also doesn’t have the monthly subscription fee that Rhapsody does.  The most important part – the discovery of new music – works as well or even better than Rhapsody ever did.

Pandora is a free app.  I’m guessing the small ad banner they include, and maybe cuts from iTunes purchases made from the app helps pay for it, but I could be wrong.  Whatever – it’s a great app.

Anyone here own an iPhone?  Have you tried either of these apps?  Let me know what you think of them.