Fear not, apartment shopper, because with these three US-based iPhone apps, you will be ready to hit the apartment market with your best foot forward and armed with as much knowledge on what is available as possible. Each of these three apps has some great features, and because they are all free, there really is no reason not to download them all! Between the three, it is nearly impossible not to find what you need.

Apartment Guide

This is a great application for finding your next place to live. When you first boot it up, it will ask you to allow it to use your location, if you say yes it will be able to find apartments near you. At first, you can simply tap the “Search Nearby” button, and it will show you the apartments close to you. From the search nearby screen, you can tap refine to narrow the results by price, bedrooms, bathrooms and other parameters.

Clicking any result will bring you to the screen for more details on the apartment. You can quickly click “Call now” to call the place and set up an appointment to see the units. You will also be able to see a detailed description of the units, as well as a breakdown of different models and their prices. They also show amenities, pet policies, community features and special features.

You can also used the advanced search to limit the results it shows you to only ones that meet specific requirements. Of course, if you are not looking for an apartment near you, you can also type in a zip code to search anywhere. Another cool feature is that the app will remember places you have viewed recently as well as those you have called. It also allows you to store any place as a favorite for easy access later.

Trulia

Trulia is a full featured real estate iPhone application that does everything from finding houses for sale, houses that are sold, places that have been reduced in price, open houses and of course apartments for rent. To view the places available for rent, simply tap “For Rent” from the main screen. By default, the application will show you an aerial map view of all the places available in your proximity. You can tap any of them for a more detailed view.

If you do not enjoy looking at a map, you can tap the list button on the bottom right of the screen to view the apartments in an easy to read format. You can also tap the magnifying glass symbol to search using location,  minimum and maximum rent, the number of bedrooms, bathrooms and other things that are important in your search.

You can add places to favorites, but you must create a free account with Trulia. The nice thing about this is that you can get access to your favorites from another device or computer. Trulia, while not as easy to navigate as some apps, is your one stop real estate iPhone application.

MyApartmentMap

This app is incredibly streamlined and easy to navigate. It launches a simple screen that asks, “Where do you want your apartment?” The front page also features any places you have saved on the bottom. To start your search, simply enter a zip code or city into the box and click “Search!”

The results will start with a list, showing you all the apartments for rent in the area. You can scroll through these to find the one you like. At the top of the screen is where you can customize how you view the results. You can click “Map,” which, you guessed it, shows the results on a map. You can also click “Data,” which is an awesome feature that shows averages for the apartments in your results. You can see the average rents based on size and other data about the places you are looking for. You can also view deals on apartments in your area by clicking on the “Deals” tab.

On the top left of the screen you can click “Filter” to tweak the results. Do you need an apartment that will let you keep your dog? Do you need a place that is under $1,000 a month? Well from this screen, you can customize all that and more.

Conclusion

With these three applications, you will be ready to find the perfect place to live, for the right price and in a great location. They make finding an apartment as simple and painless as possible. The best part is; you can take them with you while looking at the places, to make sure they stack up to their description.

Image Credit: ShutterStock

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The modern MOD-scene is a friendly, care-and-share alike community consisting of programmers producing free software, composers sharing their music for free and those who simply love the music. Thanks to software emulation, there’s no need for original hardware any more – though many do still insist on using classic technology for their musical needs.

This will be a two-part guide, with hardware, samples and VSTs coming next week.

Trackers & Making Music

A tracker is not an absolute necessity for creating 8bit, and many people get away with using digital audio solutions like FLStudio or Audacity. However, If you’re really serious about creating 8bit music then you’re going to want to learn how to use a tracker.

Whilst each tracker is different, the methodology behind making music is virtually identical on each piece of software. The most noticeable difference between standard audio software and a music tracker is the way the track is constructed – vertically, as opposed to horizontally – but there’s far more to it than that.

There are 6 main characteristics common to music trackers: tracks (channels), samples, notes, effects, patterns and orders. Tracks are the vertical strips onto which you construct the music, and whilst trackers of old only had a limited amount of available tracks the modern offerings have vastly improved on this. Samples are sound recordings that must be imported (and sometimes generated in-tracker) in order to construct  music.

