Author: Mark Crump

If you’re in the market for a way to hook your musical instrument up to your Mac or iOS device, and have a need to do multitrack recording on your iOS device, IK Multimedia has recently released two new products that may help you: iRig HD and AmpliTube Studio.

iRig HD is an upgrade to the old iRig adapter, and Amplitube Studio is a $26 in-app purchase in the AmpliTube app. In this post, I’ll talk about my experiences using these new products and how they might integrate into my musical workflow. I’ve become quite a fan of IK Multimedia’s products over the last few years, and I was very curious to see how these new releases performed.

iRig HD

As I mentioned in a previous post, I’m strings-deep into band rehearsals. Aside: isn’t that new-band smell great? While I used my USB Fender Stratocaster for a lot of the practice time, I also used the iRig HD ($99) for a lot of it. I’m going to spend a lot of time saying nice things about the iRig HD, so I’m going to start by saying I wasn’t overly thrilled with its predecessor, the iRig.

The iRig used your iOS device’s headphone jack for its input. As a result the sound quality was iffy. The iRig pretty much earned a spot in my truck’s glove box for use if I was buying a guitar and needed a tuner.

The iRig HD solves a lot of those problems. Instead of using your headphone jack, the iRig HD ships with USB, 30-pin and Lightning connector cables. As a result, the audio quality is much improved. The only downside is that you won’t be able to also charge your device while using it.

Unlike the Apogee Jam (which currently does not come with a Lightning connector), I found the iRig had a very solid connector to its main unit. It comes in two pieces: the main piece where you connect your instrument’s 1/4″ cable, and then the cable that connects this unit to your Mac or iOS device. The Apogee Jam’s connector was a tad flimsy. The iRig HD cable connector reminds me of the old Apple ADB connectors and fit snugly.

Over the last two weeks, I’ve been using the iRig fairly often and haven’t had any issues with it. I think it’s well worth the $99 asking price, especially if you have an iPhone 5.

AmpliTube Studio

The other new product IK Multimedia will release on Thursday is an upgraded Amplitube app, with a new Studio module. Previous versions of AmpliTube had an in-app purchase for an 8-track recorder, but Studio turns your iOS device into more of a Digital Audio Workstation (DAW). While Apple has its own iOS DAW with GarageBand ($4.99), it’s a little limited. The in-app amps aren’t that good, and you have to remember to tell GarageBand to record more than a few measures if you want to record a full song. While GarageBand does support Audiobus now, it’s still a limited recording platform.

AmpliTube Studio is a step closer. I much prefer AmpliTube’s amps over GarageBand’s, and having a better DAW within AmpliTube is a win for me. AmpliTube also comes with a decent little drum looper, where you can program intro, outro and verse drum loops. It ships with a set of Rock loops, and others are available via — you guessed it — an in-app purchase.

The app uses a grid layout similar to GarageBand, and you can move, cut, copy, paste and punch-in. I was able to record several minutes of audio without any issues. While the audio quality certainly wasn’t pro-level, it was good enough to piece together song demos. The biggest problem I have, is trying to figure out where the Studio module would fit in my workflow. Just about every time I decide something I’m working on needs multi-track recording, I end up deciding to do it on my Mac with GarageBand. I think it will be fine if someone is on the road, and just wants to layer some guitars and vocals for a demo. What makes it very hard is there still isn’t a good way to capture multiple input sources on an iOS device.

Final thoughts

I’m very happy with the iRig HD. It’s been a product I was eager to get my hands on since it was announced at the National Association of Music Merchants show (NAMM) earlier this year and the release does not disappoint me. It’s a product I can see myself using for quite some time.

AmpliTube Studio earns high marks for a nicely designed product that works well. I’m just not sure how often I’d use it. That said, if I were a touring musician, using AmpliTube studio and a guitar on a tour bus sure would be convenient.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• How do developers ride the Siri wave?
• NewNet Q4: Platform mania and social commerce shakeout
• NewNet Q4: Platform mania and social commerce shakeout

Relationships are a lot of work. You need to make sure you’re compatible, communicate well, and are on the same page for almost everything. Wait, you thought I meant personal relationships? Oh, sorry, I was talking about keeping multiple Macs in sync.

I was gifted a really nice 27-inch monitor a year ago. Connecting that to my 2011 15-inch MacBook Pro essentially turned my laptop into a desktop Mac. Not that unplugging it and bringing it with me is a hassle. It’s getting it to recognize the monitor when I plug it in. I end up having to use GFXCardStatus to force the graphics card into Discrete mode (even if it’s there already) to get it to properly detect the external monitor. I also dual-boot this Mac into Windows 8 to play some games, so that just generates some extra hassles when reconnecting the monitor.

