The guide to the six best music applications for your phone and computer

Handpicked for you by our team...From the Editors of our content partner: Every Day Connected

Just a few years ago, the ability to listen to digital music on an MP3 player seemed revolutionary. Today, you can use handheld devices, like your smartphone, to create your own stations or even your own music -- without ever having to touch a real instrument.

“There are tons of great apps for music creation on the iPad and iPhone, and there are new ones emerging every day,” says Greg Thomas, a musician in El Cerrito, Calif. “There are apps that let you simulate playing keyboards, synths, guitars, drums, drum machines and other instruments.”

That’s only the beginning. Here are six don’t-miss music apps that will help you bring a little more music into your life.

Music App No. 1: Pandora
Lets you … Discover new music and share music picks with friends

Pandora is a unique app that aims to expose you to artists you haven’t discovered yet but are bound to love based on your current music preferences. Just type in the name of one of your favorite songs or artists, and Pandora will create a “radio station” that streams music with a similar sound composition to your device. Give each song that is streamed a thumbs up or down, and Pandora will further optimize the station for you. You can create up to 100 stations, which you can also share with friends -- creating a grassroots following for your new favorite artists.

“My favorite thing about the service is definitely the ability to discover new music,” says Bethany Miller of Scranton, Penn. “By far, my favorite artist that Pandora helped me discover is Gregory Alan Isakov. I’ve been playing his album That Sea, The Gambler more or less on repeat since I first heard ‘The Stable Song’ on my Pandora station and immediately went and bought it.”

Available on: Web, Android, BlackBerry, iPhone, iPad, Palm Pre and Windows Mobile.

Music App No. 2: Shazam

Lets you … Identify that great song you’re hearing at the store

Shazam recognizes and identifies music that you hear offline, such as in a clothing store, at a party or on the radio. It uses your device’s microphone to listen to whatever song you’re hearing, and then it tells you the title and artist. Shazam even links you to a place where you can buy a track and share info about it with your social networks. The app does a pretty good job of identifying music through ambient noise, such as people talking in the background.

Available on: Android, BlackBerry, iPhone, iPad, Nokia and Windows Mobile

Music App No. 3: JamPad
Lets you … Experiment with music composition

Touchscreen devices are ideal for music-making, and you don’t even have to be a professional. Try JamPad : It features a keyboard, drum beats, electric guitar and guitar strum patterns -- and you can play all four at once. You can’t record your musical creations, but this app is just for jamming anyway. Looking to record on your iPhone? Try NanoStudio .

Available on: iPhone and iPad

Music App No. 4: SoundCloud
Lets you … Share your original tunes

If you’ve made your own music on your device or computer, you can upload it to SoundCloud and share it with friends to get feedback. They can even attach their comments to specific spots in your track to tell you a part they love or a part that needs more work. Then you can get on the SoundCloud site to explore and comment on the thousands of tracks that others have uploaded and categorized according to genre.

Available on: Web, Android, iPhone and iPad

Music App No. 5: Djay

Lets you … Spin at your own events

Just as the name suggests, djay turns you into a DJ. Use the app to record your own mixes or to mix on the fly. If you’re a beginner and need some help, the auto-mix mode will turn a playlist into a mix for you. Plus, it integrates with iTunes, so you have your whole music collection to work with. The iPad version is especially cool because you can scratch the records just like you would on a real turntable.

Available on: Mac and iPad

Music App No. 6: mSpot

Lets you … Listen to your collection across devices

With mSpot , you can upload your entire music collection to the cloud and listen to it anywhere, from any device. The app also keeps your collection synced, so when you purchase new music -- say, through iTunes -- it will automatically upload your new tracks to your music library in the cloud.

Available on: Web, Android and iPhone  

How to dig out the unknown music bands

Written By Mark Yarm and brought to you by our content partner Men's Life Today -- Handpicked for you by our team.

If you think Top 40 is not so tops and want your tunes to be more cutting-edge, you need to know where to find the best music. Read on.

Your local radio station plays the same 10 songs over and over again. MTV is too busy airing "Real World/Road Rules Challenge" marathons to actually bother showing videos anymore. Print music magazines are rapidly dying off.
So where can a music fan such as yourself find out about the newest, edgiest tunes? Here are a few expert tips for discovering music outside the realm of the Top 40:

Enter the Blogosphere
Blogs are a great place to learn about -- and, just as important, to hear -- indie and alternative rock. The challenge for beginners is finding the good ones.
“There are roughly 5,094,947 music blogs on the Internet,” jokes Ryan Dombal, a staff writer at Pitchfork, a popular indie rock Web site (technically not a blog) credited with helping break acts like the Arcade Fire and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. “Pitchfork breaks through the MP3 din, hitting on things people care about” via album reviews (the site employs an infamous 0.0 to 10.0 rating scale), artist news and interviews, and links to the latest videos and audio files.
Another good starting point is the indie rock blog Stereogum. “After you find one blog or site that corresponds with your personal taste, check out the other blogs or sites it links to,” Dombal recommends. “It’s a process of trial and error, but it's worth it when you’re eventually exposed to your favorite new band.”

