QuickAdvice: iCrates for iPhone Is A Music Fan's Best Friend
iCrates ($1.99) by iCrates is an app for your iPhone and iPod Touch that helps you search for vinyl records, CDs and tapes, or just the latest releases from your favorite music artists.
Are you a huge music fan? Do you consider yourself a collector of awesome records? Or do you just like to find new stuff to listen to? Whatever the case may be, iCrates can be a great companion for any music lover.
Once you open the app, you can start your music search. Enter in an artist, album, label, or catalog number. To make life easier, there is also a barcode scanner if you are at a record store, on the hunt for rare vinyl.
When the app brings you back search results, you'll find it split into three sections: Releases, Artist, and Label. In the Releases tab, you'll see all albums, EPs, and singles listed, along with information such as Artist, Label, Cat#, and Date. Under Artists, you'll find Real Name, Alias, Variations, and # of Releases. Labels will show you any record labels that are associated with what you searched for.
If you want more detail about any of them, tapping them will bring up even more detail. Releases will also have track listings, value, and rarity (out of 5 dots, the more the rarer), along with iTunes previews if available. Artist pages will have a profile of the artist and then a complete listing of all their current releases. The Labels will show a profile and a list of sublabels and releases.
If any of the three (Release, Artist, and Label) have websites, this information will also be displayed. All of these can be added to the Favs list as well, and even shared via email, Facebook, or Twitter. Your Favs can be accessed in the next menubar tab.
iCrates is also a magazine, and you get access to the latest articles and interviews in the Mag tab. Articles will be shown in their entirety, and include pictures and videos as well. This is a great way to find out about even more music (life isn't life without music, as I say).
The last tab is the More tab, and that includes Settings and About. You can choose to turn off rarity (if you aren't a collector), pictures, and select the marketplace for the values of records. Additionally, you can choose the currency that should be displayed for the values of albums.
I found iCrates to be a pretty handy tool for any music lover. Collectors and just plain ol' music fans will appreciate this app. The search is pretty comprehensive, though I did encounter some times where the app wouldn't recognize a barcode from a CD. The magazine adds even more depth to the app, and was quite nice to have.
If you're a fan of music, then definitely pick this one up.
