House Rulez – Magic Television ($3.99)

Version – 1.01

Review – “Interact with music from Houserulez!”

Up until recently there has been only one electronic medium for distributing music. With the advent of the App Store there have been a variety of artists that have experimented with Apps that bring their music out in a more dramatic way.  House Rulez – Magic Television for iPhone is an app that brings lyrics, music and visual aids to help portray the music as the artist originally intended.

When you open up the app the music starts playing from the first track of the album. You’ll see a splash screen and then once you touch the screen again you’ll be taken to the main menu. There a variety of options, including viewing the lyrics for the song that is currently playing.

If you choose to go and view the song you’ll not only hear the music, but also see some colorful animations that are set to the music as well. At the bottom of the screen are some basic playback controls that allow you to stop, pause, play and navigate through the tracks in either direction. You can also navigate tracks from this screen by swiping across the screen with your finger.

The music that is in this app has been produced by a variety ofdifferent internationally famous artists. If you’re really into techno music there is a chance that you might really like the music in this app. Unfortunately I was unable to really get a feel for what most of the songs were about because there was no English translation of the lyrics included.

To sum it all up, if you really like techno this app is functional and it includes a few exclusive tracks as well. At just $3.99 you’re certainly not going to find this much music this cheap in the iTunes Music Store! While I’m not a big fan of having music that I can’t just include in my iTunes library this app will certainly find its market at such a great price point.

- David H.

Download Now!

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Developer – MindPol

URL: http://www.mindful.com/Plugins/XpressEngine/Company_Main

© 2010, Davidh. All rights reserved.

version 1.2.1

FREE!

AppZapp has been around for quite a while and has brought us apps like “Do Not Press The Red Button”, and many more. They have somewhere around 20 apps in their catalog for iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad, and they have released a new app to try and sort through it all: Discover the App Store.

AppZapp has released a new app to easily guide you through the AppStore. “Discover the App Store“ is an easy walk through all the apps has to offer, with a simple easy interface. AppZapp also has a “PriceAlarm“ function, that will always inform you of sales or promotions of certain apps you love. You just set up a free account, and select the Apps you want to monitor.

“Discover the App Store” is a great tool to help you find what your looking for in the App Store. It features the same great descriptions and details you’ve come to know from the App Store. It supports App Stores in the US, UK, Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.

AppZapp Features:
- App offers, free apps and new apps at a glance
- Detailed overview of the apps with pictures and videos
- The feature “Preisalarm“ informs you about markdowns of selected apps
- Watch list for apps
- All changes and updates at a glance
- Browse through all the AppStore categories
- Top 100 list of the most popular apps, sorted by “iPhone“, “iPad“, “Paid“ and “Free“ Apps
- Browse the various AppStores
- Price chart history for each app (30/60/90 days)
- Share Apps via Facebook / Twitter / SMS / eMail

This is a great app for monitoring the App Store. Something the is missing from the actual App Store. Being able to keep an eye on certain apps that you may find a little pricey, and know when there are going on sale, is a terrific feature, that will probably never be included by Apple. The “Changes and Updates at a glance” feature is great, if you’re interested in knowing what has recently been updated, or want to ignore updates and focus on new releases only. Seeing as this app is free, there is no reason we cannot recommend this app.

You can get AppZapp: Discover the App Store now for free, in the App Store. Get it now!

© 2010, Davidh. All rights reserved.

© 2010 Cervo Media GmbH

$0.99

The large display of Apple’s iPad is amazing for viewing photos. You can easily put your pictures on the device for viewing wherever you go, and share with your friends anytime. You can use the touch display to swipe through your photos, pinch to zoom, and more. Well, what if you could be more interactive with your photos? What if your pictures had sound, to further immerse you into that world? What if you could touch the photo and actually interact with the scene? Magic Pictures HD – Living Pictures, exclusively for iPad, does this.

Magic Pictures HD – Living Pictures allows you to truly interact with these great photos by Tobias Tomsch. The pictures have a kind of “Ken Burns” effect, with an overlay of “particles” that you can move around with the touch of your finger. Depending on the environment of the photo, you can move bubbles, raindrops, and more.

The audio added to the photos brings in a whole other level of immersion into each world. They sound like real life recording of the outdoors, in high quality, stereo sound.

Stunning photography

Discover the beauty of our planet. A wide range of areas is covered: From snowy Austrian mountains to South American flowers – This is natures best captured in over hundered pictures!

Living pictures

Technically they are called “particles”, we call them “fascination”. Sometimes they have the form of fireflies, that follow your finger, sometimes they are dreamy bubbles that you can catch, sometimes they are rain – just wipe those drops from your iPad. Every single picture has a particle system!

A complete experience

To make the experience even more immersive, we have included relaxing nature sounds to compliment each picture/particles combination. Listen to crickets while you chase dandelions or enjoy the soothing sound of wind chimes while you watch amazing mountain views. A perfect multimedia experience!

And many more features:

1. Use in landscape or portrait mode – The pictures scroll by!
2. Particles and sound can be switched on or off
3. Large clock (can be switched off)
4. Thumbnail navigation
5. Random or sequential slideshow
6. Gorgeous user interface

Magic Pictures HD Living Pictures from Cervo Media GMBH, is available in the App Store now, for $0.99. Download it now!

written by Mike McKinnon

——————————————————————————-

DAILY APP GIVEAWAY

Each Day we give away promo-codes so you can get FREE apps!! Check
our posts daily or subscribe to our FREE spam free feed.

*** Today’s Promo Codes ***

– Links –
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– Gyrorama –
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– Rock.Paper.Scissors –
FKWF63N9L4Y9
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If you have any questions, or are unsure how to redeem promo codes, please check out the following link on Apple’s website! — http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1917

——————————————————————————-

© 2010, Mikem. All rights reserved.

Version 1.0

$2.99

Requirements: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. Requires iOS 3.0 or later.

