Bloom: Taking iPhone Apps to the Next Level

Brian Eno, arguably the godfather of ambient music, has teamed up with a programmer by the name of Peter Chilvers to create one of the most intriguing apps out there for the iPhone that I have ever seen: Bloom.

Bloom is, in the words of its creators, "part instrument, part composition and part artwork." It's a music-creator... but it's different from the truckloads of synthesized keyboards and whatnot that can be found all over the app store. Bloom actually creates ambient music for your iPhone, it in itself essentially being an "instrument".

You're provided with a colorful background and a quiet background hum, and from there you yourself can create some really cool sounds just by tapping on the screen. The software is extremely intuitive - it's pretty much impossible not to understand. Just tap, and it does the rest - creating loops and constantly changing itself. It can also just create music itself.

Bloom is $3.99 on the App Store for iPod Touch or iPhone users, and in my opinion, it is well worth the price. I have yet to see another app that is as interesting, cool, or original as this. Check it.

The World is Full of Jerks

My iPod got stolen yesterday. My $400 iPod touch. My baby that I used to take with me everywhere, which had all of my music, and also my personal calendar and various other doodads. It was also shiny. And cool.

I am very annoyed that someone would have the indecency to nab this from my gym locker. I am very annoyed that I can no longer listen to my music anywhere but on my computer speakers. And I am very confused because I no longer know what I'm doing this Wednesday or when I'm teaching my next piano lesson.

Curse you, world! Or at least, Curse you, jerky inhabitants of the aforementioned world!

Party Shuffle Sucks

Most people, by now, have an MP3 player. If it's any good, chances are, it has a shuffle function. I don't know about you guys, but when I shuffle through all 1900 of my songs, there's a lot of crap that I have to sort through before I get to something I really want to hear. I listen to full albums, and even if I like the album itself, it doesn't mean I like all the tracks in it.

So... I make playlists. I just spent the better part of an hour yesterday creating three new playlists, so now I have about 10. I'm curious: Is that weird? I don't know how many people like to use playlists to determine what they listen to. Personally, I like shuffle... but I want to shuffle through certain types of songs sometimes. That's why I have playlists.