Notes then adjust the pitch of the samples in order to match them to musical notes, allowing you to construct complex patterns of varying notes with only a handful of samples. Effects go hand in hand with notes, as these are commands added to the end of the note to instruct it to play arpeggio, vibrato, portamento and so on.

A pattern consists of multiple tracks playing at once to make up part of a song, whilst the order defines when each pattern plays, for how long and specifying other options like whether each pattern should be looped or not. These are the basics, and once they’re firmly implanted in your head then the only thing holding you back is your imagination and eagerness to experiment.

Software

Here are some of the best, completely free music trackers as well as relevant documentation where available.

OpenMPT (Windows) [Official Documentation]

Based on ModPlug Tracker, OpenMPT (Open ModPlug Tracker) builds on this release with a number of awesome features including support for VST effects and instruments. VST stands for virtual studio technology and allows instruments such as synthesizers and drum kits as well as a number of effects to be used in OpenMPT. This is somewhat special as I haven’t found any other free trackers that provide support.

OpenMPT continues the 8bit revival by supporting a number of newer file formats including Impulse Tracker (.IT/.ITP files) as well as good old fashioned (but somewhat limiting at times) .MOD and .XM files. OpenMPT is currently only designed to be used with Windows, and unfortunately I had a lot of trouble getting this to work through WINE on Linux.

One of the most complete, powerful and user-friendly trackers out there.

MilkyTracker (Windows, Mac, Linux) [Official Manual, Unofficial Tutorial]

Another much-loved tracker, MilkyTracker attempts to be a faithful recreation of the popular DOS tracker, FastTracker 2. It also aims to satiate Amiga fans, providing enhanced playback compatibility with the Amiga classic ProTracker. MilkyTracker is able to create .MOD and .XM tracks, has a unique custom user interface and supports MIDI-in.

MilkyTracker has not made the leaps forward that OpenMPT has in the form of VSTs and advanced formats, and this is because it has been designed to be and remain a second generation tracker.

SunVox (Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, Android) [Official Manual, Video Tutorials]

SunVox aims to be a more contained workstation than Milky or OpenMPT and to achieve this there are a lot of synthesizers and effects bundled from the get-go. In addition to this the software has a particularly flexible architecture, allowing it to perform well on older machines, mobile devices and even smartphones.

Indeed, there are iOS and Android versions available – but they’re going to cost you. If you’re weighing up the purchase then luckily all other versions are free. If you’ve still got an old Windows Mobile or PalmOS device then you’ll be pleased to know SunVox is fully compatible, so why not try it out!

SchismTracker (Windows, Mac, Linux + more) [FAQ, Message Board]

SchismTracker is a free Impulse Tracker clone that aims to recreate the feel and functionality seen in the old DOS application. Whilst Impulse Tracker doesn’t add anything particularly new to the plate (unlike ChibiTracker above) it is very flexible in construction, and according to the author: “Schism will most likely build on any architecture supported by GCC4 (e.g. alpha, m68k, arm, etc.)”

As well as Windows, Mac and a handful of Linux distributions, SchismTracker can be downloaded for the Pandora and even the Nintendo Wii (though that version is no longer supported).

SonantLive (Browser) [Instructions]

Because you want to play with a tracker and you’re too impatient to download a portable app and run it – introducing SonantLive, a music tracker than runs in your browser! Yes, it works and should give you a basic introduction to patterns, sequences, waves and of course the process behind constructing a pattern.

It’s not necessarily as powerful as the other trackers on this list but then again it’s web-based, designed for fun and completely free. You can even save and load!

Conclusion

There’s simply not enough space here to go into hardware chiptune, the many free samples the web has to offer or all the gorgeous VST instruments and effects that are floating around for free. You’re going to have to wait for next week in order to enjoy those.

In the meanwhile if you’ve got any other trackers or software you rely on for your chiptune needs then don’t hesitate to add them in the comments below.

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For film-makers the impact is often negative, but with a change of perspective the Internet can suddenly be the catalyst for success, spring-boarding a film from obscurity to fame in record time. Best of all, film-makers are actually able to make money by sharing their creations for free.

Welcome to VODO.