We have seen many “tap” style music games come to the iPhone, since the App Store opened in 2008. Music games are a natural progression for the iPhone and iPod Touch, and the tap style games a great. Pointers looks to bring something different to the genre, with SwingSwing Motion, using the accelerometer to play the game.

Similar to other music games in the App Store, the premis is to get through all the songs on each level of difficulty, to progress through the game. It starts you off pretty easy, but gets quite challenging, the further you get. Each song has three levels of difficulty, Easy, Medium, and Hard. There is also an Extreme mode to unlock, for a few of the songs.

There are 17 songs in total. There is no licensed material, but the songs included are well known classics. The list as as follows:

1. Chopsticks
2. Wild West
3. Turkish March
4. Dancing Cat
5. Twinkle Little star
6. Hokey Pokey
7. Ten Little Indians
8. Dance of The Swans
9. Habanera Tango
10. San Sebastian
11. SwingSwing
12. La Campanella
13. Pathetique
14. Thunder Cat
15. Extreme Notes for Turkish March
16. Extreme Notes for La Campanella
17. Extreme Notes for Dance of The Swan

Each level and each song has uniquely designed backgrounds, making the game visually fun, as well as fun to play. The design is simple and easy to follow, so anyone can pick up this game and start playing.

SwingSwing Motion is available in the App Store now for $.99. Get it now!

written by Mike McKinnon

© 2010, Mikem. All rights reserved.

Version 1.0

Looking for a DJ type music app? If so then you may be interested to read about Sys-Cake – Shut Da Mouth. This app comes pre loaded with some bass tracks and gives you the ability to mix in your own touches to make it your own.

This app was developed by MindPol and comes with 5 different tracks that you can build onto. There are many different modes within this app so let’s take a look ..

The first row of icons are more informational icons, giving you information and background on the developers. The second row starts getting into more of the DJ abilities. Since the app doesn’t have a help menu or tutorial associated with it I’ll have to interpret the way some of these icons act for me.

The DJ Play icon appears to be where you pick a song and then it just plays a pre-mixed song made by the developers. When you go into Game Play, you will pick a song to start with and then you will start adding in different mixes as you choose to. Ghost is where you would save a song, if during the Game Play you end up with something that you really liked.

The banner icon appears to be a flashlight type that scrolls Shut Da Mouth across it. Twitter send you to their twitter profile. Finally the Mingame icon takes you into a minigame (obviously) where the goal is to match up icons that have three of the same one on the screen.

Ok .. my favorite part of this app was the minigame although there is no way of returning to the Main Menu without closing the app and reopening it.

The only other part of this app, to me, was the Game Play icon. Without directions I had no idea what to do at first, or even how to exit out of it. Once I started it up I had no idea what half the icons along the bottom were for, so I definitely think that this app needs a nice tutorial in it for the different section. In the middle of the Game Play screen (as you can see from below) there are a bunch of buttons for different sound effects, which you can turn on and off while a song is playing. Another note if that without digging in to the app a bit I would have had no idea how to save a song to the “Ghost” section.

Anyway, the app seems interesting although I think that it needs a bit more content to warrant the current price it is asking in the app store. Right now it only includes 5 songs so you could use this to play around with but you couldn’t use it extensively. Also, once you create songs and load them into your Ghost slots you can’t really do anything with them except replay them. I would think it would be a great addition to make these songs exportable to an mp3 format (if Apple would allow such a thing) so they could be used in a real DJ setting. Right now it seems like a DJ toy that is limited and not transferable to anything someone could use in real life (unless you can DJ a party with your iPhone).

While I think it needs more content and possibly a lower price, if you are interested in this application you can head over to the App Store and pick up your copy today.

- Chris G

© 2010, ChristinaG. All rights reserved.

Version 1.1

Not happy with the ipod functionality on your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch? Looking for a funner and more customizable way to set up your daily listening? Well you may really enjoy MakeMyMusic then!

Developed by Tekton Technologies this app is slick. It looks slicks and it’s a new way to play your music from your iPhone or Apple Device. Let’s take a look ..

When you first open the app it goes to your music to choose a song to start. Hitting the ‘i’ button in the lower right hand corner goes in to a bunch of tweaks you can make to enhance your playback experience. That brings up the Music Options, where you can set which songs play when, the look and behavior of your app, display settings, and much more.

First let’s look at the “My Music” button. By opening this you can actually go into your song list and define which songs you’d like to hear during different parts of the day. So, if you’d like mellow music while sitting in your office, you can set that up while keeping the fun and energetic tracks for later in the day when you need a little pep in your step.

From here let’s look at the “Time of Day” option. This is where you define the app’s different times of day .. i.e. morning, noon, evening, and night. These of course work with the customize tracks that you just set in the “My Music” options.

Going into the General and Display options let you define the user experience, from the background image, to shuffling options, slideshows, and so on.

Ok .. so you’ve set up your music for the different times of day, you’ve tweaked your settings, and now it’s ready to go. Now when you open the app, it determines what time of day it is, then goes into your music listing and retrieves the songs you’ve designated for that time slot. It not only does this but it presents it on a very rich and user – definable screen.

In addition there are some really nice controls built into this app as well. For instance, to change a song you can either set it to act on the shake to shuffle feature or you can simply flick the screen to the next track. Want to change the volume? Just drag your finger up or down the screen and it’s easy as that! Want to change your place within a track? Grab the spinning ball in the middle of the screen and reposition it. There are all kinds of really nice tweaks built into this.

All in all for $0.99 this is a pretty slick app that really bumps your music playing experience up a few notches. If you use your iPhone or Apple Device for music as well I’d suggest heading over to the app store and grabbing a copy of this today. You will be really pleased!

- Chris G

© 2010, ChristinaG. All rights reserved.

Preschool Storybook Piano – iPhone App Review ($0.99)

Version – 1.2

Review – “Encourage your young child’s musical talents!”

