iTunes and iCloud First Thoughts

/ / iPhone Apps, Opinion, rantings, software

It is here. iCloud is now a reality. What does that mean for those of us with an iTunes account?

Truthfully, I’m not sure.

Here’s my thing. I have Audiogalaxy installed on my phone. It’s free. From anywhere I can get a semi-decent signal–wi-fi or 3G–I can listen to my entire music collection … not just 25000 songs worth. APparently, that’s the cap on how many songs you can have iTunes match. Why there’s a cap at all is beyond me, but whatever. There is. At an average of approximately 10 songs per CD, that’s 2500 CDs. I’m fairly certain the average listener doesn’t have that much.

I do. And them some. So what am I supposed to do? I can’t create 2 accounts because my phone can only be recognized by one account at a time. If I try downloading songs from another account, I’m sure I’ll get lambasted for trying to. So that’s not really an option.

Now I’m back to the fact that Audiogalaxay has EVERYTHING I own available through its app. Granted, I can’t download a particular song … but I do not have to because IT’S ON MY FRIGGIN’ HARD DRIVE AT HOME.

To be fair, I do see one application where iTunes in the Cloud could be useful. It makes for a handy back-up system. I’d create multiple accounts to host 25000 songs each. Ha ha! Then if a hard drive dies or goes kaput, I can re-download them. But then again, where their songs are only encoded at 256kbps, mine are all encoded at 320kbps. Gain some hard drive space; lose some sound quality. And yes–I’m one of “those” audiophiles.

One thing I *really* like about this new cloud service is the availability of apps I’ve long since forgotten I had due to a reformat and loss of all apps. THAT is pretty cool. ANY app I’ve ever purchased is available to download. Slick. Hopefully, Apple doesn’t “fix” that little hiccup (cuz it kind of seems like it shouldn’t be that way for some reason, right?)

Anyway, I’ll reserve judgment for when I actually start using the service. Maybe I’ll find more to like. Maybe I won’t. For now though, I’m content to download my old apps!

 

More iPhone Fun

/ / review

So, I use my iPhone for a lot of things–music, blogging, staying in touch, reading up on news, playing, edutainment, etc. I’ve downloaded some pretty cool apps lately that I would highly recommend. Some cost; some don’t. If you have the means, I would highly recommend these.

  1. Shazam. Ever hear one of those songs on a commercial and wonder who’s performing it? Or you’re listening to your local radio station and you change the channel right as the last 30 seconds are playing to some song that you’ve been dying to hear, BUT you have to get out of the car before the announcer says who it is? Shazam to the rescue! The concept is that you launch the app, press “tag now” in the top right corner, then hold the phone up to the speaker. The app “captures” about 20 seconds’ worth of music, analyzes it and sends back the results. Once the results are displayed, you have a ton of options: tweet, send as a postcard, album review, biography of artist, discography, view youtube video, purchase the song from itunes … you can even geotag where you heard the song. Why you would want to do this is beyond me, but you can.

    It finds really obscure things, too. It’s found everything I’ve thrown at it. I especially like using this when I’m listening to the local college station when they have their indie music time slot. REALLY handy. REALLY free.

  2. Drum Kit. For all you Neil and Danny wanna-bes (and yes, I throw myself in that mix), you *have* to have this. 4 toms, 2 crash, 1 each of high hat, ride, bass and snare. Press the icon in the lower right, and you have access to recording and playback of what you churn out. Sorry, no gong.  🙂  Price: 1.99. Worth every penny.
  3. More Cowbell. Straight from Christopher Walken’s best SNL performance, you too can now bang cowbell with Blue Oyster Cult zeal and zest (or not …).  You can also select maracas, triangle, tambourine or sleigh bells. You know … for when it’s Christmas and stuff. 

    There are all kinds of fun things you can do with this. I won’t spoil the surprises here. Just get it. It’s 99 cents, for crying out loud. And SOOOO very worth it.

  4. Music Studio. Wow. Just … WOW. You really could write your own music on this thing. 128-track recording studio, replete with all kinds of keyboard sounds. WOW. Seriously … i’m going to use this to rework Ravel’s Bolero. All 13 sections.

    This one will cost you 19.95, but again, I say without reservation that you will be amazed at everything this little app can do.

That’s all I have right now. Well, okay … I have a few other apps I could discuss, but those are the maat and potatoes of my musical app time. Enjoy!

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