At the same time, I did need a mobile platform. I’m getting a band together, and need a laptop to bring to rehearsals to record with. Plus, I wanted something light if I was leaving the house to write with. I also didn’t want to pay a lot for this muffler, err laptop.

Fortunately, I still had my 2009 13-inch MacBook Pro kicking around. This is the tale of how I manage both laptops. Because everyone has two laptops floating around, right?

The Mac App Store

The Mac App store has really eliminated my “OK, where did I put that serial number?” issues. While software packages like Microsoft Office aren’t there, I’m finding that around 90 percent of what I need is available in the Mac App Store. Pages ($19.99), Things ($49.99) and Evernote  (Free) are key to my workflow, so being able to easily reinstall them from the Mac App Store (along with a 5-device license) is a blessing.

Office 365

Sometimes (OK, often), iWork isn’t enough, and I need the full might and power of the Microsoft Office Suite. To make my life a lot easier, I just use Office 365, which gives me access to the Office suite on both OS X and Windows 8. It also comes with 20 GB of SkyDrive space (more on that later).

Usually, I need Office when I’m on a fast roundtrip collaboration with a person who does not have iWork. While Pages does handle Word documents fairly well, I’m more comfortable keeping Word documents in Word. Also, I loathe Numbers and much prefer Excel. My issues with Numbers are lengthy, but it sums it up with that it kinda plays at being a spreadsheet, but doesn’t have nearly the power of Excel. So, it’s just easier to handle those tasks in Excel.

The cloud

Keeping the same programs on multiple devices is one thing. The important part is keeping the data in sync. For that, I rely on a handful of cloud services: iCloud, Dropbox and SkyDrive.

iCloud

iCloud has gotten kind of beaten up in the press lately, and to a certain degree, I admit the service has its good and bad points. So, I’ve separated out the pieces I have problems with (Documents in the Cloud) and instead focus on the parts that work for me (Bookmarks, iMessage, etc.).

The biggest issue I have with Documents in the Cloud is the walled-garden approach. Simply put, a file I start in Byword ($9.99) can’t easily be moved into Pages or Word, without cutting and pasting. I also don’t expect this to change, so I’ve looked for other solutions for document syncing. One problem I’ve run into is completely forgetting what program I even created a file in.

I also use Notes.app quite a bit. Its interface for capturing notes quickly is a little easier than Evernote’s. As an example, I was recently watching a band perform. This band is the same style of music I’m playing, and I took copious notes on their stage manner, song list and the like. I just felt more comfortable doing this in iCloud and Notes. Evernote for me still remains a place to store large bodies of notes with lots of text.

SkyDrive

My affair with SkyDrive started when I needed to edit Office documents on my Windows 8 partition. While Dropbox can handle this, I liked how it integrated natively into Windows 8. Also, it’s nice being able to edit Word documents in Skydrive’s web interface on a machine I might not have Office installed on. While I can use Google Docs for this (and for one spreadsheet, my band’s songlist, I do use Gdocs), I prefer the Office web apps. With my Office 365 subscription, SkyDrive also comes with 20 GB of storage. That also means I can use it to move my GarageBand songs between machines. One conscious decision I’ve made is to only have production-type files on Skydrive. This is where most of my working files reside.

Dropbox

Dropbox takes the place of flash drives for moving my files between computers. If I get a PDF in the mail I want to have on all computers, I put it in Dropbox. One exception to having work files on SkyDrive is most iOS text editors save to Dropbox, so I use that tool for any text files I’m working on. For the most part, these files are notes from meetings, or stories I’m working on that are in very rough draft and I don’t need to worry about niceties like formatting.

Final thoughts

A few months ago, I wrote about how I use Dropbox for some of the iCloud-type storage. Since then, I’ve started using SkyDrive quite a bit, and I like the separation between the digital junk drawer that’s my Dropbox folder, and the more organized, work environment in SkyDrive. While Dropbox would handle this well, the appeal to me is easy editing in a web interface via SkyDrive that I enjoy.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• The evolution of consumer-media cloud storage
• Who and what to watch in the new era of the living room
• Cloud and data first-quarter 2013: analysis and outlook

It started innocently enough. “Let’s get together and jam” lead to a rehearsal song list, and  the possibility of starting a band. I had about a week to organize and prepare for a mostly full band rehearsal. We don’t have a singer yet, so that duty, sadly, has fallen on me until we get someone. As noted on this site before, I’m a guitar player. By nature, I’m a very organized an prepared individual, and I wanted to get everyone prepared for the songs ahead of time. After I sent out links to YouTube clips of the songs to the other members, it was time to get to work.

Here are the apps and devices I used that made my life a lot easier during this process.