If you’re looking for a great way to keep your young child entertained, this app may be just what your looking for! Twinkle Twinkle Little Star Preschool Storybook Piano is an app that uses visual aids to help teach your child to play piano!

Preschool Storybook Piano has four different modes of play: Play and Sing along, Learn the Song, Karaoke Mode, and Free Style Mode. In Learn the song mode your child will see the notes being played above a keyboard. As the song plays the keys will light up to show you which ones are supposed to be played. To start the song you just touch the “start” button on the left side above the keyboard.

In each of the four different play modes there are several different “keyboard sounds” to choose from. To switch between them just touch the little keyboard icon to the left of the “Start” button. There are all kinds of instrument sounds from piano, guitar and banjo all the way down to animal sounds!

Another thing you can do with this app is record yourself playing and listen to it again! It works great, but I found it to be slightly confusing the first time I used it. There is really not any description of how this feature works. To record yourself playing you have to touch the “Record” button so that it’s highlighted and then start the song to record.

In play and sing along mode you’ll see a story in the background as you play the song, in Karaoke you’ll see the words to the song, and in Free style mode you will both see the words and also the background from play and sing along mode! When you view the words with the song you have the option of viewing them in English, Spanish, or French as well!

If you have a young child in your life that is showing signs of talent/interest in music this app is a great way to encourage that! While it would have been nice to maybe have a few more songs included, the app is only $0.99 and it functions well. So what are you waiting for? Check it out in the App Store today!

- David H.

Download Now!

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Developer – KIBOOMU

URL: http://www.kiboomu.com

——————————————————————————-

DAILY APP GIVEAWAY

Each Day we give away promo-codes so you can get FREE apps!! Check
our posts daily or subscribe to our FREE spam free feed.

*** Today’s Promo Codes ***

– MathGirl Number Garden –
4WAFTJTJ4HMY
MW4737J66L6A

– Clicker Training –
XAMJA66EWLLH
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JRYRHX673746
3WNKJR7HWRMJ
KY3N4L9WY7PF
69X7YHYHWRME
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ATWMTT7TMJWY
64RKE3KKJJK3
9W7YTRXAYXXR
MTAMH974LHF6
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3WR6JRJW7NNW

If you have any questions, or are unsure how to redeem promo codes, please check out the following link on Apple’s website! — http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1917

——————————————————————————-

© 2010, Davidh. All rights reserved.

SmartPlaylist ($1.99)

Version 4.1

Review – “Navigate your music library with ease!”

While Apple has added a considerable amount of search functionality to the iPhone through OS updates, it could definitely be better when it comes to the iPod app. If you’ve got a particularly large music library you’ve probably wished for a way to find songs using multiple filters (author, title, genre, etc.). Well wish no more, because SmartPlaylist does just that and more!

The best thing about this app is that it offers lots of flexibility without being confusing. When you open up SmartPlaylist all you have to do to create a new playlist is enter some information into the filters and touch the generate list button in the lower right corner of the screen. It will take a few seconds for the app to generate a list of songs and then you’ll be taken directly into the newly generated playlist. It’s that simple!

You can also set up multiple playlist filters in this app as well. At the top of the screen are 6 letters. Each one represents a totally separate set of playlist filters. Touching any of them will take you to that particularly set of playlist settings.

Not only can you create 6 different playlist filters but you can save any group of settings to load at a later time by touching the button in the lower left corner of the screen and selecting “Save current rules.” I found that both the load rules and save rules commands work very quickly and do exactly as you would expect.

There are a few other settings that you can set up from the settings menu in the lower left corner of the screen. If you touch the “Settings” button you’ll be given the option to set the color scheme, decide whether your playlists should repeat when they are finished, and even show a badge number on the app that represents how many songs there are in your current playlist.

The search engine in this app is very powerful. One feature that is extremely nice in this app is that you have the ability to use operators, such as AND, OR and NOT. This allows you to be very precise in your searches by including and excluding various search terms. You can also enter in just part of a word and it will search for all related words that have that section of text in their words (ex. “alter” search term will return all “alternative” songs).

If you have a pretty large music library this is one app that you really don’t want to miss, especially since it’s only $1.99. It makes creating a playlist so simple you’ll wonder how you ever found the right music before SmartPlaylist. So what are you waiting for? Check it out in the App Store today!

- David H.

Download Now!

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Developer – Daniel Habluetzel-Laville

URL: http://smartplaylist-iphone.blogspot.com

——————————————————————————-

DAILY APP GIVEAWAY

Each Day we give away promo-codes so you can get FREE apps!! Check
our posts daily or subscribe to our FREE spam free feed.

*** Today’s Promo Codes ***

– Park Rush – Time Management iPad Game –
K3YEM4RE3N3W
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– TextNow –
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36XXT99MWLLL

If you have any questions, or are unsure how to redeem promo codes, please check out the following link on Apple’s website! — http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1917

——————————————————————————-

© 2010, Davidh. All rights reserved.

Amplitube ($19.99)

Version – 1.0

Review – “Turn your iDevice into an amazing portable Guitar and Bass MultiFX unit!”

The day that I first saw the announcement for this app I thought I was in a dream world. Could it really be possible to recreate all different kinds of guitar effects and amps with an app for my iPhone? After attempting to wake myself up and realizing that I was really awake, I contacted the people over at IK Multimedia and they were kind enough to supply me with the required hardware piece and a copy of the app to take a look at!

In order for this app to work correctly you need a small piece of hardware called the “iRig.” The iRig allows you to plug your guitar and a headset or speakers into the headphone jack on your iPhone, iTouch, or iPad. The build of the hardware itself is very sleek, and the connections all fit good and tight as well. You’ll want to get your iRig plugged in and ready before you open the app up.

Once you get your iRig setup and open the AmpliTube app you’ll be greeted by the home screen. The interface for both the iPhone and iPad have the same basic elements, it’s just a little easier to get to everything on the iPad because of the larger screen. On the iPhone you can switch between all of the effects, amps and tools by touching the buttons at the top of the screen. The iPad puts the effects at the top of the screen and the amps at the bottom of the screen.

