Looking For A New Music Player For Your iDevice? Try Panamp!
Panamp - The Music Player ($2.99) by Clever & Son is a simple and elegant music player for your iPhone and iPod touch. It comes equipped with a few extra features that the native iPod app doesn't have, but is it enough to justify the price?
Upon opening the app, I was impressed with the design. It kind of had a Tapbots vibe to it, which I liked a lot. After spending some time swiping and checking out all of the settings, I was able to create a queue and see what the app was really all about.
Just swipe left to find related tracks or artists or swipe right to add specific songs or albums straight to the music queue. Once the songs you choose are in the queue, you can also swipe to take them out or rearrange them to fit your taste. And if you want to start all over again, tap the trash can icon and you'll have a clean slate.
Sort and manage your tunes with the buttons at the top of the screen. Typical options to sort alphabetically by song, artist, album, or playlist are included. You can also search your entire library by clicking the magnifying glass.
This app has everything the iPod app has except cover flow. It does, however, have a few extras that the iPod app doesn't have. For one, it calls in-app playlists "queues." It also has smooth and quick gestures that help with adding and subtracting music from these queues. Overall, though, it's just more visually pleasing.
Essentially, you're paying three dollars for a beautiful interface and the ability to swipe to add songs to a playlist. To me, the native iPod app works fine to access and listen to my iTunes library.
Panamp works well and looks gorgeous, but I, personally, cannot justify spending anything on another music player for my phone. If the screenshots alone convince you to buy this app due to the visually pleasing design — and hey, some people just like pretty apps — then it's definitely for you. Otherwise, it's just a glorified iPod app and not worth it.
