Despite the fact that there are many sites on the web which are designed to host your videos, YouTube remains the undisputed champion in that field. The drawback until recently has been its absolute reliance on Adobe’s Flash, a format deemed unsuitable by Apple for its portable devices. As a result, the YouTube app was born, a place where you can watch H.264 versions of most of the same videos.

With the release of iOS 3.2 for the iPad and 4.0 for the iPhone and iPod touch, the landscape changed slightly and you can now watch YouTube videos straight from your browser, so you may think that the YouTube app is no longer necessary. But the program’s interface is designed to take advantage of your iPhone’s size and touch screen and you may find that it’s often a more pleasant experience than visiting www.youtube.com from Safari.

Through the course of this tutorial, we’ll be showing you how to find your way around the program as well as seeing how you can customise the interface to make the program function the way you like it to.

Step 1: Menu buttons
You’ll find the interface is sparse, with just five buttons at the bottom of the screen. Tap on the first one to take you to YouTube’s recommendations.

Step 2: Scrolling through
Videos are shown in a list you can scroll through by swiping your finger up or down the screen. Tapping on one of them will take you to the video.

Step 3: Re-orientation
You can watch in most orientations: with the home button to the left, right or bottom. Double-tap on the video to take it in and out of Full-screen mode.

Step 4: Get info
Click on Done (top-left) to be taken to the video’s info page. Swipe down to Rate, Comment or Flag the video.

Step 5: Comment and sign in
Tap on the Rate, Comment or Flag button. If you aren’t already signed in, you’ll be asked to do so once you’ve clicked on the Send button (top-right).

Step 6: Making favourites
Tap on the Back button (top-left) to be taken to the video’s summary page. From there, you can add it to your playlist or share it with your friends.

Click on the image below to zoom in and view the annotations.

]]> http://www.icreatemagazine.com/tips/ios/iphone-tutorial-use-the-youtube-application/feed/ 1 http://www.icreatemagazine.com/general/news/applelala-online-itunes-service/ http://www.icreatemagazine.com/general/news/applelala-online-itunes-service/#comments Thu, 10 Dec 2009 17:57:08 +0000 Ben Harvell http://www.icreatemagazine.com/?p=1975

After Apple’s acquisition of streaming music service Lala Media last week, rumours are circulating as to what Apple plans to do with such a company. Apple’s official comment went along the lines of “Sometimes we buy companies and we don’t have to tell you what we plan to do with them” but a few well informed sources are already suggesting roads this may take Apple and, of course, iTunes, down.

Some say that the purchase of Lala was purely asset based and that it’s the staff and intellectual property they are after rather than the service itself. However claims this weekend point toward a shift in iTunes from desktop software and downloads to an online, subscription-based streaming service.

Both points of view are valid but we’re not particularly swayed by either. A compromise between both extremes would certainly be more than likely. An online streaming service, like Spotify, would be ideal for the Mac user who could access an iTunes library from anywhere. This wouldn’t be as handy for mobile users though, with any iPod bar an iPod touch or iPhone lacking a wireless connection, negating a streaming option.

Ultimately, a hybrid of downloads and streaming may be where Apple intends to take iTunes in the wake of this purchase. It’s not going to ditch its iPod user base to turn the entire store into a streaming service but it may well offer the opportunity to pay for a subscription to users of wireless devices and desktop computers. The Lala service itself offers streaming as well as the option to purchase tracks so it’s unlikely that the download will disappear for good.

Apple is a strong believer in consumers physically owning their music and has been an advocate of the download as well as extensions to it including the new iTunes LPs and other additions to the iTunes Store.

So while we’re pretty sure we wont see the iTunes Store repackaged into a website for subscribers only, this latest buy shows that Apple still has its finger on the pulse of the digital entertainment market, knows where it is going and is planning for the future.

Devloper: Spotify Ltd.
Category: Music
Price: Free (with monthly subscription)

It may be a small sum, but splashing out 79p for every track you buy on iTunes soon adds up. That’s why Spotify became such a smash hit when it arrived on the Mac and PC, allowing music lovers to listen to tunes for free as long as they could put up with adverts every 30 minutes. Now Spotify is available on the iPhone but you have to be a premium subscriber to use it. So is this an iTunes killer – and is it worth the monthly cost? David Crookes checked it out.