If you’re at all familiar with setting effects up with stomp boxes you’ll feel right at home with this app.You’ll notice that a lot of the stomp boxes have a similar look to ones that you’re already familiar with. This makes it a lot easier to get an idea of exactly what kind of sounds the effect your working with is capable of.

While the effects are all really cool, I think the best part of this app is the amp simulators. Not only can you use a variety of different amps, but you have all of the knobs that you would expect to have available in this app! For example, the “clean” amp has a very clean “bluesy” sound and has knobs to control volume, bass, mid, treble, presence, reverb, and two knobs for controlling the tremolo effect.

I could go on for pages about all the great features of this app and how it works, but you really just have to hear it for yourself! If you’d like to hear it I’ve recorded myself playing through this app in the embedded video above.  The audio of my playing is about half way through the video and was recorded by plugging the iRig directly into the mic input of my Kodak Zi8 camera. You’ll also find some more audio samples at http://www.musicradar.com/news/guitars/amplitube-irig-for-iphone-audio-demo-256594.

So I’m sure by now you’re probably wondering how to get your hands on this amazing app/hardware combination? Well the iRig hardware is scheduled to start shipping the first week of July. It’s selling for $39.99 and you can preorder yours today from their website at http://www.ikmultimedia.com. While you’re waiting for your iRig to arrive you can go ahead and check out the Amplitube app as the iPhone/iTouch version is currently available in the app store!

One small disclaimer here: if you are using a 1st generation iPhone/iPod Touch AmpliTube is not listed as being compatible with them. With that said, the AmpliTube app itself comes in three flavors: AmpliTube FREE, AmpliTube LE($2.99), and AmpliTube($19.99). The free app includes 3 stompboxes, 1 amp, 1 cabinet, and 2 mics, while the LE version adds 2 more stomp boxes for just $2.99. If you’d like access to all 11 stomp boxes, and all of the various amp models and cabinets you can have it all for just $19.99!

Whether you’re just looking for good way to practice quietly at home, or you need some killer effects for a recording you’re working, AmpliTube is more than capable with the iRig hardware attachment! So what are you waiting for? If you haven’t already, head to the App Store and check out the iPhone version of AmpliTube today!

- David H.

Download Now! – Free Version

Download Now! – LE Version ($2.99)

Download Now! – Full Version ($19.99)

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Developer – IK Multimedia US, LLC

URL: http://www.ikmultimedia.com/irig/features/

——————————————————————————-

DAILY APP GIVEAWAY

Each Day we give away promo-codes so you can get FREE apps!! Check
our posts daily or subscribe to our FREE spam free feed.

*** Today’s Promo Codes ***

– Punch Power Meter Pro – Speed & Force Detector –
RJ6JEKWPPX46
HT34WX7YNHF4
FN74A7WY9WNP
JKHY7MLH9YTT
RAPF47JPWKWJ
PRH4THEWXJJT
797P3JLW64JE

– iTripping – Touch & Relax. Best Way To Chill Out! –
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If you have any questions, or are unsure how to redeem promo codes, please check out the following link on Apple’s website! — http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1917

——————————————————————————-

© 2010, Davidh. All rights reserved.

StudioTrack ($39.99)

Version – 1.2

Review – “Turn your iPad into a mobile recording studio!”

Many people immediately write off apps if they have a price tag over about $10-15, but few apps claim to do as much as StudioTrack for iPad! StudioTrack will not only allow you to record audio your iPad, but it will allow to mix it with various other tracks and add effects as well!

When you open up the app you’ll be taken to a screen where you can select a file you’ve been working on previously, or create a new file altogether. In the bottom right corner of the screen are buttons you can use to duplicate your currently selected file, create a new file or delete a file.

Once you select a project to start working on you’ll be taken to the main mixing screen. You start out with one channel, but more can be added easily by touching the “+ Track” button. Each channel has a volume slider, gain knob, a balance knob and a reverb knob. You can also add effects to any channel by touching the “FX” button above all of the knobs and sliders.

If you’re familiar with how recording software works then you’ll be right at home with this app! To start recorder all you have to do is touch the “Rec Arm” button to arm the track that you want to record on. You can mute other tracks as well if you don’t want to hear them while you’re recording.

Something to make note of is that the quality of recording with this app is decent when using the built-in mic on the iPad, but if you want to make serious recordings you’ll definitely want to find a way to get a more high-quality mic plugged in to it.

With that said, I myself was very surprised at just how good the recordings were with the built-in mic and this app! That combined with the ability to add effects and record and combine up to 8 separate tracks make this app an incredible experience for musicians of any level. The $39.99 may seem a little pricey, but you’re not going to find anything as useful as this app for anywhere near that price range. So what are you waiting for? Head to the App Store and download your copy today!

- David H.

Download Now!

StudioTrack – Sonoma Wire Works

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Developer – Sonoma Wire Works

URL: http://www.sonomawireworks.com/iphone/

© 2010, Davidh. All rights reserved.

Guitar Hero ($2.99)

Version – 0.1.0

Review – “Free the aspiring guitarist within you!”

With all of the music apps like this one already available in the App Store, Guitar Hero has been a long time coming! Just a few days ago, during the keynote at WWDC where the new iPhone 4 was announced, Activision unveiled their latest app that puts you in the shoes of a true Guitar Hero!

Traditionally Guitar Hero games have used guitar-shaped controllers to allow you to play along with all kinds of different music. Guitar Hero for iPhone takes a little bit approach and is much more like Tap Tap Revenge with a twist. To play the songs in this game you’ll need to touch the dots as they move across the bottom of the screen.

When you open up Guitar Hero you’ll see a brief splash screen and then be taken to the main menu. Getting started is as easy as touching the “Play” button just above the menu at the bottom of the screen. The top half of the menu screen shows a 3D rendering of what your character currently looks like with his features, clothes and instrument!

