Top 5 Great Free Music Applications for the iPhone

With the iPhone 4 recently emerging, and OS4 with it, there may be many new users who haven't fully explored the App Store. Hidden deep within Apple's brilliant little online marketplace are some free gems for musicians and listeners alike.

Shazam

Shazam is a music tagging application that allows you find the artist's name and track title of almost any song you are listening to. You just tap the button to tag and hold up the phone and within a few seconds the song info as well a link to purchase the music on iTunes is right there in front of you. In recent updates, the ability to search for youtube videos, link to facebook and search tour info have been added making this application even stronger and more necessary.

Remote

For something that seems so simple, this iTunes-based app is as genius as they come. Simple, remote wireless control your iTunes via WiFi. Ever been laying on your bed and wanted to skip this one song, or change to a different playlist? Done. Ever been on the couch and heard the doorbell and need to turn the music down? Done. It seems so simple, but wireless control of iTunes is sent from heaven.

Pandora

Free internet radio. That's it. You put up with a minor amount of commercials and ad input on the screen of your iPhone (or iPod/iPad/iTouch). You get unlimited free radio all day. You pick a station based on an artist or song and Pandora does the rest. Finding new music, listening to old favorites, it's all there and is based on songs and artists you choose. You can veto certain artists out, and Pandora will use the info to better learn what you like. What more could one want from a company? Especially since OS4, being able to run Pandora in the background is amazing. (Doesn't hurt that they're based out of the Bay Area!)

Streamedy

Only a step ahead of Pandora is Streamedy. You can't fit all your music on your iPhone...unless you barely have anything! So for those of us who can't, we create an account with Streamedy. They stream our music directly to our phones. My full library, right at my fingertips. No need to choose which songs I'd like in my special iPhone playlist. No more cursing Steve Jobs for not coming up with a way to do this via Apple software. Thanks Streamedy, you rule.

JamBase

With access to listings for over 50,000 shows at a time, across the country, how could this not be amazing? Especially for those, like me, who live in places where a lot of shows happen across a lot of venues. I've seen Ice Cube and Too Short in Oakland and Del the Funky Homosapien in Livermore because of this app...absolutely priceless tool for finding and locating live music in your area. Links up with Google maps and even gives you directions to the show. Then you can buy tickets, right inside the interface.

With a little digging, you might be able to find some variations on these applications that accomplish nearly the same things. After searching high and low, I can tell you these are the best. Imitators and fakers are abound on the App Store, so make your own judgments! Have fun and happy apping!