New iPhone app streams iTunes collections anywhere

[AppleInsider]

The developer of desktop software that lets users listen to their iTunes libraries from any broadband Internet connection now has a similar tool for the iPhone and iPod touch that eliminates storage limits.

Called SimplifyMedia (App Store), the app by the company of the same name uses a companion app for Mac, Linux, or Windows systems to share iTunes songs and playlists from both the user's own computer and any of 30 friends the user marks as friends.

Using the iPhone app itself is characterized as seamless and attaches visual song data as well, including album art and lyrics associated with each track.

Importantly, the software isn't limited to a Wi-Fi connection and will work (albeit not as quickly) over 2G and 3G cellular Internet access.

The software is potentially controversial for granting access to music that isn't owned by the user, though the company on its website claims it's legal; songs are only streamed and are only shared between a specific group of users rather than the public at large. DRM-protected iTunes purchases also won't stream through the program.

Hoping to spur a strong early reaction, Simplify Media is offering the iPhone edition of its utility for free to the first 100,000 to download it but will charge $3.99 per copy afterwards. The computer-based software is and remains free, regardless of platform.

SimplifyMedia for iPhone delivers on a remote streaming concept similar to one recently outlined in an Apple patent filing.

[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]

[CBA]

I've just downloaded it, even though I don't have an iPhone....will save me a bit of money so when I do get one I don't have to buy it, because by then I imagine 100k will have been downloaded!

[Kasper]

Originally Posted by CBA

I've just downloaded it, even though I don't have an iPhone....will save me a bit of money so when I do get one I don't have to buy it, because by then I imagine 100k will have been downloaded!

It works really well. I have it steaming Pink Floyd on EDGE right now... Started in 30 seconds and has been progressing through the album without a hitch. If your connection is not strong enough, it will give you a sever connection error. Overall, it's pretty impressive. It's doing a number on my battery life, however. =P

K

[btitusjr]

I search for it but it is not coming up on my phone in the app store

[Kasper]

Originally Posted by btitusjr

I search for it but it is not coming up on my phone in the app store

Search all as one word "SimplifyMedia" or scroll through the "Music" category.

I'll correct Aidan's post.

K

[btitusjr]

Originally Posted by Kasper

Search all as one word "SimplifyMedia"

I'll correct Aidan's post.

K

Ah thanks found it under music. Wanted to get this be 4 I get out of work and gots to pay for it. Or apple wises up and takes it away

[skottichan]

Got it, for free still.


I'm accessing my cousin's iTunes from my Touch (I'm in Ohio, she's in Scotland), this is cool as hell.

[ClemyNX]

If you click on the link given in the article it should work....
Works like a charm for me, that's a great app.
I will impress my collegues at work tomorrow!

[Dogcow]

Just tried it out. Works great over WiFi or 3G. Now can still access my phone music collection without even loading it onto my iphone. I wonder what it does to the battery life....

[Ireland]

Few things.

• Still plays and goes onto the next song when iPhone is in sleep-mode, the WiFi stays active.
• You can't fast-forward or rewind songs, and there's no scrubber.
• iTunes does not need to be running on your Mac or PC, though you computer has to be on a connected to the internet.
• The Simplified Media app has to be running however, which while kind of obvious to some, it is a hindrance to the apps usability if you ask me.
• Headphones button doesn't work with the app, if pressed the iPod app takes over, quitting this app and starting up. Another little annoying thing.

In theory this is a revolution, but I don't need that much music on me at once, and I don't care what everyone else is listening to. All the music I'll ever need and more is in the iPod app, and when I hear a new song (new to me, not new in general) I can buy it from iTunes and throw in the iPod app.

• Lyrics are cool.
• Artist summary is cool too.

[iedsri]

It's unbelievable; works perfectly -- and it's free!

We have entered a new age!

Who needs a bigger hard drive on the iPhone now that I have access to my 250-gig music folder whenever I want it?

Now I just want them to add a video function so I can watch my 2.5-terabyte movie collection!

[solipsism]

Originally Posted by Dogcow

Just tried it out. Works great over WiFi or 3G. Now can still access my phone music collection without even loading it onto my iphone. I wonder what it does to the battery life....

It took about 5-10 seconds to queue a song on 3G and EDGE took too long to load a 190Kbps audio. If you have a lot of higher bitrate lossy or lossless audio I suggest making using iTunes simple conversion option to make copies of your audio in a lower bitrate.

There is no way to FF through a song, but you can skip tracks. It doesn't carry your album cover or lyrics over but it does a nice job of supplying it's own data. You don't have to be running iTunes, but Simplify Media does have to be running to work so the simple interface of the app would be much better if made into a Menubar item, not a Dock Item.

[iedsri]

Funny, it's working fine when I plug in my headphones.

[tomlawler]

Originally Posted by iedsri

It's unbelievable; works perfectly -- and it's free!

We have entered a new age!