Before you jump in and start playing, you’ll find several other menu options at the bottom of the screen in the menu. The first one allows you to go “Backstage” and access things like your appearance and game stats. Not only can you change the clothes ofyour character, but you can change his/her sex and a variety of different things from head shape to skin and eye color!

The next two options of the main menu are “Challenges” and “Community”. These allow you to track your progress through the game, and find out what songs you need to work on. The Community feature also allows you to easily share your high scores on Facebook, or just take a look at what they are via the “Leaderboards.”

Once you actually get ready to play you’ll first need to select a song to play. Guitar Hero comes preloaded with 6 different songs, and the ability to add more via in-app purchases! Once you pick a song you’ll start to hear it play in the background while you decide what instrument and difficulty you want to saet everything. There are four difficulties ranging from “Easy” all the way up to “Expert”!

Gameplay is fast-paced and adds several concepts to the traditional tapping of notes. You’ll notice groups arrows sometimes coming down the guitar neck. When you see the arrows, instead of just touching them, you’ll have to swipe them in the direction that they are pointing! Another unique type of note are tied notes. When you see notes that are tied together by lines that means that you don’t have to lift your finger and touch each individual note, but instead you can drag your finger between them!

One thing that I did find a little bit irritating with this app is that there is no way to set sound effect volume and music volume independently. Unless you turn up the music pretty loud I found it a little difficult to hear over the louder sound effects, especially if you are not using a headset to play. I also experienced a little bit of lag occasionally while playing some of the levels on Hard and Expert. While this is not a huge deal, it did make it kind of difficult when trying to play something fast!

Overall this game is a bargain when you compare it to similar apps in its genre. While this game is not necessarily groundbreaking, it is obvious that Activision spent a great deal of time trying to make sure that they got it right the first time with this app. It offers just enough variety in gameplay and difficulty to keep you playing for hours. That combined with the fact that Guitar Hero is only $2.99 make it a winner in my book! But don’t just take my word for it, head to the App Store and download your copy today!

- David H.

Download Now!

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Developer – Activision Publishing, Inc.

URL: http://www.hub.guitar hero.com/games/ghiphone

——————————————————————————-

DAILY APP GIVEAWAY

Each Day we give away promo-codes so you can get FREE apps!! Check
our posts daily or subscribe to our FREE spam free feed.

*** Today’s Promo Codes ***

– colorendar –
J64MF7FNXHNJ
MXF6YX6AYHMY
9NNLNJF6X7XA

– PingPing Original –
ERKH4JXNHTHK
AWHRXJ9L6E4T
WFMX7M6N3WMJ
RLJ9AJNLJ67F
LTFYEJFE7KW6
HAYMAR63EFLP
ARYRHW7EHE6Ka
NFY3YA6YW6EM
MEWNR9NXKL3P
4P7TF376M3J7
JFMJRM3EFEXM

If you have any questions, or are unsure how to redeem promo codes, please check out the following link on Apple’s website! — http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1917

——————————————————————————-

© 2010, Davidh. All rights reserved.

Amp Music Player (Free)

Version – 1.0

Review – “Music made easy on your iDevice!”

I have tried out a variety of different music players for the iPhone platform, and unfortunately almost all of them have the same shortcoming. They don’t integrate with the built in iPod app well. This means that when you exit these apps either your music stops playing, or you lose the list of songs that you had created to play within the app. With that said, Vicious Dericious has come up with an excellent app, in Amp Music Player, that not only avoids this problem, but also adds some very cool functionality to your music!

When you open up Amp Music player for the first time you’ll start out on a screen where your music will be imported into the app. This allows you to see a variety of extra information about the songs and artists you love! The process is relatively quick, as I have about 8 Gigabytes of music and it took me under 5 minutes to finish.

Once your music is imported you’ll want to swipe left to continue on through the tutorial for the app. This will describe the basics of how everything works, and what features are available. The tutorial is very thorough, but in all honesty most people should be able to skim through it and get right to the app.

The main screen for this app is the “Library” screen. From here you’ll see a list of options for accessing your music. You can browse it by artists, album, song name, genres, or even access your podcasts and audio books! At the very top of this list is an option that will view all of your playlists. This will show not only the lists that you create with this app, but also all of the lists that you have available in your iPod app!

Creating and editing new lists is extremely simple with this app. All you have to do is find the songs/albums/artists that you want to add to your list and touch the small “+” button to the left of them. You can edit/arrange the tracks you have selected at any time by touching the musical note in the bottom left corner of the screen. From this screen you can touch the “Edit” button in the upper left corner and rearrange and/or remove tracks with simple touch gestures. You can also save a list or start a new list as well!

Another great feature of this app is that when you go into several submenus it is easy to figure out how to get back to where you were. Either there will be “x’s” to touch and take you back or you will able to “swipe” the screen to the left. All the while your playback controls will stay at the bottom of the screen all the time!

At the very top of the screen is a menu bar that is scrolled from left to right. The other menu’s available through this scroll bar are “Skins,” “Playing,” “Concerts,” and “Options.” There are four different skins to choose from, but in all honesty the default one is the one that I prefer myself! The “Playing” screen is particularly useful as you are listening to music. You’ll find all kinds of information on this page from track information, to all kinds of information on the band! You’ll find not only a wikipedia link, but also some youtube video links and links to share what you’re listening to via facebook, twitter, or email!

The Concerts screen is another very cool feature of this app! This section will analyze the music in your library and select concerts in your area that you might be interested in! Not only will it give you basic information on what day/time the concerts are, but it will also give you a location on the map where the concert is and direct links to go buy tickets if they are available!

While it’s great that this app is free, the only thing I will say is that I would really appreciate it if the developer would consider releasing a paid app as well that omits the advertising. While the ads are not overly intrusive, they definitely get old after a while! With that said, the ability to quickly and easily create and edit playlists on my iPhone is priceless!