Magic People, VODO People

VODO works in a similar way to crowd-funding services like Kickstarter, except the funding process almost works entirely in reverse. For film-makers VODO appeals because once the film has been made it can be shared and distributed (via BitTorrent, nonetheless) and promoted by VODO. There are no physical distribution or packaging costs and the retailer doesn’t take a slice of the pie either.

Instead the film is presented to the Internet for free. Once a user has downloaded and enjoyed the film then the option to donate is heavily encouraged. Like many crowd-funding ventures, there are opportunities to donate larger amounts in exchange for extras like signed DVDs, audio commentary and so on.

The service turns the idea of piracy on its head, and places faith in the downloading public to donate. Donation amounts can be as little or as much as you like, and the film-makers are guaranteed to see more greenbacks than if you spent a similar amount on a physical DVD. Without further ado, let’s see what quality films reside on this excellent service.

Snowblind (2010) [IMDB]

The product of a group of German 70s and 80s grindhouse enthusiasts, Snowblind is a film for anyone who enjoys graphic novel adaptations, cowboys and motorbikes. Talent was sourced from the US, Britain, Australia, Ireland and South Africa to make this a truly international effort.

The film is highly stylized in typical graphic novel fashion, and takes the usual grainy visuals and atmosphere and does something a bit different with it. Snowblind was entirely privately funded on virtually no budget. It won “Best International Picture” at Belfast’s 2010 Yellow Fever International Film Festival.

The Tunnel (2011) [IMDB]

Shakey-cam films can either turn out tense, gripping and watchable (The Blair Witch Project) or cliched, boring and nausea-inducing (Cloverfield, anyone?). The Tunnel is yet another shakey-cam “found footage” film which, in my opinion, is worth the slog. Set in Sydney, Australia, a journalist and her team venture into a network of disused underground tunnels in search of a story only to discover that the story is coming for them.

The acting is a bit ropey in places, but the film does manage to pull some convincing characters and dialogue out of the hat when it matters. The Tunnel has won a variety of awards and is available in a selection of formats over at the official website.

Exhibit A (2007) [IMDB]

Straight from the Eden Lake school of horror, Exhibit A tells the tale of a British family disintegrating under financial pressure through the eyes of the family video camera. That’s right, it’s technically another shakey-cam though this is certainly not your average horror film.

The camera eventually becomes “Exhibit A”, and captures the slow disintegration of a family unit that’s painful to watch, but impossible to look away. The film was shot in only 18 days and the actors did all of their own (convincing) camera work.

A Grain of Sand (2009) [IMDB]

In 1972 British-national Brendan Grimshaw gave up his successful career editing major African newspapers in order to buy Moyenne Island for £10,000. Since then he and his friend Rene Lafortune have planted 16,000 trees, built 4.8KM of nature trails and built up a population of 109 giant land tortoises.

Experience Brendan’s paradise in this documentary which uncovers his last 30 years of effort. Brendan is now in his 80s and concerned about the future of Moyenne Island which has accrued a value of around £28 million (€34m).

The Yes Men Fix The World: P2P Extended Edition (2010) [IMDB]

Gonzo journalism lives on in the form of The Yes Men who stop at nothing to get their point heard and message conveyed. This special P2P edition of the film contains additional footage of the duo impersonating the United States Chamber of Commerce, who are now suing them for doing so. This footage cannot be released on DVD, so the only way it’ll be seen is if you download it.

Join the pair as they expose inequalities the world over including flagrant profiteering from Hurricane Katrina and other high-profile, highly-entertaining and very clever political stunts.

Conclusion

There are so many films to choose from on VODO, and you can easily donate using PayPal, Visa or Mastercard. Browse, download, give what you like and reap the benefits – not only are you helping out film-makers, but also proving that file sharing can be used for far more than just piracy.

Best bit? Most torrents are well-seeded so download speeds are generally very high.

Any films on this list you like? Any on VODO you’d like to recommend? What do you think of the payment model? Have your say in the comments!

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This is great when you’re playing file janitor for a day, cutting, copying and inevitably deleting files and folders you no longer need. Unfortunately getting the data back isn’t quite as easy as a trip to the Recycle Bin. You’ll need some recovery software, something like Pandora Recovery. Breathe. Relax. Let’s recover some data.