Now I just want them to add a video function so I can watch my 2.5-terabyte movie collection!

exactly! C'mon, SimplifyMedia! you CAN do it! With handbrake and simplifyMedia, we have it all! The dvr makers should get onto this, as well as apple tv!!!

[JeffDM]

Originally Posted by iedsri

Funny, it's working fine when I plug in my headphones.

Are you referring to the button on the earbuds that let you play/pause and skip, and it really controlled that app? Ireland didn't say headphones didn't work, it's the button that doesn't control the app.

Originally Posted by Ireland

[*]Headphones button doesn't work with the app, if pressed the iPod app takes over, quitting this app and starting up. Another little annoying thing.

If that's true then I see no reason to even try it. iPhone's music playback is annoying without that button, I had to buy a cable with the button to make it decently useable to me.

[walshbj]

I expect an Apple app to do this before long. Maybe even integrated with the Remote app for iPhone and touch. I'm interested, but hesitating because it doesn't support iTunes purchases.

[joshamorrison]

Originally Posted by solipsism

It took about 5-10 seconds to queue a song on 3G and EDGE took too long to load a 190Kbps audio. If you have a lot of higher bitrate lossy or lossless audio I suggest making using iTunes simple conversion option to make copies of your audio in a lower bitrate.

There is no way to FF through a song, but you can skip tracks. It doesn't carry your album cover or lyrics over but it does a nice job of supplying it's own data. You don't have to be running iTunes, but Simplify Media does have to be running to work so the simple interface of the app would be much better if made into a Menubar item, not a Dock Item.

I don't know if this is what you meant but there is an option to use the application in the menu bar (under preferences iirc) but it will still open the buddy list once you select the drop down. I agree that the interface could be simplified , maybe with the use of a dashboard item.

[solipsism]

Originally Posted by joshamorrison

I don't know if this is what you meant but there is an option to use the application in the menu bar (under preferences iirc) but it will still open the buddy list once you select the drop down. I agree that the interface could be simplified , maybe with the use of a dashboard item.

Thanks. That is what I meant, but mine is greyed out so I didn't notice it. It requires Growl to be installed to have this option, which i have, but I was running it the DMG. Welcome to AI.

[shokk]

Awesome! This is what I've been waiting for! Now to load up on more movies and podcasts and less music. Had to uncheck a lot of tunes from my library when I moved from my 32GB iPod Touch to the 16GB iPhone. This makes up for it.

[cameronj]

Got it, still free

[voodooru]

what a disaster!

this app just totally fuked my phone up! i've tried rebooting the last 3 hours. LOL

good thing I'm 20 mins outside the 5th AVE NYC 24 HR store. heading there now 11:00pm - to go yell at somebody. i don't give a fuck if i dont have an appointment at the "genius" bar! bitches are gonna reboot this shit for me. lol


note to self - avoid apps. they're turning my iphone into a portable version of Vista!


disappointing!

[wilco]

Originally Posted by voodooru

what a disaster!

this app just totally fuked my phone up! i've tried rebooting the last 3 hours. LOL

good thing I'm 20 mins outside the 5th AVE NYC 24 HR store. heading there now 11:00pm - to go yell at somebody. i don't give a fuck if i dont have an appointment at the "genius" bar! bitches are gonna reboot this shit for me. lol


note to self - avoid apps. they're turning my iphone into a portable version of Vista!


disappointing!

Will your mommy let you out so late at night?

[solipsism]

Originally Posted by voodooru

what a disaster!

this app just totally fuked my phone up! i've tried rebooting the last 3 hours. LOL

good thing I'm 20 mins outside the 5th AVE NYC 24 HR store. heading there now 11:00pm - to go yell at somebody. i don't give a fuck if i dont have an appointment at the "genius" bar! bitches are gonna reboot this shit for me. lol


note to self - avoid apps. they're turning my iphone into a portable version of Vista!


disappointing!

So you are angry that a 3rd-party app isn't working so you're going to yell at Apple Store retail staff as if it's their fault. I have a feeling that they have not even heard of the app yet.

[Contegni]

I can't find this app on the app store from my iPhone... Did apple yank it already?

[Postulant]

How long does it take to scan your library? I've been waiting 15 minutes.

[zenwaves]

don't know if it's because my iTunes library is over 27,000 tracks, or if it's because it is located on an external FW drive, but SimplifyMedia has been 'scanning libraries" for over an hour with no visible indication of any progress ...

[MadonnasManOne]

This is a great app. I'm glad that I read about it, here, so that I could get it while it is free. At any rate, there is one thing that I wish this app would do. Even better, it would be nice if ANY app would do it, and that is allow streaming of the great radio stations that are available in iTunes. I LOVE 80's music, and there are some great 80's stations in the Radio section of iTunes, and I would LOVE to be able to stream them to my iPhone 3G! Anyone know of any app that does this?