Tune Into the Net
“Commercial radio is all about finding that mass-appeal audience, and if mass appeal is your bottom line, you’re going to cut out a lot of interesting music,” says Mike Taylor, program director and DJ for the Cincinnati-based Web site WOXY. A terrestrial radio station in the past, WOXY has been broadcasting exclusively online since 2004. Its DJs cater to a select audience; current station faves include the female singer-songwriter St. Vincent and Brooklyn indie rockers White Rabbits. If you like a song you hear on WOXY, you can click on the link to the Web site Lala and buy the MP3. “We act as a filter for new music,” Taylor says.
To find other online broadcasters catering to your tastes, check out station aggregator Web sites like Shoutcast or Live365. iTunes also offers free Net radio streams. Or let a computer try to figure out what you’d like: Web sites like Pandora, Last (.fm) and iLike will personalize playlists for you based on your top artists.

Get out of the House
The Internet is a wonderful tool for discovering cool new tunes. But sometimes it’s nice to talk music with an actual human being -- you know, face-to-face (like back in 1999). If you’re lucky enough to still have one or more independent record stores in your town, visit! “I think it’s easier to talk to someone working at a store than hunt down music on different blogs,” says Scott Wishart, co-owner of Lunchbox Records in Charlotte, N.C. “I can recommend something similar to what they like and play it for them on the stereo -- or they can listen to it on headphones in the back.”

Wishart advises developing a rapport with a local record store clerk so he or she can get to know your tastes and avoiding the snobs (think: Jack Black in High Fidelity), if possible. Finally, once you’ve found music you love, separate yourself from the computer as often as possible to see your new favorites live. “Show up early for shows and catch the opening bands,” advises Pitchfork’s Dombal. “That’s how I first heard about this band called The Strokes. And if the opening act sucks, you can make fun of them with your friends.”

Mark Yarm is a former senior editor at the music magazine Blender and is currently writing an oral history of grunge for Crown Publishing.

Two free tools to organize your audio files.

This article (only this article) has been moved to techbreak.net

My 20 songs for the week

Hi folks,
Hey all you music lovers or addicts or whatever u would like to call yourself, me as a fellow music lover for whom music is an integral part of his life has decided to share with you guys my pick of 20 songs for every week which would be picked up from the songs I listen to each week. It could be newer songs or older songs or a mix of both and could even contain bands you folks have never heard before or heard but not yet had an opportunity to listen to. But hey that is the way people get introduced to newer songs and newer bands and thus give you and insight into them and give you the power to decide the next time you hear them on radio whether to turn the volume down or turn it up instead of smashing the radio and letting it live for another day.

I play the guitar a bit and sing a bit too but mainly music is the cushion that I fall back on no matter what mood am in. I am mainly a rock and pop kinda person Even though I listen to all kinda music am not much into country, rap and death metal kinda stuff. I don’t have anything against it though. So that gives you an idea abt the songs that will appear on my list of favs for the week.

Well without further adieu I am gonna list the top 20 songs among the ones I listened to this week. And remember they are not ranked in any particular order, but they are all my favs. And by the way am not just gonna list the songs but also give my insight. And being a small time poet myself I pay a lotta attention to the lyrics and know how important it is and hence the links to all the lyrics are provided so that you folks are just one click away from them.

1. Genre: Rock Song: Revolve Band: 30 seconds to Mars Lyrics: click here
This is one of the newer bands I really dig with some wonderful range of music and a fine vocalist and guitarist in the Jared Leto. I have many fav songs by them but this week am gonna give only two.

2.Genre: Rock Song: Beautiful Lie Band: 30 seconds to mars Lyrics: click here
Yet another great song and fantastic lyrics. Those who haven’t heard this one this is must listen.

3.Genre: Rock Song: Diary of Jane Band: Breaking Benjamin Lyrics: click here

The two main guys in this band Fink and Klepaski left an already signed band called Lifer to pursue their own career and how well they have been rewarded for sticking onto that decision to form the band with Burley. Singer and lyricist Burnley rocks. His voice is so powerful and this song I can listen to any number of times without even realizing the time passing by. The arrangements are simply too cool.

4.Genre: Rock Song: Broken like an angel Band: Cross fade Lyrics: click here

Yet another new generation band that I really dig. Almost all of their songs are wonderful. This is from their latest album Invincible and this song is so beautiful that and sounds a bit different from their other famous songs like colors.
Nice guitaring and nice arrangements and the singer does a really emotional stuff. Dig the lyrics too. This quartet with singer, guitarist Ed Sloan is simply amazing.

