Archive for the ‘Reviews’ Category
The Best iPhone Apps For Musicians
The iPhone is an amazing device with many practical uses and applications. For musicians especially, the iPhone features many handy apps that can be used for on the go music making. The following iPhone apps are great for any musician, whether they’re just a curious novice or a pro.
iDrum: This iPhone app gives musicians a portable drum machine. There are a handful of different editions (hip-hop, rock, club, and more) of the app with new preset kits to satisfy any musician’s taste. iDrum turns the iPhone into a step sequencer, where users can create different beats and string them together into a song. Musicians can edit their beats on the fly and at just $4.99 this app is a valuable tool for musical iPhone users.
GuitarToolkit Every guitarist with an iPhone should buy this wonderful app. Musicians in need of a portable tuner, metronome, or chord dictionary will find all they need in the iPhone GuitarToolkit. Having all these tools accessible in one small iPhone app is very convenient. Any musician can appreciate this app for just $9.99, with an even cheaper Lite version also available.
Vocoder Synthesizer SV 5 This app gives musicians a powerful synthesizer on the go. Amazingly, it features a fully functioning vocoder (giving users a robot-like voice they can play on the iPhone screen). This app utilizes the iPhon’s microphone, so the vocoder will only work for iPhone users. Amazingly, this app allows users to save and upload patches they create to share with other iPhone musicians. This app really utilizes all of the iPhone’s capabilities, and lets musicians explore complex sounds with an onboard keyboard, recorder, and real-time filters. For an iPhone app, this is a little pricey at $16.99 but musicians will really appreciate the app’s many editable features.
Band Band is a fun app for the iPhone that can serve as a handy tool to musicians. The Band app features a playable two octave piano keyboard, a guitar and a bass. Musicians can use this app to play musical ideas at the moment they strike, so they won’t forget the great melodies they come up with. This app also includes a 3×4 drum pad allowing musicians to lay down beats on their iPhone. The best part is Band can record musicians’ ideas (even using an optional click track). At $3.99, this iPhone app is both fun and affordable. Karajan For real musicians, Karajan is an extremely useful app for the iPhone. This app lets musicians practice ear training, a valuable skill that requires time and practice. The app plays musical intervals or scales and prompts the iPhone user to identify them by ear. Chord identification is also a useful app feature for musicians. Musicians studying music theory will find this app turns their iPhone into a powerful teaching tool. Although iPhone users have to pay $14.99 for the full app, there is a free version for beginners.
These apps make portable music making affordable and fun. Any musician knows that inspiration can strike at any moment, and now it can be captured on an iPhone. The convenience of these tools makes any one of the apps a great addition to a musician’s iPhone.
Posted in 
How To Prolong Your Apple iPod Battery’s Life?
The Apple iPod is the most popular portable mp3 player today. Like many users, I have been thinking of ways to prolong the lifespan of my Apple iPod battery. Here are 5 tips that will help to improve your Apple iPod battery lifespan.
Before I start, it is important to update your iPod firmware to the latest version. For example the iPod firmware version 1.2 provides better power management features for your iPod battery.
1. Backlight Settings
You can set the iPod backlight timer setting to minimum. I have set mine to 3 seconds. That means when there is no activity for 3 second, the iPod will turn off the backlight automatically. You can even switch it to off if you are using the iPod in bright areas.
2. Brightness Settings
For Apple ipod firmware version 1.2 and above, you should be able to access the brightness control. You can go then iPod Menu, then select Settings and lastly Brightness. By reducing the brightness, it can help to reduce the power drain from the iPod battery.
Unless you are watching videos on your iPod, I usually reduce the brightness to about 40 percent when listening to mp3.
3. Charging Your Apple iPod Battery
Try to avoid frequent full discharges because this can cause strain on your iPod battery. There is no harm in charging a battery even if is is not totally drained.
4. Keep Your iPod Battery Cool
Heat is the most common reason for the short life span of iPod battery. Try to avoid putting your iPod in the sun for long periods of time.
Always remember to put your iPod in sleep mode when you are not using it. This helps to save battery life.
5. Avoid Frequent Changing of Tracks
Since the iPod uses the same type of technology to store data as your computer, frequent changing of tracks means the iPod has to continuously access the internal iPod hard disk. In this case, the hard disk has to be continuously spinning and can reduce battery life.
By implementing these 5 tips, you can help to prolong the lifespan of your Apple iPod battery.
Ricky is an avid iPod fan who runs an iPod newsletter [http://ipod.netezines.net].
Plasma TVs vs LCD TVs
When it comes to flat screen TVs, the big question is always whether to go for a Plasma or LCD tv. Both have their advantages and disavantages, and we’ll look at some of these here.
It is a fact that Plasma TVs present pictures without loss of detail. As it only needs one impulse per pixel, the response time is instaneous. LCD on the other hand requires pixels to go from active to inactive and active again to receive a response cycle, so there can be a degree of movement burning, although this does not mean that it is inferior in any way to a Plasma, they just work differently.
Plasma TVs can be watched from wide viewing angles without any loss in color as they emit light from each of the pixels, whereas LCD TVs pass on light from a single point behind them so if they are watched from angles as small as 45 degrees, the LCD screens can lose color or contrast.
For more info on the pros and cons of plasma and LCD tv’s, Click here for more info.