If you love music, but are tired of managing your playlists through iTunes this app is simply amazing! The interface is simple, and the way it keeps your playlist open and playing when you exit this app is something that I didn’t ever expect to see from a third party app for my iPhone! So what are you waiting for? Stop using that old out-dated iPod app and download the Amp Music Player for free in the App Store today!

- David H.

Download Now!

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Developer – Vicious Dericious, LLC

URL: http://www.viciousdericious.com

——————————————————————————-

DAILY APP GIVEAWAY

Each Day we give away promo-codes so you can get FREE apps!! Check
our posts daily or subscribe to our FREE spam free feed.

*** Today’s Promo Codes ***

– Pew Pew Land – Multiplay Tower Defense Game
6MN4LFHL3HAY
9YKAMFRLKRRK
X9JAH37NY6XJ
YKFWYTPRXJHA
YLHKMFLF7MP6
MK7733L93RJL
7J96WF3XM7E4
TX4776AM99LW
AN7TWKFWMEJF
PLJ4E6NYLW9W
K6KPRLW4F4RN
RRT96YYLW6KJ
YWKWW9NNTJE4
PYR4TW6AAN6L
NNEXWN9WXP3F
JF9YNF3AAM79
W3HXMW7447H9
6PLRL3Y33EJT

– My Love… 1/5 –
NE9PLMF9A4JY
LWM9N9TH9PEJ
77Y4M39AFYK7
LKAPLLYRA97P
FXFLEWRLTEFF
AJARRXNNFX6J
MHFEFYX6HHM6
W3P4AEMXA7NY
FMKAF6967AJE
EEFWWKAMEHYX

If you have any questions, or are unsure how to redeem promo codes, please check out the following link on Apple’s website! — http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1917

——————————————————————————-

© 2010, Davidh. All rights reserved.

Developer: [elevenELEVEN]
Website: http://www.elevenelevensoft.com/apps/uberclock/

Überclock is pretty awesome. One of the few things that I never assumed I would continually use my iPhone for is as an alarm clock. Every day, without fail. I might not make phone calls with it, but I rest assured (literally) that it will wake me up when I need it to.

If you are missing your bedside table staple of old, you will find a pleasant replacement via ÜberClock. All of the regular features you’d expect in an alarm app are here – digital display or other options, various alarm tones, including the ability to use any one of the songs on your iPhone (or iPod Touch), which is the main reason most people get an Alarm App in the first place, the huge benefit over the built-in Alarm with the iPhone OS.

There are a couple of features that I think are interesting, and wanted to point out specifically. One, of the clock displays available, Binary is one option – and if you can read a Binary clock, you are amazing, and should do so whenever possible.

Two, that there’s an option to automatically dial a number from your contact list at the time that the Alarm goes off, I think that’s a neat feature to have!

Sadly, ÜberClock does have one limitation on needing to be running in order for your alarm to work – which means it’s very wise to keep your iPhone plugged in overnight (who isn’t charging their phones during this time anyways?), but until OS 4.0 comes out, you cannot exit the App if you want your Alarms to still function – since this is already pending being fixed with Multitasking coming soon, it’s not even that big of a concern. Besides, you’d have to keep a regular alarm clock plugged in, too, right?

Check out some of the screenshots below for a better idea of how the App looks, and some of the settings:

Overall, if you’re looking for an Alarm Clock App, or even if you’re not but you use your iPhone as an Alarm and want to try one out – I highly reccomend this App. For only a buck, you can’t go wrong!

~ChantelleJoy
Tweet Me: @ChantelleJoytwt

DOWNLOAD NOW

© 2010, ChantelleJoy. All rights reserved.

Version 1.0

Review – “An interesting app for those who want to learn the guitar when they have time during the day”

Want to learn the guitar but don’t always have time to sit in your house and grab a real one? If so then this app may be worth a further look. Developed by Kieran Standeven this app simulated your screen with the key positions of a real guitar.

It’s an open ended app, which means that it doesn’t come with any songs and you play the notes that you want to. Also, this app may be more geared towards someone who is learning to play the guitar, or someone who plays already, because of the technical skills required to understand the keys, positions, etc.

There is a demo mode built in along with a help menu to explain the application to you. You can actually play in ‘arcade mode’ where you play it like you do any other app, or in the mode where you hold it like a guitar handle.

All in all, for someone learning the guitar, or already playing, this may be a great way to get your daily practice in when you don’t have time to pull the guitar out at home. It gives you what you need and allows you to play until your heart’s content!

- Christina G

Download Now!

© 2010, ChristinaG. All rights reserved.

LoKast (Free)

Version – 1.1

Review – “File Sharing on your iDevice!”

I’ve seen a variety of different filesharing services in the past, but this is the first legal one that I can remember seeing on a mobile device. LoKast is an app that is designed to allow you to stream music, view photos, and even video from people around you! The various files are streamed directly over the internet from their devices to yours!

When you open up LoKast for the first time you’ll be asked for your email address. This is a common thing with most filesharing services. You can choose to give them your email address or not, it’s completely up to you. It’s not that big of a deal though. They haven’t used the email I used to send any kind of spam or anything. It’s only used to identify you as a user, at least to my knowledge.

Once you enter your email you’ll be taken to a screen that is full of a variety of different tutorials to help you learn and optimize the settings for this app. If you’re familiar with sharing services, there’s nothing all that complicated. In fact the interface of this app is very simple compared to most desktop sharing software.

Now you’re ready to start sharing! You’ll notice that there are 5 little icons on the main screen. These different icons allow you to access pages for sharing music, pictures, video, contacts and website addresses. To share something all you have to do is open up the tab for it and touch the “+” button below. You’ll be given a variety of options for sharing the particular item that you chose. For example, with pictures you’ll be given the option to share from your photo library or take a new photo.