A Few Things To Remember

When a file is deleted, Windows usually sends the item to the Recycle Bin where it is marked for deletion but still very much on your drive. Once you’ve emptied the Recycle Bin the file is seemingly lost. Shift+Del is simply a handy shortcut to skip the Bin and zap a file.

However, just because the file or folder has been deleted does not mean your data has been destroyed. When a file is “deleted”, Windows simply marks that section of the hard drive as free, writable space. Provided you’ve not filled up the drive a few times, it’s very likely you’ll be able to recover those files.

This does of course mean that old hard drives, memory cards, flash drives and any other rewritable storage medium is subject to the same rules. If you format and sell an old SD card there’s every chance the buyer could attempt a recovery and enjoy your holiday snaps too. Regardless of how likely it is that someone would do this, it’s still very much possible.

Install Pandora Recovery

Assuming you’ve just lost a couple of vital documents, you’ll probably want to protect the medium they were stored on. Don’t write to the drive, don’t move or copy items and ensure you have at least enough free space on a separate drive for the files you want to recover.

Recovering files to the same drive that you are recovering from is possibly going to end in tears as your files have now been marked as free space, meaning it’s possible that you’ll overwrite the same files you’re trying to cover and lose your data. Don’t do it – recover to another drive and then put your files back where they belong.

If you’re recovering from your system drive then it’s probably a good idea to not install Pandora in this location, in case you overwrite the data. If you’re reading this without the need for an immediate recovery then ask yourself if you’re better off installing the software before you genuinely need it. Otherwise, choose another partition or better still prepare a portable USB install on another PC. It is also possible to buy a ready-to-rock USB version of Pandora for around $20.

You can grab Pandora here, choose Download.com as a mirror and click the Direct Download Now link below the CNET Installer link. CNET Installer will attempt to install crapware on your PC (you have to agree, but it’s quite a confusing dialogue) in addition to the Ask.com toolbar you should probably refuse in the main installer.

Once Pandora is installed or available as a portable app you’re ready to recover.

The Recovery Process

Recovering data with Pandora is fairly simple, and the first thing you’ll see is a wizard that attempts to guide you through the process. Follow the wizard and after choosing a drive you’ll be asked whether you want to browse for deleted files, search or conduct a deep surface scan.

Browse is great if you know where the data went missing from, and probably returns the quickest results. If you’re after a particular file then searching either for a matching name or simply by extension like *.avi or *.jpg will yield results. If your drive has been formatted, has corrupted file tables, is a removable/flash storage medium or everything else has failed then a deep surface scan is your best option.

You can easily skip between the functions in their respective tabs, and the recovery process is identical for all three methods. Once you have located a file or folder you would like to recover simply right click and choose Recover to… from the menu.

A dialogue box will pop-up requesting a location to store recovered data, remember: if you’re recovering from an external hard drive – copy to your main drive. If you’re recovering from system drive – recover to a USB or external drive. Do not write to your source drive.

Depending on how much data is being recovered you may have to wait a while. Recovering 17GB of video took me about 45 minutes, whereas a small file (documents or images) takes seconds. Once you’re done you’ll hopefully see something resembling the screen below.

Conclusion

Remember, if you can’t find your data with a search or browse then a deep surface scan is highly recommended. I deleted a few files to test the program and not only did it find the images I purposefully deleted but a lot of old music, video and image files from before my last format.

If you’ve tried Pandora Recovery and are still having problems then all is not lost. Maybe you’ll have some joy with another recommended recovery program. There is also a detailed FAQ regarding Pandora here.

If you have any thoughts on this or other data recovery tools then add your comments, below.

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Below are three fun, simple ways in which you can try Ruby in your browser, right now, for free, without installing a single file.

Rubymonk

Hailing all the way from India, Rubymonk offers a series of over 50 short, interactive Ruby exercises and it saves your progress. Above is what I saw when I went back to Rubymonk after leaving the website (I solved the first couple of exercises).