Practice, practice, practice

One of the nice things about being the person everyone points to and says, “pick some songs” is, well, the songs I picked I already pretty much knew. However, there’s a huge difference between kinda knowing the song, and knowing it enough for a rehearsal. The first thing I did was create an iTunes playlist with the tunes. When I was driving around, I played nothing but those songs to get them stuck in my head.

When it came to actually putting my fingers to the fretboard, I used AmpliTube on my iPad for 90 percent of my practice — the other 10 percent were with my live rig to get the sounds right. One nice thing with AmpliTube is it will load the songs from my Music.app playlists and let me play along to them, as well as speed up and slow down parts. If there was a part I found particularly tricky to learn, I used Riffstation on OS X to loop that segment while I used the AmpliTube Orange amps to play along. For the first set of rehearsals, I also didn’t worry too much about getting the solos note-for-note, and instead focused on catching the feeling of the solo. I used my Fender Squire USB guitar for most of my practicing since it easily plugs into my iPad and Mac.

For what I was doing, I didn’t really care about my overall guitar sound; I just wanted to balance the volumes so I could hear both the song and my guitar equally. Then, I practiced. A lot.

Charting

I was asked by the bass player to chart the songs for a cheat sheet during rehearsal. While there are plenty of programs that will let you chart songs, I found them to be too advanced for my needs. What I really just needed to do was have the lyrics and then put the chord changes over it.

So, I used Pages ($19.99).

I went to a lyric website, cut and pasted the lyrics into Pages, and then added the chords and beat markers over the lyrics. This worked fantastically. In addition to giving the bass player a cheat cheat, I also had something I could reference during rehearsals. If I couldn’t remember how the chorus went, I had my own little cheat sheet. I printed out charts for her and the drummer, and had my iPad ready for my reference.

Running the rehearsal

Generally, I frown upon singers who use cheat sheets live, but in practice, obviously they are fine. Plus, I’m just filling in until we get a real singer (hopefully soon, I really can’t sing). I needed cheat sheets where I could see them while standing up, and I didn’t have a music stand that went that high. Plus, I wanted them right in my face.

For my cheat sheets, I used the iKlip 2 ($39.99) from IK Multimedia. It’s a mic stand holder for your iPad 2, 3 or 4 in a fairly secure fashion. Note: it slides into the holder, so I’d be a cautious using it during gigs. Not because it’ll fall out, but it’d be easy for someone to just snag the iPad during breaks. So, if you use it, make sure you take the iPad off when you walk off stage.

I was able to position my iPad with the iKlip so I could read the lyrics while warbling. A minor pet peeve is that I can’t get the iKlip to hold my iPad in the portrait position on the boom portion of the stand. Instead, I had to clip it on the main stand just under the boom.

If a note about how we played something came up, I just edited the Pages document with the note. Usually, this is how long the solos were, or if we wanted to change how a bridge went.

Final thoughts

I’ve written before about how I continue to be amazed at the way technology continues to improve how I approach music. It’s been 20 years since I’ve run a rehearsal. Back then it involved a lot of cassette tapes, CDs and photocopies. While OS X continues to be a starting point for my music, I find now when it comes to rehearsals, everything I need is on my iPad. I also have all my music theory and chord books in the Kindle app, so if I need to learn a chord I’m not familiar with, it’s very, very easy.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Forecast: Tablet App Sales To Hit $8B by 2015
• The 2013 task management tools market
• The state of cross-platform media measurement

I’ve long been a fan of Orange Amps, the pricey-but-excellent-sounding tube amplifiers. Recently, IK Multimedia released Amplitube Orange: it costs $99, and individual amps are also available in IK Multimedia’s in-app Custom Shop Store, but with AmpliTube running natively on OS X, you can record with them in GarageBand via a plug in. Now, given that most of these amps retail between $800 and $2,100, it’s asking a bit much to presume a $99 amp package will sound at all close. But I took them for a spin anyway.

First, a word about my needs

Here’s a little bit about how I make music these days: most of my guitar playing is spent practicing, or doing some light recording. While I’m not in a formal band, I jam with a few regular folks. My live rig, so to speak, is a small Egnator Tweaker tube head, a Mesa cab, and my pedal board with the usual overdrive, distortion, wah and delay pedals. For the most part, I’m a classic rock/blues guy, but one band I jam with is more fusion-oriented.

I mention this because until I started playing with other musicians, I was perfectly content to use AmpliTube as my practice and demo recording setup. I didn’t really care that the sounds I’d put in a demo reel couldn’t be replicated on my live rig. Now that I might be required to reproduce my sounds live, I’ve had to take a little care that the demo can’t be played live. That means I now split my practice time more like 50/50 between my physical and software amps.

Recording, however, is a different story. For that I’m 100 percent digital. I do not mic my amp. For the most part, it’s to eliminate unwanted noise that tends to happen when recording in a non-soundproof environment. Call me crazy, but my neighbor’s chainsaw is not a proper complementary instrument.

