My new iPhone - Music to my ears

"I don't know why you are so smug. You just bought your iPhone, you didn't invent it!"

Ge Wang playing Star Wars theme
using Ocarina on his iPhone
Originally uploaded by Steve Rhodes

...And yet, I remain smug. Sorry.

Here are some of the music apps that I've been playing with.

First up, is the last.fm app and the Spotify app - listen to your favourite streamed music on the move. Both are applications that I used for a long time before I got my iPhone and both work just as you would expect. And talking of streaming music, there are a bucket load of "radio" apps out there. The first one I tried (and so far I've stuck with) is Streamitall - streamed radio stations from around the world that cover pretty much any musical genre you can think of.

So much for listening to other people's music. What about creating your own? Two apps I've enjoyed playing with are:

• Dog Piano Jr - A piano keyboard that woofs! Singing dogs. Excellent! Comes with three different woof sounds. It drives my family daft and our spaniel Colin looks confused when I play with it. Great fun!
• DigiDrummer Lite - Unleash your inner Neil Peart! I tried a few free drum apps and I liked this one the best. Nice big drum pads that are easy to hit and a record function even on the free version.

And to finish, two apps that are just great fun.

• Shazam - Various people recommended this app and at first I wasn't convinced - I couldn't see the point. Then I tried it and was hooked. The idea is that you hear some music, say on the radio, and want to know what it is. So, you fire up the app, let it record a few seconds of audio which it then sends off to a database (AI system?) somewhere and within seconds it comes back with the name of the track, links to where you can buy it, a discography of the artist, a biography of the artist and a link to YouTube so you can watch the video. Stunningly brilliant. In my initial testing, it coped with everything Rock Radio threw at it!
• Tap Tap Revenge 2 - This is simply a fantastic game and what makes it even more impressive is that it is free! It's a bit like Guitar Hero - you have to tap different areas on the screen as markers fly past in time to the music. Different levels and extra tunes for download - loads to keep you going. Best of all, a two player game where the two people play, at the same time, on the same screen - one at either side of the device - literally head to head! Probably my favourite game at the moment.

Questions:
What are your favourite music apps? Also, I've deliberately only listed free music apps but are there any that are worth paying money for?

Music Shuffle Game

I was looking for some online gig reviews and I noticed that two different music magazine websites had been playing the music shuffle game.

160/365: Soft shoe shuffle
Originally uploaded by DavidDMuir

It is a very simple idea, and this is how you play: put your player on shuffle and note the first five tracks it plays. Key rule is no editing! You are not allowed to skip a track or substitute something "better" to try and make yourself look more cool. If you have the Spice Girls on your iPod then be prepared to suffer the consequences!

Burning Down by The Outskirts of Infinity
Not a band I really know. It's from a free cover disk given away with Classic Rock magazine. It's prog style noisy guitar music, so not too embarrassing as a number 1 out the shuffle.

Charley Patton Songs by Gomez
I like Gomez, especially their first two albums. This one's from How We Operate and it's OK - three stars on my iPod.

Parchman Farm by John Mayall And The Bluesbreakers
I hadn't heard this in ages. This is what makes the shuffle function great - rediscovering forgotten gems. Classic British Blues from a classic British bluesman. I saw him supporting B. B. King at a concert in Glasgow about ten years ago - now that was a great night!

Spanish Bombs by The Clash
The Clash. Nuff said. Although, if I was choosing myself, I would probably have gone for something else - Train In Vain perhaps.

Gone by Logan
A noisy rock band from Glasgow. If you haven't heard them I would recommend you spend some time checking them out. The track name above links to the Amazon download page but three of their albums are available on eMusic. (Warning: A couple of the albums listed by eMusic are clearly a different Logan!) I would recommend Cruel Little World as a good place to start. If you aren't already signed up for eMusic, check out my earlier post and perhaps you could use some of your 50 free songs to download some Logan.

So, there's my five. Perhaps not entirely indicative of my music tastes but not too embarrassing Anyone else want to have a go? Remember, no cheating, editing or skipping. It has to be the first five.