Let’s look at what a single exercise looks like:

The exercise starts with a simple explanation, followed by a snippet of code. If you hit the Run button, the code is immediately evaluated and you get to see its output. Next, you get a simple assignment. Write the code you think is the right answer, and hit Ctrl+Enter to run it (or click the Run button). The Rubymonk now spits out an answer:

Once you finish working through some of the exercises, you will be presented with a problem to solve on your own:

You get an explanation of what you need to solve, some template code to get you started, and you’re on your own. This is great, because it’s much closer to actually coding than filling in one-liners in response to narrow questions.  If you get stuck, you can always click “See the Solution” and the solution will instantly appear in the text box.

Once you’re done with the first problem, you are transported to the table of contents, where you can pick and choose what you want to learn (and whether you want a lesson or a problem). Lessons look like this:

And a problem looks like this:

The tags are lessons which you should work through, in order to acquire the skills you need to solve the problem. The whole thing is very polished, and just generally fun to work with. Highly recommended.

Ruby Koans

The Ruby Koans are hosted over at Heroku, and are even more steeped in mysticism that Rubymonk. Check it out:

Say what you will, but this is definitely not boring. Fill in what you think is the right answer (trivial, in this case), and hit Enter. The snippet will be evaluated, and colored accordingly:

The Ruby Koans are a lot of fun, and they seem much more advanced than Rubymonk. They start off with asserts and testing, rather than arrays or other basic concepts. One small niggle is that your progress is not saved between koans, so you’d better bookmark where you stopped for the day. It’s not as AJAXy as Rubymonk, but I think it’s still great, and it’s a project that inspired many imitations, such as the JavaScript Koans.

Try Ruby

Try Ruby was created as a tribute to why’s (poignant) guide to ruby (link to PDF), one of the craziest programming textbooks I have ever laid eyes on. It’s a great book for the Ruby language, and although the author no longer takes an active role in the Ruby community, I have a feeling he would have approved of the project. The website is built as a large ruby prompt, with instructions on the side:

The text is simple and playful (no mystical references here). You type real Ruby code in the prompt, and work through the simple exercises one by one. The whole thing doesn’t take very long.

Final Thoughts

Personally, I feel that learning by doing is one of the best ways to absorb new material. These may not make you into a code ninja, but they will definitely give you a feel for Ruby. If you’re curious about the language, pick the one you like best and take it for a spin! Let us know how it went in the comments.

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So, dear MakeUseOf readers, I felt that this is a question worthy enough to expand upon. I’m quite sure that some of you out there are wondering where to find royalty free music whether you’re a videomaker, a game developer, or one of those neo-artist stage performance poets that uses a combination of visual imagery, weird music, and the occasional bit of innocent nudity. So with that being said, I’m here to bring you some quality royalty free music.

Vimeo Music Store

The Vimeo Music Store is a brilliant tool to use when in search for music for your videos. Although there are several free items available via the Creative Commons, there are actually a few songs that you can pay for either personal use ($1.99) or for commercial use ($98). The Vimeo Music Store is a nice consolidated catalog of music from all genres, and the best part about it is that each song on the store is available to use for your videos. This way, you do not have to do as much digging. However, you will have to lurk around if you want to find free royalty free songs, and it’s a little harder if you want to use them commercially without paying a dime.

SoundCloud

I recently discovered the beauty of SoundCloud, and the fact is this – they have an entire section of their site devoted to the Creative Commons. What does that mean for you? Well, my friend, it means there is a ton of music out there waiting on you to use it in a personal project. SoundCloud also offers quite a bit of search classifications, so you can find songs with CC licenses that allow for commercial use or without the share alike option. It seems like a good deal to me, and I’ve been using their music for quite a few projects lately.

Free Music Archive

The Vimeo Music Store pulls some of their music from the Free Music Archive, but I decided to go ahead and throw it in as a separate entity for a couple of reasons. One, it seems like the Vimeo Music Store doesn’t include all of the songs on here, for it constantly updates. Two, it also seems like there is some differing information between the sites.

For instance, I used a song that I got from the Vimeo Music store for free, and on their site, it said I could only use it for noncommercial purposes. However, when I saw it on the Free Music Archive, it said I could use it for commercial purposes with attribution. Either way, both are excellent sources of music, and I would recommend this site for sure. Granted, I cannot guarantee everything on this site will be available for you to use.