AmpliTube Orange amps to the rescue

Orange amps are pretty much straight-ahead rock-n-roll amps. I’ve played through quite a few of them, and were it not for the immense price tag, I’d own one or more. Thankfully, now I can get something close to that great sound in an amp model.

The AmpliTube Orange suite contains the following amps: AD-30TC, AD-200, OR-50, OR 120, RockerVerb 50, ThunderVerb 200, Dual Terror and Tiny Terror. Sadly, the Dark Terror series is missing. I spent the most amount my review time with the Dual Terror and the RockerVerb and ThunderVerb models.

Man, I loved them.

In the middle of my blues/classic rock style is a love of roots rock. So, I love me some reverb. While nothing in my mind beats an old-fashioned spring reverb, I was quite happy with the sounds I got from the two ‘Verb amps. The ThunderVerb had a nice, deep tone while the RockerVerb had a lot of pop. I didn’t try adding any effects, wanting to keep the tones as pure as possible for testing, but the RockerVerb would sound excellent with a little slap-back echo.

What’s great about this combination is I can get a rock and roll sound that’s not all that hard to reproduce with my live rig. Some of the other AmpliTube amps I enjoy are modeled after high-gain amps my little rig isn’t equipped for.  I feel a lot more comfortable recording a groove to send out to my mates with the Orange amps.

The Dual Terror is an amp with a Fat Channel and  Tiny Terror channel. I found it gave me a slightly heavier tone, similar to the tone Jimmy Page got on the Led Zeppelin live CD, Celebration Day. I’m pretty particular about my distortion sound. I like my distortion dirty and with big man parts; not the over-processed ’80s hair metal distortion. With the Dual Terror on Fat, I got a nice heavy distortion sound perfect for my heavier rhythm needs.

For lead tones, I still found I needed to add an overdrive pedal to give it a little more boost. I like a ton of sustain on my lead tone, and I wasn’t able to get that solely with the Orange amps. As always, your needs may be different and you might get a lead tone you love without adding any in-app pedals.

Post-gig report

I’m very happy with the AmpliTube Orange amp package. The entire $99 package also includes nine Orange cabinet simulators. While I could tell a difference between the different cabs, I’m still not completely sold on the idea of cabinet simulators. I still like to judge my cabs on how they move air. Yes, I know it’s a little bit weird I’m on-board with amp simulators, but not cabinet simulators. I’m just weird that way. Therefore, if you aren’t sold on the cabinets themselves, you can just buy the amps you want via the Custom Shop store. IK Multimedia also has a generous demo period. You can demo each amp for two days before the demo times out.

While I don’t think the models are a substitute for a real Orange amp, I think for most guitarists doing home recording they are a good alternative to the stock AmpliTube amps. It’s so easy to record in GarageBand with these amps, there’s no shortage of good sounds you can record with in the comfort of your own home.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• NewNet Q4: Platform mania and social commerce shakeout
• NewNet Q4: Platform mania and social commerce shakeout
• Forecast: Tablet App Sales To Hit $8B by 2015

Hopefully, we are soon approaching the time when Apple will reveal its roadmap for iOS for 2013 — most likely sometime this summer when the company holds its annual Worldwide Developers Conference. Since I’ve used other mobile operating systems over the last year, this year leading up to the reveal of iOS 7, I have a longer wish list for what I’d like to see in it than I have in the past.

While I may be wishing upon a star here, I’m hopeful that Apple beginning support for a third-party audio interface is a sign of change from Cupertino regarding features they may add to iOS. I’m  also hoping Jony Ive brings us some great changes to the user interface design iOS.

A homier home screen

My biggest complaint about iOS is how the home screen is really just the apps that I use the most and therefore place them on the first screen. I want my home screen to be much more than that, though. I want to see today’s weather, the traffic on the way to work, what meetings I have that day, and today’s hit list on my task manager. I don’t want this limited to information obtained from just Apple apps, either. I want it to be able to read my tasks from Things, or whatever task management app I’m pretending will help get me organized this month.

That’s why I think Panic is on to something with Status Board. I like the idea of a customizable widget screen that I see when I unlock my device. I’d rather see a dashboard than a grid of icons.

Because sharing is caring

One Android feature I really like is the ability to share data between apps. If I have Instapaper installed and I’m in Chrome, I can send a page directly to Instapaper. Ditto for Evernote. Both of these are applications I use almost daily. While installing bookmarklets isn’t a gigantic hassle, it’s definitely not as good as a systemwide sharing tool.

I’d like to get an email I need to take action on, and “share” it with Things to create a task. It would be doubly nice if it could apply some intelligence and deduce the due date for the task, similar to how iOS creates calendar events based on a date and time in your email.