The first thing which sprung to our minds when we used Spotify on our computers earlier this year was the question of when it was going to make it to mobile devices. Being able to stream music on your Mac or PC is all well and good but the wonder of Apple’s iPod means we’re now used to taking our growing music collection around with us – so it just had to be Spotify’s next step.
And so it has finally come to the iPhone. We’ve had a chance to play around with this much-awaited app for a short while now, allowing ourselves to become au fait with its inner workings, foibles and all. It hasn’t been an easy ride for Spotify to get to this point – there was talk that the application was set to be rejected by Apple – but the good news is that it works well. And the bad news? You have to be a premium subscriber to Spotify and it costs £9.99 a month.
But then a service like this was never going to be free. To do so would have put it directly at odds with Apple’s own iTunes and, given the quality of Spotify’s service, it would have most likely caused some major damage. It may well be that Apple and Spotify work more closely together in the months and years to come (maybe Apple will even buy Spotify?) but until then, you can add the £9.99 to the many other monthly payments you undoubtedly shell out for entertainment.

Playback

So is it worth it? The most important aspect of a streaming music service such as this is obviously the quality of the playback. Using Wi-Fi, Spotify streams music within a second or two and there is no lag. There really is no difference between Spotify’s sound and that which results from iTunes either. Songs play at a bitrate of around 160kps and best of all, it’s so impressive that using the app in view of non-iPhone users gives you a rather smug feeling.
Streaming audio over 3G is also faultless. The delay in playing a song is ever so slightly longer than with Wi-Fi but we’re still only talking mere seconds. When the song is underway, there is absolutely no stop-start frustration and it’s a seamless experience that will have you dancing with joy (even if, like some of us, your choice of music is decidedly ropey).
Spotify is let down when using an Edge connection, however. It was always inevitable but it makes the app almost unusable whenever there is a lack of 3G or Wi-Fi to tap into. Improved Edge buffering would most likely make this an iTunes killer. As it is, the hesitant nature of the streaming jars and damages the Spotify experience in some respects.

Offline

The saving grace is that you needn’t suffer if you are in an area with poor – or indeed no – reception. The app has the ability to save music to your iPhone, allowing you to listen to songs offline, perfect for when you’re travelling by air or Tube or, perhaps more rarely, sitting atop a mountain and in need of some stirring music to accompany the views.
The offline playlists are accessed via the chunky grey “Offline playlists” link at the top of the Playlist screen. Tap it and you can select the playlists you want to make available offline. You simply tap the required playlist and it immediately starts to download. It can take a little while, though – seven Michael Jackson songs took us five minutes so if you’re intending to have a couple of thousand tracks available offline, be prepared to wait.
Downloading is only available via Wi-Fi and you are “limited” to 3,333 tracks for offline playback although that’s more than enough for even the heaviest of users. Syncing between the iPhone and the Mac or PC application is dynamic too. When you add a playlist on your computer, it immediately appears on the iPhone.

Interface

Another plus point in Spotify’s favour is the interface. Apple-esque in nature, it’s a breeze to navigate and you’ll be familiar with it in minutes. It’s not without its faults, though. Everything within Spotify is displayed as a list and this could prove a problem when scrolling through them – maybe a future version could make organisation a little better. It’s okay when you have a few songs on the phone but get thousands on there and you are likely to run into problems. When offline, there’s no way to search your tracks, for instance.
Searching online, however, is fast and simple. One tap of the Search icon on the bottom of the screen and you can use the prominent search box at the top. Results are listed under tabs for Tracks, Albums and Artists. With Wi-Fi, we did a search for the Pulp B-side Mile End and it came up instantly, top of 12 results, which shows some depth to the Spotify catalogue. It was just as quick with 3G but Edge took slightly longer and yet in all cases, we just hit the title and the album cover immediately showed. The song began to play, either straight away or after a hardly noticeable delay depending on the connection.

Worth buying?

