New Features in Pandora for the iPhone and iPad

Pandora is one of those essential apps that I've written about in my Tips for Listening to Pandora on the iPhone post. The latest update has a couple of really big improvements that make for a better user experience.

Hitting the thumbs up or thumbs down on a song teaches Pandora what you like and what you don't, in essence, training your station to play more songs you will enjoy and less songs that you won't enjoy. However, in the past, if you were busy listening while doing other things, you might miss the opportunity to press the thumbs up or thumbs down. Once the song was over, it was too late. With the latest update, you can tap a button on the upper right portion of the screen that gives you access to information about the songs you've already listened to since you started the app. You can swipe to get to anyone of them and then hit the thumbs up or thumbs down after the fact.

Tips for Listening to Pandora on the iPhone

One of the first apps that many iPhone owners download and begin using is Pandora. It's a natural choice for a mobile device, allowing you to play music you would like but don't necessarily own wherever you are. It's also a great way to get introduced to music you've never heard, but that you are likely to enjoy.

After first setting up an account, the typical Pandora user starts listening by creating a station by choosing an artist.  Let's say our user is John Deaux and he chooses the artist is "U2".  Pandora creates a station called "U2 Radio" and starts playing music by U2 and by others similar to U2. From there, the John clicks the thumbs-up icon when a song plays that he really likes and thumbs-down when a song plays that he doesn't like. As John continues to listen to the "U2 Radio" station, it begins to adapt to his likes and dislikes and play more of the songs that he likes.

Preview Tracks in Naturespace

Naturespace, an app I've written about a couple of times already and one of my favorites, has undergone a major update. If you've never heard of Naturespace before, it's an app that plays ambient nature sounds that are of a quality that is unrivaled in any other similar app out there.  It's a free download so if you don't have it, download it and try the five free tracks that come with it. Try them with headphones to appreciate the quality.  The huge catalog of tracks beyond the free ones range from $0.99 to $2.99, most being $1.99.

Back to the update: In addition to fifteen additional tracks, which would make for a really nice update, Naturespace now offers non-looping shortened previews of tracks. The previews are available if you make an in-app purchase of a "Visitors Pass". The Visitor's Pass is free if you have purchased five or more tracks. Otherwise it is $1.99. If you have the Visitor's Pass, you simply click the Visit button for a track for which you want to download a preview.

More on Free Audiobooks

Earlier this year I wrote Listening to Audiobooks on Your iPhone and Where to Get Them Free.  One of the places I mentioned getting free audiobooks is through ChristianAudio.com's free book of the month. If you sign up to be contacted by email, you'll know what each month's free offer is.  Occasionally, like this month, ChristianAudio.com will offer a second book for free.

Listening to AudioBooks on Your iPhone and Where to Get Them Free

I may be a little ADD.  I have a hard time focusing on long books but I love to listen to Audiobooks, especially when doing tedious things like mowing the lawn or driving a long distance.  In fact, listening to an Audiobook or something interesting keeps my mind engaged and awake when driving. I always have my iPhone with me and it's a great tool, because of its size, for listening to these.

Listen to Police, Fire, and Emergency Radio on Your iPhone

If you like to listen to police, fire, or EMS radio, you used to have to buy a scanner. You can easily pay $100 or more for one of these. However, many of these stations are also streamed over the internet, which is OK if you are at home.  If you are out and about and are trying to find out why there are three fire trucks and a police car near your favorite store, you need something more portable.

This is where scanner apps such as Scanner 911 for the iPhone come in.  It gives you a directory, by state, of police, fire, and EMS radio stations.  It also has airport control tower radio and a number of amateur radio stations. Scanner 911 even has a handy reference list of codes typically used by police and emergency workers so that you can understand what is being said.

I found Scanner 911 useful during recent flooding due to Tropical Storm Lee, listening to where people were having to be rescued after going into too-deep water.  It definitely convinced me not to venture out.

Podcasts: An Alternative to iTunes on iOS Devices

If you are unfamiliar, a podcast is a series of audio (or video) episodes that you can subscribe to and listen to using special software, sometimes called a podcatcher.  There are podcasts on nearly every subject from news to politics to sermons to sports to education to technology to old radio show...I could go on.  Some are short, just a few minutes or so.  Some are over an hour.  My own church has a podcast of each Sunday's sermon.  On my drive home from work I listen to MacOS Ken, a podcast with the latest news on the Apple world.