Preview on iOS

When Preview support for Documents in the Cloud was announced as part of Mountain Lion, I would have bet money on Preview making its way to iOS. Good thing I didn’t, or I would be out a fiver or more. So, here’s hoping Preview shows up in iOS 7 so I can sync my PDFs. While I do use programs like PDFPen, for simple PDF reading it seems overkill. PDFPen’s strengths are the ability to edit and e-sign documents, which may be more than most people need. Most of us probably just need an easy way to sync important PDFs. In my case, very few of the PDFs I want to sync are ones I want to edit; I mainly want them for reference.

Central document repository

Apple’s sandboxing, where apps can’t directly read another app’s data, is probably a good thing for security. However, when it comes to actually getting some work done, it’s a pain in the rear end. I may be wishing for unicorns, rainbows and a pretty pony here, but I really hope at some point Apple allows something like a Documents app, where I can keep PDFs, Office-type apps, text files and the like for any application to read and write too. This way, if a certain word processor app doesn’t handle a feature I need very well, I can easily open the file in that app. Using the Open With command, while a work-around, usually means I end up with multiple copies of a document strewn about several apps.

Printing to non-AirPrint devices

I have zero inclination to buy an AirPrint printer, given how infrequently I need to print from iOS. However, I wish Apple would put in a few generic drivers so people on the road with only an iPad might be able to print out items like documents, travel itineraries, boarding passes and directions.

Changing default apps

I want to be able to change default apps, especially browsers. I’ve had a few problems syncing bookmarks across multiple devices using Safari and iCloud, so I switched to Chrome as my browser. This has a secondary benefit of letting me access my bookmarks easily on my Android and Windows devices. I’d hope this would simply be something you set in Settings, where there would be an option for “Default Browser” and you can choose from the browsers you have installed.

Final thoughts

The only one of my wish list items I really expect to happen at some point is Preview. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Apple introduce a better home screen, especially with Jony Ive more involved with the design process. I doubt we will ever see an app like a Documents app, but a guy can dream.

How about you? What things would you like to see in iOS 7?

Thumbnail image courtesy of Flickr user Yutaka Tsutano via Compfight cc

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Analyzing the wearable computing market
• Carrier IQ and the continued erosion of operator trust
• The future of mobile: a segment analysis by GigaOM Pro

Audiobus ($4.99) is an interesting concept on iOS. It’s a program that acts as a bridge between several compatible audio apps — you can find a complete listing of compatible apps here. Add in the apps you want into the Audiobus interface and you can have a drum track from a drum machine playing along to your heavy metal guitar. Up until now, what’s been missing is support for GarageBand, Apple’s iOS recording software. But now, with a recent update for GarageBand, the app will work with Audiobus-enabled apps. I’ve never been thrilled with GarageBand’s built-in amps, so I love that I can use a different amp modeling package.

I’m going to walk you through how to integrate GarageBand, Audiobus and Audiobus-supported apps. Since I’m a guitar player, I’ll be focusing on how I use it for guitars, but any instrument you can hook into your iOS device will do.

Hooking it all together

The first thing you’ll need to do is launch AudioBus. You’ll see a screen with three boxes labeled Input, Effects and Output. Tap on Input to select the apps you want to feed into Audiobus. I’ve chosen Amplitube and Pocket Beats (you can have up to three inputs). Pocket Beats is a drum machine with a heavy techno feel, and combined with my blues/classic rock playing style certainly yielded an interesting jam track. Then tap on Outputs and choose GarageBand.

You can probably do the next steps in any order, but I like to go from start to finish. I open up Pocket Beats and start the drum machine. I then launch AmptiTube and find a preset I like. Then I tap on GarageBand from the Audiobus app to launch it.

GarageBand is going to ask you what input source to use for your instrument. Note: this isn’t the Audiobus feed, but how the instrument is getting jacked in. Since I’m not using GarageBand’s craptastic amps, I choose Audio Recorder. If you don’t find the built-in amps as displeasing as I do, you can choose Guitar Amp as your input.

Now, GarageBand takes an extra step, which I found out the hard way. By default, GarageBand records in eight-measure increments. So, I was jamming along to my unholy union of blues rock and house dance beat when I noticed the whole shebang had stopped recording. So be sure to tap on the Plus icon in the upper right of the measure ruler and extend the measure as far as you need.

Next I went to AmpliTube to start the actual recording. On the righthand side of the screen you’ll see a floating palette. From here you can either change the apps Audibus is passing or start the recording. It’s important to note that you will want to start the recording here; not in GarageBand. Play along to your heart’s content.

Once you’re done, open up GarageBand, and you’ll see the Audiobus track.