This is only the first version of the Spotify app and it’s fair to say that it’s extremely promising. Overall, there’s a mix of excitement and disappointment. It’s good to see that songs still play when the iPhone is locked but annoying that you can’t control the settings without unlocking the phone first (although you can adjust the volume using the iPhone’s controls). We wish the radio function was available and bemoan the lack of Play Queue and a simple way of setting up Playlists but we adore that offline mode, like the fact we have millions of songs at our fingertips and that songs pick up where you left off if you quit the app and then resume it.
Spotify has promised to continuing improving the iPhone app so we may well see the app saving searches and a spelling correction facility when tapping in track, artist or album names. We’d also like to be able to use the headphones to play or stop songs and some way of ensuring that battery doesn’t drain half as much as it should. And are our moans justified? They are, given that you’re shelling out close to £120 a year for the service. If it was cheaper, we’d brush much of them aside as mere annoyances.

Verdict

So is it worth the cost? It really depends on how heavy a music lover you are and we guess that by reading this far, you most probably are. In many respects, it’s like having a subscription to an online DVD rental service – you are, in a sense, renting these songs for use on your iPhone and, as soon as you stop paying, you don’t get to listen. The bonus is, you don’t lose all the hard work you’ve put into building up your playlists because you still get to listen to them for free on your computer should you quit the Premium service, albeit it with ads.
On the iPhone, though, It’s not quite a substitute for iTunes just yet but it’s certainly on its way. When you think about it, £10 is the price of three pints nowadays and for that you’re going to get drunk on quite a lot of music. If it was a little cheaper, particularly to compensate for some of the failings, we’d obviously award it a higher mark. As it is, it’s still a worthwhile purchase, the future of music in many ways, and we reckon Apple will tweak iTunes sometime soon in order to match it.
David Crookes

Pros
Fast streaming via Wi-Fi and 3G
The offline mode is a killer feature
You can take your music with you

Cons
Spotify can’t run in the background
Edge connection is poor
Some will find £10-a-month just a tad too much

Longevity: 9.0
Fun Factor: 9.0

Practicality: 8.0
Value For Money: 7.0

Kung Fu Verdict: 8.25

Our suggestions for Spotify 2.0
Although we are loathe to over-complicate our apps, some greater depth is called for with Spotify.
-Artist biographies
-Suggestions of similar artists we may like
-A list of recently played thus avoiding the need to add all of our music to playlists

Have you tried Spotify yet? This slick little service for both Mac and PC is causing quite a stir. Just imagine if your iTunes library contained every song you could ever want. On the plus side,  you could find pretty much any music to suit your mood, the downside would be that you would need a hard drive the size of a house to store all the files. Spotify provides all the positives and none of the negatives with its truly impressive streaming service that acts in the same way as iTunes but without any of the hassle of downloading. More importantly, it’s free. Paid plans are available offering additional features but, if you can handle a short advert every three tracks or so, you’ll be fine with the free version. In fact, the advertising model may have to be rethought soon if it suggests any more albums that you can also find on Spotify for free. Impulse buys are almost eradicated.

A world of music… almost
We’ve been playing with Spotify for a week or so now and have, on average, been able to find all the music we searched for, even the more obscure stuff. Because Spotify is reliant on striking deals with labels there are some notable absences such as Dave Matthews Band and The Beatles (surprise surprise!) among others and you won’t always find a complete back catalogue for the artist you’re seeking either. Aside from that, the service is near flawless and, for streaming music (around 160kb/s), surprisingly good quality, even through an unforgiving set of decent speakers.

Additional features include Artist Radio for playing related tracks in a Last.FM kind of way and playlist creation. You can even share playlists with friends and collaborate on them if you wish.

Spotify for iPhone?
So why are we talking about Spotify on iPhone Kung Fu? Well, we’ve heard rumour that the company may be planning an iPhone app too. The YouTube video below shows the iPhone emulation of how the service would work but, as yet, we haven’t heard any confirmation that we’ll see a Spotify app on the App Store or even if Apple would allow such an iTunes killer within its castle walls. Spotify is certainly interested in working on mobile versions of its application as is shown from its current recruitment drive for Android and S60 Mobile developers on its website. Apple has also been a little more relaxed on its App Store acceptance recently too with third party browsers and mail apps arriving for the first time earlier this year. At the moment, however, it’s very much a case of wait and see. For the time being you can enjoy Spotify by downloading the client at www.spotify.com and signing up to create a Spotify account. And, fingers crossed, we could be accessing this vast library of free music on our iPhones soon.