5.Genre: Pop Song:Key to my heart Singer: Craig David Lyrics: click here

This UK based singer was even had life threatening calls saying someone would kill him while he was on a concert. And he had a long struggle to get recognition but he sailed through all that turbulence and now has established himself internationally. This song is even though does not fall into rock category I like it coz of the soothing music and the vocal range of this guy.

6.Genre: Rock Song: One thing Band: Finger Eleven Lyrics: click here

Well something about this song makes me identify myself with this song. No wonder this is my current myspace.com profile song lol. I first heard them when they did the theme song for the WWE star Kayne. This Canadian band won a rock band search contest on local radio and used the prize money to record their first album, Letters From Chutney. Now they have come a long way with many hits under their belt.

7.Genre: Rock Song: Good times Band: Finger Eleven lyrics: click here

More fast song this time by the same band.

8.Genre: Rock Song:Hinder Song: Shoulda Lyrics: click here

What can I say about Hinder? Not a single song I have listened to them has been bad. Lips of an angel and Get stoned are more famous songs by em but this one stands right there. This band started by opening for bands like Theory of a Dead man(which is yet another band I like a lot. Even though they sound like nickelback they are unique in their own way) and now they are right their on top of the musical scene. The lyrics of this song reminds me something almost all of us do identify with.

9.Genre: Song:Everbody’s changing Band: Keane lyrics : click here

I haven’t listened much to Keane. But as soon as I heard this song something inside me moved. I guess it was mainly the lyrics. When I look around it is true that everybody’s changing. Good music too. Not the usual kind of music I listen to but still.

10. Genre: Rock Song: Blue on black Band: Kenny wayne Shepherd Band Lyrics: click here
I listened to this song first when one of my friends played this one online for me. First instance itself I knew I love this song. Kenny started playing guitar at the early age of seven. At age 13, he was invited onstage by New Orleans bluesman Brian Lee and held his own for several hours.And that itself proves his he was made for music.

11.Genre: Rock Song: Blind Band: Life house Lyrics: click here

Even though they sound like Creed , Staind and sounds to be in the similar mould they are so unique in their own way. This is another band whom I really dig a lot with most of their songs unique.

12.Genre: Rock Song: Pictures of you Band: Lit Lyrics:click here

This is the cover of the song originally sung by The Cure. Nice song. Listen to it folks.

13.Genre: Rock Song: Dance with you Band: Live Lyrics: click here

Most of you must have heard their song Dolphin’s cry and Lightening crashes. I love those songs but this week I was listening to this particular song by them and even though it is a slow song it really moved me. They started as a threesome but after losing an area talent contest, they decided to enlist singer Ed Kowalczyk, and man what a wonderful decision that was as they never looked back after that. Ed’s voice is so unique and pleasant.

14.Genre: Alternative Rock Song: A town called hypocrisy Band: Lost Prophets Lyrics: click here
The lyrics and the singing is cool. May be coz my heart has been broken too I can identify with this song lol. Sometimes it is hard to identify why u particularly like a song. It is the whole things and hard to explain. There are other songs too I like by em which would appear in my list next time.

15.Genre: Rock Song: Rock is Dead Band: Marilyn Manson Lyrics:click here

Great beat. Unique Manson style.

16.Genre: Rock/Alternative Song: Roulette Dares Band: The Mars Volta Lyrics:click here

Singing in a mixture of Spanish and English this band rocks. For those who haven’t yet listened to them I truly recommend to at least listen and let me know what you think of this band.

17.Genre :Rock/Alternative Song:Hysteria Band: Muse Lyrics:click here

The English rock trio Muse consists of guitarist/vocalist Matthew Bellamy, bassist Chris Wolstenholme, and drummer Dominic Howard. Nice bass punch on this song with nice drumming and guitaring too. Should listen to this.

18.Genre:Alternative Song:On the Radio Band/Singer : Regina Spektor Lyrics:click here

Regina voice is just wow. She sings fantastically. Even if everyone won’t dig this kind of music it is definitely always good to expand your musical horizon and I know you would love her style of singing.

19.Genre: Rock Song: Never Gonna Stop Band: Rob Zombie Lyrics:click here

What a wonderful arrangement. This song will definitely rock you. Even though I don’t like all of their songs I love this one for the punch it brings.

20. Genre: Rock/pop Song: Supreme Band/Singer: Robbie Williams Lyrics:click here

From Take That to going solo, this singer has proved he is unstoppable. His vocal range has been proved already in songs like Angels and better man. This song has a good beat and nice violin arrangements in the background bringing the extra feel to it. Nice rhythm.

Listen to them so you will get a taste of what kind of music I recommend and if u like em let me have ur feed back and give me ur suggestions and ideas. Healthy criticisms are always welcome. Rock on Folks.