How I plan on using Audiobus

The Fender Squire USB Guitar is the guitar I take when I’m traveling or practicing outside. The USB 30-pin connector combined with an amp app is all I need to practice or write with when I’m not in my studio. I usually have some backing tracks I play along with and I’m getting in the habit of recording most of my practice sessions to help me get better. Now, I can use some MP3 I’ve uploaded into iOS GarageBand, get an amp sound that I’m happy with in an app like AmpliTube and record, and write when I’m sitting by the lake this summer.

Apple including Audiobus support in its own apps is an interesting sea change. It’s not often Apple includes support for a third-party service in an iOS app. I hope this is a sign of things to come. Now that Apple has increased awareness of Audiobus, I’m hoping we’ll start to see some great apps become available that will really fuel my creativity.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Forecast: Tablet App Sales To Hit $8B by 2015
• GigaOM Research highs and lows from CES 2013
• How HR can make the case for workforce analytics

At some point every guitarist has uttered the following statement: how the [censored] did he play that? Riffstation ($49.99), simply put, is a program that helps you learn how the [censored] he played it.

The core of Riffstation is a component that lets you load an audio file, and have it scan for chords it finds in the song. Currently it’s limited to Major, Minor and 7th chords. You can then play the audio file within Riffstation and it will show you when the chord changes occur. It’s important to note that currently it only handles detecting chords, so if you want it to score an Yngwie Malmsteen solo, you’re out of luck.

Trial by fire: How it handled four songs

I gave it a mix of songs, most of them I already knew, to see how it fared.

Rockin’ in the Free World, Neil Young: This is a pretty easy song, all open chords. The main part is a E-D-C chord progression and the chorus is G-D-C. Riffstation handled this one completely accurately.

A song involving pretty girls and jewelry, ZZ Top: Again, a pretty easy song based on a E-A chug, with some  B, C# and F# thrown in as well. Again, Riffstation did an admirable job, although it temporarily thew me by referring to a C# chord as a D-flat (they’re the same chord, I just call it a C#, so it’s not inaccurate). There are a couple of ways to play the song, either with E major, or E5 chords. Naturally, it only detects the major chords, but I’ve played the song both ways depending on my moods.

White Room, Cream: This song isn’t really a fair test, since most of the song isn’t really chords, per se (for a good lesson on how to play it, I found this guy’s to be one of the better lessons). Riffstation didn’t really know what to do with the alternating major/minor chord progression in the intro, actually didn’t do a bad job with the verse chords, and did very well on the chorus. This is one of those songs I don’t think is a good song to have Riffstation detect the chords, but you can use the looping tools to help you learn difficult passages.

Wasted Years, Iron Maiden: This song shows one of the big limitations to Riffstation: while it will tell you the correct chords, it will not tell you the position they are played in. So, for Wasted Years, it did a good job on telling me the first chord is an E, it didn’t tell me that it’s played on the 7th and 9th frets; instead it showed an E chord on the 2nd frets. I’m going to repeat this several times, but while Riffstation is a great tool to help you figure out how to play songs, it is a complement to your ears; not a replacement.

Other features

Isolation: Riffstation lets you isolate the guitar tracks using the Jam Master tab. You can adjust the separation to let the guitar parts stand out as much as you want them to. I don’t like to isolate the guitars too much, since I like to hear the backbeat while I’m learning a song.

Looping: If there’s a part of a song you’re having problems with, you can select the passage in the uppermost window by clicking and dragging, clicking the loop button on the playback controls, and then hitting play. This is handy also when learning a solo. While Riffstation won’t transcribe the solo, you can loop the passage so you can figure it out by ear, or, if you have the tabs to it, while reading along. What I’ll usually do is pick a measure before where the solo actually begins and loop that with the solo.

Tempo controls: As you’d expect with a program of this nature, you can affect the tempo while the song is played back. This is very handy if there’s a passage you are struggling with, and especially useful when combined with the looping tools to repeat that troublesome passage.

Final thoughts

I think Riffstation is a fantastic tool to help musicians learn new songs. As I said, Riffstation is a complement to your ears; not a replacement. You are still going to need to listen to the songs and detect if Riffstation was correct in its analysis. The developers have said that the program is about 80 percent accurate, and I found that to be the case. However, I didn’t throw at it songs I felt it would have a problem with, like Hendrix songs. What it does do is get you in the ballpark and helps you build your ears.

What I’d love to see in future versions — other than better detection tools — is a way where it can play a version of the song based on its analysis of the song, so you can tell if it’s even close at all.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• NewNet Q4: Platform mania and social commerce shakeout
• NewNet Q4: Platform mania and social commerce shakeout
• Forecast: Tablet App Sales To Hit $8B by 2015

It seems like it was just six months ago I was waiting in line to buy an iPhone 5. I thought I’d share what my expectations were in September when I bought it, and how the device, and iOS 6, fared against them. Overall, I remain happy with the iPhone 5 and iOS. Naturally, there are some things that bug me as well as impress me. I’ve owned every iPhone model to date, but in this case I’m talking about my experiences going from the iPhone 4S to the iPhone 5.

