magic piano
Latest
TUAW Best of 2011: Vote for the best iPhone music app
The nominations are in, and the poll is ready to go! The TUAW Best of 2011 awards are all about you -- the readers -- and what you think is the cream of the crop of Apple or third-party products and software. To vote, select one entry from the top nominations made by readers. We'll be announcing the winner in just a few days. Vote early and often! TUAW is asking for your votes for the best iPhone music app of 2011. There are six nominees in this category. The first, while technically a game, has you dress up pugs in hats to make music (I am not making this up). Pugs Luv Beats (US$2.99) was a surprisingly popular nominee, followed closely by the much more musically-oriented Hexaphone ($2.99). Hexaphone uses simplified musical scales, drum loops, a motion filter, and recording tools for real-time performance and improvisation. For those who want to wirelessly control music and video between iPhones, iPads and iPod touches, Tango Remote Control Media Player ($4.99) is a powerful tool that captured the imagination of many TUAW readers. Smule's free Magic Piano was a big hit with readers as well, especially for gamers and those who just dabble in music. Musicians appreciated Nano Studio ($14.99) enough to launch it into the final voting for the TUAW Best of 2011 award for an iPhone music app, while Spotify (free) captured the final spot in our voting. And now, let the voting begin! The results will be announced on December 28, 2011. %Poll-72288%
Nominate your favorite iPhone music app for TUAW's Best of 2011
During December and January, The Unofficial Apple Weblog is soliciting your nominations and votes for the best products for Mac, iPhone/iPod touch, and iPad. We'll start with nominations in a category, and then tally your votes for the top-nominated products a few days later. The winner in each category receives the highly-coveted title of TUAW Best of 2011. Today's category for nominations in the TUAW Best of 2011 awards is iPhone music apps. This is a huge area in the App Store, with apps that not only play music, but let you create music as well. This is also the last category for iPhone nominations. Apple's GarageBand (US$4.99) made it to the iPhone this year, turning your favorite phone (or iPod touch) into a music-making maniac. Smule's Magic Guitar (free) and Magic Piano (free) can make you a pocket musician in no time. Listening to music on Pandora (free) or Spotify (free) is easier than ever now, and Clear Channel's iHeartRadio (free) lets you listen to over 800 real radio stations from your iPhone. TUAW wants to hear from you -- what's your favorite iPhone music app? Leave your nomination in the comments below. Voting will start soon! Nominations close at 11:59 PM ET on December 23, 2011.
TUAW's Daily iOS App: Magic Piano
Smule has brought its popular iPad app, Magic Piano, over to the iPhone and iPod touch this week, and one of the best things about it is that it's completely free. It still features all of the various music modes that the original app offers, including that one cats like so much, and the mode that allows you to play any number of famous songs just by tapping the screen on your own rhythm and time. This is a great app, which isn't a surprise from the fine folks at Smule, and it's good to finally have it available on the smaller iOS devices. The company is making its money through in-app purchases. While there are quite a few songs available when you download the app, you can buy more in packs, and there are even more coming out every single week. But it's nice to have the main app as a free download anyway. Whether you have enjoyed the app on iPad or haven't been able to see it yet, Magic Piano is a great one to pick up for free. It's a little bit of a shame that this wasn't made into a universal version, just to keep things a little more organized in iTunes' apps section, but the price should quiet any complaints about that. Go grab it right now.
Tons of iPad app releases on the App Store now
Embargoes on every app in the iPad's app store broke this morning, and there's almost too many new iPad apps to write about. But worry not, dear readers -- we've sifted through the flood of press releases in the inbox this morning, and we're here to bring you the brightest and best iPad app news we've heard so far. Board game maker Days of Wonder is releasing Small World, a virtual board game for the iPad, for just US$5. Telltale Games craftily dodged telling us about any development for the iPhone or the iPad at Macworld this year, but they've gone ahead and released the latest episode of Sam and Max on the platform anyway, as a $10 app. SugarSync has released a version of their remote data sharing app for free on the iPad. Diner Dash has gone "HD" with Diner Dash: Grilling Green, a new $5 version of the game "designed from the ground up exclusively for the iPad." See Here Studios has a 3D storybook called The Wrong Side of the Bed available for $2.99. You'll need red/cyan glasses, but you can actually order them (with free shipping in the US) inside the app itself. Chillingo has launched a lineup of fourteen different apps (which is probably the most we've seen from any single company so far) including Cogs HD, Minigore HD, and Sword of Fargoal Legends. Impressive launch lineup. Zen Bound 2 has finally arrived as an iPad app -- it features those revamped graphics for $7.99 on the new device. Freeverse has four different apps running, including Flick Fishing HD and their new game CastleCraft, a freemium MMO. Smule has released Magic Piano, a virtual piano/game/musical experience that's launching for $2.99. Lots (and we mean lots) more iPad app releases after the break. What a launch lineup this thing has!