So how do you enter the world of podcasting?  You need a podcatcher.  If you are reading this blog, chances are good that you have one of the most well-know podcatchers in iTunes.  With iTunes, you can subscribe to podcasts (which are listed in the iTunes store) and then sync those podcasts to your iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad.  I used to subscribe to podcasts via iTunes and then sync them to my iPhone.  I got away from this and turned to other options for two reasons:

You Need a Weather Radio: Your iPhone Can Be That

The tornado Super Outbreak of 2011 was a reminder of the importance of having a weather radio for waking you up during severe weather. The morning of April 27, it was our weather radio that had us down in the basement as an EF-2 tornado passed just four miles north of us.

If you don't have a weather radio, or need one while traveling, your iPhone (or even your iPad) can be that for you, thanks to a couple of apps:

1. iMapWeather Radio - This weather radio app sounds an alarm and then speaks the type of weather alert out loud (e.g., "The National Weather Service has issued a tornado warning."), according to the apps web site. It allows you to turn on and off specific alerts so that you are not awakened by alerts you don't care about. This is the app is recommended by Birmingham, Alabama's, metereologist James Spann. In many markets, you can watch streaming video of local severe weather coverage. I haven't had it alert me yet because I only bought it today (May 19, 2011).  I waited until today because it was put on sale for free to the first 100,000 users.  It is normally $9.99 and may possibly never go on sale again.

Tips for Listening to Naturespace on the iPhone or iPad

In my original post about ambient sound, I mentioned an app called Naturespace for the iPhone and iPad.  Since then I've begun using it even more than when I wrote the post, especially for going to sleep at night.  I also use it to help focus whenever I've got a lot of work that requires that I sit in front of my PC for a long period of time.  This increased use for a variety of situations has taught me a lot that I thought I'd share as tips.

General Tips

1. When choosing to purchase sounds, read the reviews and/or listen to what a friend has.  NatureSpace doesn't have free samples of sounds and has their reasons for it.
2. Turn on Earbud Optimization if using earbuds, like those that come with the iPhone.  Otherwise, leave it off.  In the picture above, Earbud Optimization is on, as you can see on the third button from the left on the bottom.  If you listen with regular, over-the-ear headphones or with speakers, you want to tap that button to turn that feature off.

Old School Radio: Vintage Radio Shows on the iPhone and iPod Touch

The Green Hornet, Flash Gorden, The Lone Ranger, Abbott and Costello, The Adventures of Superman, Sherlock Holmes.  These are some of the old radio shows that families would gather around the living room to listen to before television.  While you're not likely to do this at home anymore since you own a television, the lack of video makes old time radio programs a good choice when doing things that require the attention of your eyes elsewhere (driving or exercising, for example).

The app that I use for this is called Vintage Radio Lite.  Despite the name, it's actually a $0.99 app.  However, for the price of a big bag of chips you get over 1,000 old time radio shows like the ones mentioned above (and many, many more).  You might be surprised by how much your kids like these shows.  My kids love the Abbot and Costello "Who's on First" episode, and think that it's hilarious...but who doesn't?

What's your favorite old time radio show?

Identify That Song...or TV Program

In 2008, Apple did a commercial that featured Shazam, an app that will identify a song simply by listening to it for a few seconds through your iPhone's microphone (a process called "tagging").  What it can do is very useful when you're out and about and hear a song you like but don't know what it is.  It will even link to the song on iTunes if you decide you like it and want to buy it.

Making the Most of iOS Audio: The Car

In my last post, Making the Most of iOS Audio: The Bedroom, I talked to you about the best way to listen to audio, sans headphones, in the bedroom.  But what about driving?  Wearing headphones, unless you have the volume low enough, is dangerous when driving and is even illegal in some states.  But driving is the best time to listen to music, podcasts, audio books, and even internet radio.  What are your options?

Making the Most of iOS Audio: The Bedroom

The iPhone and iPod touch are great audio devices for listening to music, radio, ambient sound, or audio books.  The headphones that come with these devices actually sound pretty good, especially if you are a non-audiophile, like me.  However, in your bedroom, wearing headphones is inconvenient when you are getting ready in the morning and want to listen to music, catching a podcast while changing out of work clothes, or listening to a gentle rain in Naturespace as you drift off to sleep at night.  (See my Ambient Sound post for more information about that last one.)

Ambient Sound: Going Somewhere Else without Going Somewhere Else

There are settings that, when you are in them, you feel better, even more relaxed, no matter what you are doing.  Whether it's a day at the beach, a spring morning with birds singing, or a rainy day, a big part of being immersed in those environments is the sounds you hear.

The Better Way to Listen to Radio

If you like to listen to the radio, whether talk or music, you are typically limited to what stations you can get locally or you have to pay to subscribe to satellite radio.  If you have an iPhone or an iPad (or an iPod Touch with access to wifi) there is another option and it's actually a very good one.