Siri

Expectation: This is an iOS 6 issue, but I expected to use Siri on a near-daily basis.

Reality: I use Siri on a near-daily basis. With iOS 6 she got better, and I frequently have a desire to send and receive texts while operating a motor vehicle. Looking at the phone and typing while doing this, I’ve heard, is frowned upon. So I use Siri instead. For the most part, she does a decent job. I’ve learned the hard way to keep my messages short. I don’t really use Siri to create Reminders, move calendar events, and the like. I do, however, use her to check on when the Red Sox are playing and what the score is.

What I’d like to see improved: I don’t like her all-or-nothing option to change a text message. I’d love to be able to tell her to replace a word. Often, in a multi-sentence text she’ll get it correct, except for that one word that’s crucial to understanding the meaning of the message.

The camera

Expectation: I expected that the iPhone 5 would continue to replace my point-and-shoot camera.

Reality: Even with the purple haze problem, the iPhone 5 has indeed solved my needs for a point-and-shoot camera.

What I’d like to see improved: Maybe a little better image focus and stabilization. If I’m shooting a picture of a handheld object and my hands are slightly shaking, I’ve noticed the iPhone auto-focus is tad sensitive. I imagine the camera on the iPhone 5S (or whatever the next-generation iPhone is called) will be better in ways I won’t be able to detect, but I think the iPhone 5 camera is good as is.

The screen

Expectation: It would be really different than the iPhone 4S screen.

Reality: Well, it’s certainly taller.  The extra row of icons is helpful. With the previous screen size, I always had apps I use frequently sitting on the second screen. Now, all the apps I use often are one screen. Apps like Twitter, Facebook, Notes, and Evernote feel more comfortable with the taller screen. The Kindle and iBooks apps feel like I’m reading from a weird legal size paper. Other apps seem to think the extra real estate is perfect for showing me more ads — I’m looking at you, The Weather Channel.

I was hoping I would use Pages more, but it still doesn’t seem to adapt well to the large screen. In fairness, this complaint may be me moving the goal posts since even on my Nexus 7 I’m not doing any writing. Nor do I feel my life is really missing an iPad mini, either.

What I’d like to see improved: I agree with Andy Ihnatko’s take on the Samsung Galaxy S3 screen. I frequently keep my iPhone in a car mount where it sits right in that hard-to-see range for my old guy eyes. I want to see Apple release a larger screen. There are few things that tempt me towards Android phones, and the screen size is always the demon on my shoulder.

My workflow

Expectation: The iPhone would continue to be command central for my life.

Reality: It still remained command central, but my iPad usage for non-leisure activities increased. This isn’t an indictment against the iPhone per se, and it likely has more to do with buying an iPad with cellular connectivity this time around, along with a keyboard case. However, the majority of my communications, note-taking and task management functions have been on the iPhone 5. What was previously an 80-20 split is now about a 70-30 split. For long-form writing away from my Mac, the iPad will likely always win that battle.

What I’d like to see improved: A system-side sharing feature like there is in Android. I absolutely love that I can send links to Instapaper and Evernote in Android with one easy click, as long as the app is installed. No messy bookmarks to install.

Final thoughts

My only regret with the iPhone 5 is self-created: Instead of opting for a 64 GB phone, I bought the 32 GB and AppleCare+. I should have bought the 64 GB as I’m now struggling to find room for my music. I’m swapping out albums more than I’d like. I bought AppleCare+ because I expected for financial reasons that I’d skip the 2013 iPhone update and wanted the extra coverage — I was too far off my upgrade cycle for any discounts last year, so I’m going to wait until I don’t need to pay the off-contract price.

I’m impressed with the overall sturdiness of the iPhone 5. I don’t keep it in a case, and with the metal back I don’t feel like it’s going to shatter with a bad fall. I don’t seem to have as many weird cell reception issues as I had before. I work in a section of a building with notoriously bad cell coverage (about 1 bar), but outside of that, I don’t seem to have many “you’re holding it wrong” issues. The LTE speeds are nice, I just wish AT&T’s coverage net was wider. I get LTE at work, but not near home.

Overall, I’d say the iPhone 5 met my expectations. While I’d likely buy an iPhone with a larger screen, I do like that the iPhone 5 is the same width as previous iPhones; it’s not too bulky in my pockets.

Next time, though, I’m getting the largest storage option available. I guess size does matter after all.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Takeaways from mobile’s second quarter
• Siri: Say hello to the coming “invisible interface”
• The future of mobile: a segment analysis by GigaOM Pro

It was, frankly, a little bit surreal to be loading Photoshop on my iPhone this week. PS Touch ($4.99) was released for the iPhone and iPod touch (fifth-generation), and I’m still trying to decide if this is a fantastic design accomplishment, or something of a novelty. The answer, I suspect, lies in the middle.