Sharing things is extremely easy. All you have to do is touch a person that you want to share from. Once you select a person from the list at the top you can then browse their available files using the same icons that you share files with. Opening one up is as easy as touching it.

The streaming music is excellent in quality over 3G, unfortunately there is no optimized stream for an Edge connection so you really can’t play music over Edge. With that said, even the video loaded quickly and was smooth over 3G! With all things considered I think I would much rather have smooth performance all around than support for Edge. If all you have where you live is Edge though, it could get old having to always look for a WiFi connection to use anything!

This app adds even more social depth to itself by integrating with Facebook and Twitter, and including seamless chat features! All of that said, an app like this is only going to be as strong as the base of users that it attracts, but I can definitely see the potential here. Even if you just like music you should download this app to check out the 50 free songs that are always available because they have been sponsored for this app! Whether you’re just curious, or want to check out some music for free, this app is a great download. So check it out in the App Store today!

- David H.

Download Now!

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Developer – NearVerse

URL: http://www.lokast.com

© 2010, Davidh. All rights reserved.

StarMaker (Free)

Version 1.0

REVIEW – ” Turn your iPhone into an interactive karaoke machine!”

First off, this app is far from free because in the end you have to pay for just about every song you want to sing to, so if you are only interested in free apps, this one might not take you too far. But what StarMaker does offer is a great karaoke platform and an easy way to share your voice with the world.

When you open the app you are taken to a main menu which gives you options for searching for songs. The app does come with four free songs which are oldies but goodies as they are known but you may soon discover that even the paid songs are oldies but goodies.

Beyond the song selection being geared for a slightly older crowd (today’s teens might have a hard time recognizing many of the songs, which is a shame) the app works really well at doing what it claims.

To being your karaoke you will need headphones (pretty obvious because otherwise the microphone will just pick up what the speakers are blaring out. So while you are simply singing along to the music, with the lyrics being highlighted as they are sung, the microphone is picking up your voice and only your voice.

Perhaps the most interesting feature of this app is that once you have your song recorded you can then easily share it with family, friends and even complete strangers as you post it to facebook or send it out through email. Be wary though it might just make some internet rounds and you might end up having your own “youtube moment.”

I think this app needs a few things to really shine and make the $.99 per song worthwhile. It needs more updated songs and more free songs. What’s more is that the free songs don’t even have to be real songs, imagine what would happen if “Pants on the Ground” was included as a karaoke choice? That crazy song seems destined to last forever and everyone seems to be ready and willing to create their own version.

Though I enjoyed seeing many of the classics on this app and some of these songs are just great for karaoke, though I may never have the pipes of Faith Hill or be able to pull off an even passable Frank Sinatra, being able to try is truly great fun.

Stephanie S.

Download Now!

++++++++++++++++

Developer – StarMaker Sing and Share

© 2010, StephanieS. All rights reserved.

Six-String ($4.99)

Version – 1.0.0

REVIEW – “A creative diversion from the typical music game!”

There are a lot of games that have been able to make the transition from the console to the mobile platform with ease.  The “Guitar Hero” and “Rock Band” style games are a genre that has been ported, but is just not quite the same without the instruments that you play them with on other platforms.  Universal Music Group has taken the basic concept and applied it in such a way as to make it unique to the touch screen platform of the iPhone OS with their new game Six-String!

When you open Six-String for the first time you’ll be asked if you want to sign into the Plus+ network.  If you haven’t done this before I would recommend it.  The Plus+ network is a free social gaming network that will track and compare your high scores and “achievements” with your friends and people all around the world!  This adds a fun competitive edge to the game, and it also allows you to “Challenge” your friends to a competition if you want.

Once you have everything set up it will show you a brief tutorial.  There is not really a visual demonstration of how things work and so I would recommend that you either just jump right in or watch the video at the end of this review to get an idea of how everything works!  There are several different options at the main menu screen.  There is a “Music Store” where you can buy new tracks for $0.99 each, a “Challenges” button to challenge your friends to compete, and two different game play options: “Practice” and “Studio”.

In order to play games in “Studio” mode you’ll need to unlock them by completing them with a certain percentage of accuracy in “Practice” mode.  In practice play is slightly different.  You don’t have the same type of scoring and meters, and it is also impossible to fail in practice.  There are three different difficulty levels, and in order to be able to play the songs in “Studio” mode you will have to complete them a high enough accuracy in practice.

Gameplay itself is fairly simple, you have the standard notes like in other games where all you have to do is touch them when they cross the bridge.  This game also includes several other types of notes like “Note Phrases” which you have to touch and hold for a specified time, “Strum Indicators” which you will have to strum across the specified strings in timing and also chord changes.  As you are strumming the chords you have to touch the chord change button in the bottom left corner when you see the chord change bars.

The songs in this game are full-length and not just small demo’s, which is nice.  They sound amazing as long as you are hitting all your notes in time.  I really like the way that whether you are playing correctly or not has a huge effecton how everything sounds.  The one thing I would say is that it seems that for $4.99 they could have included maybe a few more songs.  While the six songs that are included are a blast, they get old pretty fast leaving you wanting more.  While there are plenty more songs to download, they all cost $0.99 individual, which is more that I would probably be willing to play for tracks that I can only use within this game.

The other small annoyance with this app is that the strumming is  slightly frustrating, especially on higher difficulties.  There has been more than one time that the song was sounding great and I was keeping up with all the rhythms and without even thinking I was struggling I would fail.  A real guitar is much more forgiving than this game is when it comes to your strumming, with that said though I mainly had issues only when I was on the “Hard” difficulty setting, and it is designed to be difficult!

All in all this game was a pleasant surprise.  While many game developers have simply taken the old music format and transposed it as closely as possible, Six-String has managed to come up with  much deeper game that truly feels a lot more like actually playing a guitar.  While I’d like to see some cheaper downloadable content (maybe packs of 2 or 3 songs for $0.99), I don’t think you’re going to find a better music game in the app store.  So while this app is definitely in the “premium” category in the App Store, I think it may be one of the few apps that is worth the money. If you don’t believe me, check out the video in this review to get a taste of how it plays, or check it out in the App Store today!