[gleep]

Originally Posted by MadonnasManOne

I LOVE 80's music, and there is some great 80's stations in the Radio section of iTunes, and I would LOVE to be able to stream them to my iPhone 3G! Anyone know of any app that does this?

Try Tuner Internet Radio by Nullsoft. The UI isn't perfect, but it does exactly what you want.

[netdog]

Anybody tried it on EDGE with Apple Lossless files yet? Wondering if it has the bandwidth to handle these files.

[MadonnasManOne]

Originally Posted by gleep

Try Tuner Internet Radio by Nullsoft. The UI isn't perfect, but it does exactly what you want.

Thanks for the suggestion!

Does this app have the same 80's stations that are listed on iTunes radio? Also, it appears that they have raised the price from $4.99 to $5.99. Not a biggie, however, I've read the reviews, and people have been complaining that the update actually took away some of the functionality, and that they liked the older version, better.

Any other suggestions? Anyone here that uses this app?

Again, thanks for pointing this out to me, gleep!

[gleep]

Originally Posted by MadonnasManOne

Does this app have the same 80's stations that are listed on iTunes radio? Also, it appears that they have raised the price from $4.99 to $5.99. Not a biggie, however, I've read the reviews, and people have been complaining that the update actually took away some of the functionality, and that they liked the older version, better.

It has some of the same stations, but you can add your own stations if what you want is not listed. I've added several custom stations on my phone. All you need is the URL to the stream you want to listen to. Note that it does not support Real or WM.

I enjoy Pandora and AOL Radio as well, but both of those are mono streams if you aren't using Wifi. Nullsoft's Tuner plays whatever bitrate you choose -- though, obviously, if your connection cannot handle the bitrate, you are punished with constant re-buffering.

[MadonnasManOne]

Originally Posted by gleep

It has some of the same stations, but you can add your own stations if what you want is not listed. I've added several custom stations on my phone. All you need is the URL to the stream you want to listen to. Note that it does not support Real or WM.

I enjoy Pandora and AOL Radio as well, but both of those are mono streams if you aren't using Wifi. Nullsoft's Tuner plays whatever bitrate you choose -- though, obviously, if your connection cannot handle the bitrate, you are punished with constant re-buffering.

Thanks, gleep! I appreciate the information. I LOVE Pandora. I've used it quite a bit. I'm not so fond of AOL Radio. It seems like the stations always have static. Of course, that was only from using it, right after I downloaded it. It just instantly turned me off, so, I haven't re-visited it. I've noticed that with Pandora, I always have a clear stream, even over 3G and Edge.

[lfmorrison]

Originally Posted by walshbj

I expect an Apple app to do this before long. Maybe even integrated with the Remote app for iPhone and touch. I'm interested, but hesitating because it doesn't support iTunes purchases.

Wasn't there a patent application unearthed recently where Apple was proposing to do something very similar? Maybe Apple's left hand (legal) doesn't know what its right hand (3rd-party app store verification) is doing. I'm thinking this is going to be shut down before too long.

[maederer]

This app seems silly. I for one have trouble filling the whole 16GB on my iPhone, especially with music. I would rather use the iPod app directly and save my battery.

This process of streaming would likely give you a 2-3 hour battery life, compared to all day with the iPod app directly.

[nacnud]

Originally Posted by maederer

This app seems silly. I for one have trouble filling the whole 16GB on my iPhone, especially with music. I would rather use the iPod app directly and save my battery.

This process of streaming would likely give you a 2-3 hour battery life, compared to all day with the iPod app directly.

You obviously don't have very much music then, I find there is often a time I want to listen to something that isn't on my PMP and this would be a really nice feature. Plus it now removes the need to save files in compressed music formats. You just save everything as Apple lossless in cheap desktop HDD and stream from there to your player. Which also ditches the need for all the CD backups I have, just back up with another HDD. I think Simplify Media streams at 160bps so bandwith shouldn't be a problem.

Also don't underestimate having the ability to easily share your music with 30 other people, just a few people with tastes slightly different to your own and you end up with a vast library to browse.

I've been using Simplify Media on the desktop for years and love it.

[dontlookleft]

Is there a similar app for say your laptop?

I have an iMac and a windows laptop. I'd love to stream music from my mac to my laptop when not at home (the laptop only has a 50GB HDD).

I'm thinking there's something really obvious I'm forgetting about, but suggestions are VERY welcome.

[Mr Underhill]

So anybody want to send me an invitation??

Screen Name: mrunderhill

[MadonnasManOne]

Originally Posted by Mr Underhill

So anybody want to send me an invitation??

Screen Name: mrunderhill

Mine is MadonnasManOne

I sent you an invite.

[nacnud]

@ MadonnasManOne and mrunderhil

I'll let you guess what my screen name is

[Mr Underhill]

Originally Posted by nacnud

@ MadonnasManOne and mrunderhil

I'll let you guess what my screen name is

Erm let me guess

Thanks for the invites. Works a treat. You also have some really cool music.