Incompetech

We couldn’t have this article without mentioning Kevin MacLeod, the mastermind behind Incompetech. MacLeod’s website offers quite a bit of music for your royalty free needs, and it is absolutely fantastic. He does offer a PayPal donation system (as does AudioNautix, actually), so if you feel the need to support him, you can do so. However, his music is great for whatever you need, and there is nothing else I can really say except that you should go give it a listen.

AudioNautix

After submitting my answer to MUO answers (which included the Vimeo Music Store), I went back to see if anybody else had brought anything to the table. Fortunately, someone did, and that was MUO reader ha14, who suggested AudioNautix, another site for royalty free music. The site offers everything including tracks for cinematic works and documentaries, but what i really liked about it was simply how easy it was to understand the usage rights of this music. You can pretty much use it for anything, so… go do that. Right now.

Conclusion

These are simply my top four picks for royalty free music (with ha14′s tacked on), and each of them have quality stuff. You normally won’t see a whole lot of good music that you can use in projects, and each of these resources has a different flavor for everyone.

What other royalty free music resources do you use? What do you like or not like about the ones mentioned here?

Image Credit: imelenchon

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That being said, I’m picky when it comes to games, and tend to get bored and exasperated with them rather quickly. This is why I keep downloading and trying  more and more new games, in an effort to find those precious few I can actually play for more than 10 minutes. In this article, I will share 5 games that have survived the 10-minutes test, and are probably some of the best-value free games you can find.

The Sims FreePlay [iTunes link]

You’ve probably heard of The Sims. This game was hard to miss several years back, and still emerges to the spotlight every now and then. As a major SimCity 2000 fan, I got addicted to the first Sims pretty quickly. The honeymoon only lasted for a few months though, and I haven’t touched a Sims game since then. Until I found The Sims FreePlay for the iPad.

If you’ve ever played The Sims before, you’ll recognize the interface. The game includes tons of options such as building and designing your house, buying furniture, completing goals, meeting other Sims, getting pets, and of course, the best part, creating your Sims.

Like many other “freemium” games, things can take time. Personally, I find this very convenient. This means you can play a little bit whenever you have the time, and let the game work by itself when you don’t. The graphics are great, the game is responsive, and the experience reminds me a lot of the original Sims I used to play on the desktop.

My Horse [iTunes link]

Have you ever dreamed of owning your own horse? One you could ride, compete with, train and shop for? You don’t have to admit it out loud, but if you’ve ever had the slightest horse-crave, you’re going to love My Horse.

My Horse is another “freemium” game, which you can fully enjoy without spending a dime. You earn coins and gems for completing tasks, and you can buy lots of fancy equipment, enter competitions for prizes, gain XP points, and all the while looking after your horse’s energy, health and happiness.

Almost every task you perform is a micro-game, and you can choose to do whatever you feel like each time you play.  This is another game you can play when you have time, and leave it to do its thing for the rest of the day. And if it all looks a bit bland to you, I assure you there is actually some strategy to it. Try it and find out!

Frisbee Forever [iTunes link]

Frisbee Forever is one of my favorite free games, and I’ve covered it before in depth. The goal of the game is to throw your Frisbee, make sure it passes through all the hoops, collect all the stars and get it safely to each level’s goal.

While you play, you earn coins and star coins, which you can use to unlock more levels, buy new Frisbees and equipment and generally enjoy yourself. The setting of the levels ranges from amusement parks and deserts to villages in the wild west, and the gameplay gets gradually harder, but not so hard that you get frustrated and throw the whole darn thing away. Whenever you’re bored, grab your iPad and play a few quick levels. You may even get some hefty bonuses every time you return to the game.

Glass Tower 2 HD Free [iTunes link]

Glass Tower 2 is the kind of game I rarely go for. These falling tower games tend to be either repetitive or too hard after very few levels, and I always get too frustrated and bored to continue. This is why I was doubly surprised at how fun and engaging Glass Tower 2 is.

The goal of the game is simple – get rid of all the blue blocks without breaking any of the red ones. Each level is a new tower, and you simply start tapping on the blue blocks to break them, one by one. This has to be done carefully, though, because those annoying red blocks tend to fall and break when you remove the blue blocks from around them.

