View in iTunes
App: SimplifyMedia
Released: 14th August 2008
Developer: Simplify Media
Price: Free
Rating: 
I have had my iPhone for a few weeks now and the main advantage I found over previous phones is that it is permanently connected to the internet. The phone appears to have been designed with this in mind and the result is an extremely powerful platform. This latest app from Simplify Media really proves my point.
This small Californian based company released their iTunes version of the app in summer 2007. It caused a quite a stir allowing users to share their iTunes music library between friends. This latest app achieves the same but on the iPhone, allowing users to access their music store on the move.
Configuration is a breeze, just download the server-side app from http://www.simplifymedia.com and create an account. Once the daemon service is started you can select to share your iTunes, winamp or rhythmbox library or just select a folder. Friends can then be invited to access your
music and provide access to you. I used the Linux version which I installed on Ubuntu 8.04 without any trouble.
On the iPhone start the app and enter your login details to get started. Once the server has been recognised you can access all the music from your shared folders and listen to it as if it was stored on your phone. So far I have only used this on a wireless network connection and only noticed a few seconds buffering before a whole album plays without interruption. I suspect this would be a bit slower on 3G and may be slow using GPRS but it's a free app and removes the restriction of a 16GB music storage limit. I noticed that the Linux version only allows streaming of MP3's but the Windows and Mac versions support MP3, AAC, WMA and Apple Lossless files.
Navigating your music works just like the iPod, allowing you to browse by artist, album, genre or song. You don't get the coverflow view if you turn the phone 90 degrees but that's to be expected. When you start playing a song the album cover, band information and lyrics will be downloaded and can be accessed whilst listening.
Apart from a few small issues such as the volume slider and volume buttons don't sync and you can't use any other iPhone functions without closing the app, in my opinion this is the best app so far.
UPDATE: I was kindly contacted by Bill Bradford of Simplify Media and he ensures me that the volume control issue is something they will be working on in the next release.
Summary: The best iPhone app so far. Carry your entire music collection (and you're friends) in your pocket, for FREE!
I have had my iPhone for a few weeks now and the main advantage I found over previous phones is that it is permanently connected to the internet. The phone appears to have been designed with this in mind and the result is an extremely powerful platform. This latest app from Simplify Media really proves my point.
This small Californian based company released their iTunes version of the app in summer 2007. It caused a quite a stir allowing users to share their iTunes music library between friends. This latest app achieves the same but on the iPhone, allowing users to access their music store on the move.Configuration is a breeze, just download the server-side app from http://www.simplifymedia.com and create an account. Once the daemon service is started you can select to share your iTunes, winamp or rhythmbox library or just select a folder. Friends can then be invited to access your
music and provide access to you. I used the Linux version which I installed on Ubuntu 8.04 without any trouble.
On the iPhone start the app and enter your login details to get started. Once the server has been recognised you can access all the music from your shared folders and listen to it as if it was stored on your phone. So far I have only used this on a wireless network connection and only noticed a few seconds buffering before a whole album plays without interruption. I suspect this would be a bit slower on 3G and may be slow using GPRS but it's a free app and removes the restriction of a 16GB music storage limit. I noticed that the Linux version only allows streaming of MP3's but the Windows and Mac versions support MP3, AAC, WMA and Apple Lossless files.Navigating your music works just like the iPod, allowing you to browse by artist, album, genre or song. You don't get the coverflow view if you turn the phone 90 degrees but that's to be expected. When you start playing a song the album cover, band information and lyrics will be downloaded and can be accessed whilst listening.
Apart from a few small issues such as the volume slider and volume buttons don't sync and you can't use any other iPhone functions without closing the app, in my opinion this is the best app so far.
UPDATE: I was kindly contacted by Bill Bradford of Simplify Media and he ensures me that the volume control issue is something they will be working on in the next release.
Summary: The best iPhone app so far. Carry your entire music collection (and you're friends) in your pocket, for FREE!
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2 comments:
I would have to agree with Phil that this is a 5 star app, and probably is the best iPhone app so far. The only thing as impressive as using the app is installing it. One tiny download on the pc and it just worked. No static IP needed, no configuring, nothing.
Using this over 3G is excellent, just a couple of second of buffering. Over GPRS its a bit more of a struggle with around 20 seconds of buffering, and sometimes having to stop mid-song to re-buffer. The issue with the volume controls is a minor inconvenience which I would expect to be fixed in the near future.
Now, what I would give for the same service for video, even if it only worked over wifi, this would still be killer.
Hi there!
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