Review: Milk Crater For iPhone/Touch

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Browsers have become a huge part of all of our computing lives. Internet, operating systems, phones, music players all use a browser. It is interesting that most browsing experiences are similar. Other than slight differences or innovations, they really stay the same. The same rings true with the iPod function on the iPhone/Touch. Nothing is wrong with the music browser, but what if you wanted something different or new? Milk Crater takes browsing to the future turning your iPod library into a visual field of cover art. Click through to find out more.

Upon opening Milk Crater, the app will build a custom dial. It is taking the music and album art to essentially build the visual field of cover art and music.

The custom dial is truly a unique way to browse all available music. To change artist or song simply move the board around and the song in the middle of the cross will play. The songs do not begin at the beginning for some reason. Once the song begins, there is an option to play at the start, 15 seconds or 60 seconds. Albums with more songs appear larger and the song can be changed within each album by moving the grid slightly.

As the songs play there are several options available. Clicking the folder icon with a Q on it will send the song to the Q which is essentially a playlist. When the song is added to the Q, the album art jumps from the grid and into the Q folder. The animation is a nice touch.

The song title is located on the bottom bar. Clicking on it will open an extra window containing information about the song. Information displayed includes Album, Track number (with ability to skip to 25 or 60 seconds), other songs which are playable from the album, statistics and the album artwork. This information is easy to use and again, a unique and attractive way to look at the song info.

The Q is a great feature. Add songs on the go to an ever building playlist. To play it, tap the letter Q at the bottom of the screen and choose to play or clear the Q. Playing the Q brings up a screen that shows all of the available songs. Play any of the songs or choose to shuffle at the bottom of the screen. If the perfect Q is created you can even export it via email. Once the file is received and saved, open iTunes and follow the instructions on the email to create the Q into a playlist. If the Q is amazing, sync it as a playlist right back on the iPhone.

Milk Crater is a really cool way to browse your iPhone music and it works really well. Ending the app will leave the music playing just as if the regular iPod app is being used. The lockscreen will also show the album art and song information. So basically, the app provides a cool way to browse music without losing any iPod functionality.

If you are tired of the same old way to browse music and like visual browsers, then give Milk Crater a try. The idea is imaginative and well executed. Go check out the app here in the app store for $1.99.

What I like: Unique and attractive alternative to the supplied iPod browser.

What could be improved: I do not like how each song starts somewhere in the middle and I was not able to find options to change this.

 

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About the Author

Travis Ehrlich
Travis is a high school teacher and coach in a small South Texas town. His love for gadgets began at a very early age, and he has been a cross between a jock and a geek for most of his life. He has two boys and a wonderful wife who lets him be a gadget freak. He is a Mac convert and has drank the whole pitcher of Kool-Aid! He is also an avid guitar player and loves the outdoors, especially hunting with both a bow and rifle.