While you play, bonuses keep flying around on the sides of the screen, which you have to quickly grab if you want to enjoy them. This can be quite challenging when your trying to prevent the whole thing from collapsing on you.

The free version includes 75 levels, which is impressive for such a good game. It also contains some unobtrusive ads.  The paid version is $0.99, and includes 150 levels and level editor. And of course, no ads.

iStunt 2 HD Instant Hills [iTunes link]

In all honesty, iStunt 2 Instant Hills is one of the best games I have on my iPad. Having never done any snowboarding in my life, I didn’t expect this game to be so enjoyable, but this one is a real hit.

The truly fun part about this game is the tilt controls. While I usually don’t like these, they work very well with this game. You control the snowboarder by moving your iPad around, and tap the screen to perform all sorts of fancy jumps. The game starts as quite easy, but pretty soon you get fans blowing on you, gravity changers and speed boosters, while you have to do your best not to crash.

I assure you, this is the most fun you’re going to have today!

If you’re not satisfied yet, be sure to check out some more great free games:

• 10 Great Free Games for Your iPad
• 5 Must Download New Free iPad Games
• 6 Free Simulation Games for the iPad
• 5 iPad Games You Won’t Believe Are Free
• 5 Free iPad Games To Amuse You This Weekend

Know of some more great free games for the iPad? Let us know in the comments!

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We, as listeners and fans, only stand to gain. One of the best tools on the scene today, for artists and listeners both, is Bandcamp. We have mentioned Bandcamp before, when Tina listed the site as one of 5 Resources Used To Find Free MP3 Albums For Sound Sunday. Today, I’d like to take you in for a closer look at the site from the listener perspective.

The Concept

Bandcamp lets artists put their albums online and let users listen to the music right on the site. The artists selects what tracks users can listen to (usually, all of them). These are not previews or 30-second snippets, but the full track. And you can listen to it as many times as you want, without having to pay anything. The typical album interface looks like this:

Look at everything you can do here. The large button at the top lets you play the whole album. The playlist at the bottom shows you what song is currently playing, and you can also read the lyrics, skip between songs, and buy individual songs. The artist can offer specific songs for free – the first two songs in this particular album (Diablo Mambo) are offered for free, in exchange for a subscription to the artist’s mailing list. This is what happens when you click the Download button:

So you share your email with the band, but if you like their music enough to want to download it, you probably won’t mind.

Finding Music To Listen To

Okay, so we’ve seen a little bit of the individual artist interface, and we’ll get back to it later. But before delving into it in further detail, we need to answer an important question: How do you find stuff to listen to?

Bandcamp lets you directly search by artist, track, and album names, and even by lyrics. But if you’re not looking for anything specific, you can browse the library by either genre or location:

For example, here’s a list of artists from New Zealand:

Another good way to find artists is via Bandcamp’s featured music tag on their blog. This is a relatively new venture for Bandcamp. Once per week, a detailed review of an album is published. The reviews are well written and compelling, and span many different genres from hip-hop to folk to electronica.

The Current Activity List

There’s one more way to find new music, and it’s actually my favorite. Bandcamp’s front page has a running stream of music selling right now. The stream is constantly updated in real time, and watching it feels a bit like standing next to the cash register in a “real” record store:

There’s a big difference between just listening to music on the site and deciding to pay for it. When a user decides to spend real money on an album, that means the album is at least worth a listen. Spending money is a fantastic filter.

Name Your Price, Pick Your Format

It’s hard to put a price on something as intangible as an album. So, why not let the customer decide how much they want to pay?

If you look at the list above, you will see that the top four albums were sold for “more than the minimum”. In fact, they were all available for download for free, (a $5 purchase that is $5 over the minimum means the album was available for $0) and yet users opted to pay for them.

Other albums do have a minimum price:

Here, it is at least $10. But again, you can usually listen to the entire album online over and over again before deciding to spend that money.

Final Thoughts

Bandcamp is an incredible way to get to know new music. It’s how I found Marian Call, great Ukelele covers of Radiohead by Amanda Palmer, and lots of other fantastic music that stuck with me. This is clearly the future of music, and if you haven’t tried it yet, you really should take it for a spin.  Let us know what you think of it.

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