- David H.

Download Now!

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Developer – Universal Music Group

URL: http://www.facebook.com/SixStringApp

© 2010, Davidh. All rights reserved.

Ultimate Guitar Tabs ($1.99)

Version 1.0.0

REVIEW – ” Get access to hundreds of guitar tabs anytime, anywhere!”

As an aspiring guitar player I cannot tell you how much it boosts the ego and gets one excited to play guitar to have access to tabs. It is a great way to learn quickly and “cheat” your way through learning music. Ultimate Guitar Tabs gives you a huge selection of tabs on the go so that you can play whenever the mood strikes you.

While it may not seem like much to create this app, the way it all comes together is nearly perfect. The app does require some sort of internet access (which means touch users will need to have wifi access). But that does not mean that the app is useless, since you can just visit the website.

The puts all the features of the website into a format that is suitable for the iPhone and iTouch. You no longer have to worry about finding small links or scrolling through large pages or even trying to squint at tabs. Everything is perfectly optimized for the best viewing experience on the iPhone.

If you have never visited the website, the way it works is this. Visitors have access to a huge library of tabs that are submitted by other guitar players. These tabs are then rated so that you can find the ones that best fit the song they are trying to replicate.

The tabs cross a wide range of skills but you can easily search for songs that match your skill level in the advanced search mode.

There are also tab packs in which you can have access to groups of songs based on genre or skill level that are preloaded into the application so you don’t have to worry about an internet connection to access these.

The app even includes an auto scroll feature which will scroll the tab for you and with a bit of tweaking it actually works quite well, and it makes it great for playing through an entire song without having to completely memorize it.

Perhaps one of the greatest features of the app is that you can choose any tabs you like and add them to your favorites. This saves them within the app so that you can view them at any time, with or without internet access.

All in all this is a great app for any guitar player and definitely worth the price.(And yes there are multiple versions of Smoke on the Water available )

Stephanie S.

Download Now!

++++++++++++++++++++

Developer – Ultimate Guitar USA

© 2010, StephanieS. All rights reserved.

Likwid (Free)

Version – 1.1

REVIEW – “A creative twist on music games!”

Since the introduction of “Guitar Hero” there have been countless music games created for all kinds of platforms.  The iPhone OS platform is no exception.  While many of these games have a very similar interface, Likwid has gone out on a limb in an attempt to create a new kind of music game!

When I opened this app up I noticed right away that the graphics and sound were very high quality.  With that said the music does get a little bit repetitive after a while, but you can purchase several add-on packs that add both more music and levels to the game! To get started all you have to do is touch the “play” button in the bottom left corner.

When you start a game for the first time it will take you through a brief tutorial so you kind of know what’s going on.  I didn’t really find the tutorial all that helpful, but the game is so easy to get the hang of that you can pretty much just skip through it and you’ll be fine.  The basic gameplay consists of you using different kinds of adjustable “orbs” to control the direction of rays of light.

The basic idea is that on each level you will have a certain amount of “targets” that you have to get the right color of light to.  As you get the correct light going to a target the instrument and/or voice associated with that target starts playing.  Once you are able to solve the puzzle you are rewarded with getting to hear a section of the song played.

This is really one of those games that you kind of have to see in order to really understand how everything works.  The awesome thing is that the first few levels are included for free!  If you do end up really liking it though there is all kinds of paid content that you can add from artists like Smashmouth, David Bowie, Duran Duran, Lynard Skynyrd!

Whether you’re a big music buff or not, this app offers an extremely engaging puzzle aspect to it that makes it fun for anyone!  Especially if you’ve been looking for a free app to kill some time I’d encourage you to check this one out.  It doesn’t have a ton of levels, but the levels this game does have are engaging and creative.  If you’re still reading this now I’m not sure what else you’re waiting for me to say.  Go ahead try it today!

- David H.

Download Now!

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Developer – FunMobility, Inc.

URL: http://www.funmobility.com/

© 2010, Davidh. All rights reserved.

Kids Song Machine ($1.99)

Version – 1.0

REVIEW – “Use your iPhone as a babysitter in a pinch!”

We review a lot of apps here at AppShouter.  Some of them are useful and some of them are just a lot of fun.  So how about one that your kids will enjoy!?   Kids Song Machine is an app that will keep your kids entertained for hours.  It has cute visuals, and is stuffed full of great children’s songs and a simple interface that anyone could operate!

The app loadsup very quickly and takes you directly to a cute contraption that acts as the apps main menu.  There is a wheel on the right side that toggles through the different screens you can go to when you touch it.  Once you have selected the screen that you would like to view all you have to do is touch the “Go” arrow on the left side of the menu.

There are 6 different screens that each have a different children’s song associated with them.  As the songs play each screen also has several different interactive elements that are activated by touching them.  These elements range from men rowing a boat, to fish, to even a submarine!  The animations are simple and cute and they even have sound effects associated with them as well!

While there is not a lot to this app, it does what it is designed for quite well.  It has a simple interface that even an infant could use.  It’s extremely easy to set it to play a song and just leave your child to play with it.  The only way to exit out of a song is to touch the “Exit” button in the upper left corner twice.  This makes it very unlikely that your child will accidentally exit out of the screen that they are playing with.

Overall the quality of the images and sounds is excellent.  And while $1.99 may seem a little expensive for an app that doesn’t seem to do much, I think you’ll quickly find that the developers have traded depth of features for utility.  So whether you need an app to distract your child or your nephew that you’re watching for the day, you can’t go wrong with the Kids Song Machine!  So what are you waiting for?  Head to the App Store and get your copy today!

- David H.

Download Now!

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Developer – Genera Interactive

URL: http://www.generainteractive.com/

© 2010, Davidh. All rights reserved.