Powerful editing tools on small-screen devices still to me seem an odd pairing. While I appreciate the ability to make more than cursory edits to a photo on my iPhone, it’s unlikely I’m going to delve too deeply into PS Touch’s feature set on my iPhone. The screen, even on the iPhone 5, it still too small to make editing photos a joy. There aren’t many times I’ve looked at a Samsung Galaxy S screen with envy, but testing out PS Touch was one of them.

While taking a look at PS Touch, I scanned my iPhone’s Camera Roll. It appears I take a lot of pictures of my cat. Hardly the sort of photo that requires a the full might and power of PS Touch. The cat, after all, is pretty much naturally cute. Looking through my Photo Stream, it’s still a lot of pictures of cats, guitars, my friends and my favorite fishing spot. Again, hardly photos I’d want to spend significant time editing. I’m not going to assume my uses are yours, but I think most people’s iPhone photos are more of a photo diary of their life than pictures that need significant rework.

What is has, what it’s missing

Now that I’m done grousing about my Camera Roll, PS Touch for the iPhone does have an impressive feature set. You can create layers, use a variety of selection tools, including magic wand, and apply a host of effects and filters. I had a lot of fun with the filters, especially the charcoal one.

What you can’t do, that I can see, is create masks. I don’t think this is a huge deal on the small screen since I can’t imagine creating masks on the iPhone would be at all fun.What it’s really missing, though, is content-aware healing. Given the fast and loose nature of iPhone photography, being able to remove the guy mooning the camera from a lovely beach shot would be very handy.

Photoshop Touch at times isn’t a very intuitive program. It took me a few times to get how adjusting the tolerance on the magic wand worked, for example. I thought once I had made a selection, I could use the tolerance tool to expand the selection on the screen, but instead it looks like I had to reapply the wand. After playing around with it for a few hours, I had the feeling that there were likely additional features or tools I hadn’t stumbled across. The help area seems to exist largely to check off “create help file” on the project plan.

Once nice feature is you can use Adobe’s Creative Cloud to work on images between your Mac, iPad and iPhone. Again, I can’t see myself doing heavy edits on a photo on my iPhone, but it’s nice to have an easy way of getting images between the three platforms.

PS Touch ran well on my iPhone 5. While it has an impressive feature set, it almost feels like overkill on my iPhone. On my iPad, with the extra screen real estate, a version of Photoshop makes more sense. Some people might complain that it’s not a universal app, but I don’t mind. I think there’s likely enough challenges creating the separate versions to warrant a $4.99 iPhone price, with the iPad version being $9.99. And, hey, a Photoshop for $15 for both platforms seems almost like a deal with strings attached.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Analyzing the wearable computing market
• NewNet Q4: Platform mania and social commerce shakeout
• NewNet Q4: Platform mania and social commerce shakeout

Rene Ritchie’s excellent article on iCloud and Dropbox has forced me to examine how I use iCloud and other cloud storage. When iCloud launched in 2011, I had hopes it would be a single-source solution, but over the years it’s become apparent to me that for my uses, no single cloud-based storage fulfills all my needs. Instead, I rely on a few different solutions based on the strengths of each platform.

Here’s what I use for storing documents related to my freelance business, as well as the voluminous amount of research data for my hobbies.

iCloud

iCloud’s biggest limitation is the app sandboxing model. By that, I mean, a document stored in Pages can only be accessed in the Pages app on iOS and OS X. While I can “Open in” another app on iOS, that creates a separate copy; changes made to that copy aren’t reflected back in the Pages’s version.

I’ve made my peace with this.

The bulk of my freelance and personal writing is done in Pages ($19.99) and Numbers ($19.99). I have found these two apps sync the best, with the fewest formatting issues. Oddly, I have an Excel document with graphics that opens fine in Numbers for iOS, but QuickOffice and OfficeHD do not display it properly on my iPad. My day job files need to stay on my company-supplied laptop, so I’m not as worried about keeping those files in sync.

I’ve also made a decision to focus on Pages/iCloud for my writing because I don’t have to worry too much about a third-party developer either ceasing support, or worse, having the app pulled from the App Store. For writing apps, it’s unlikely they’ll get pulled, but it’s better to be safe than sorry. I figure if Apple were to drop iCloud/Pages, I’d likely have bigger problems. That said, I do routinely back up my Mobile Documents folder so I can access them if something bad happens to iCloud.

Most importantly, other than some initial growing pains when iCloud was launched, I haven’t had any memorable issues in the last year or so. I open the iWork app and it automatically downloads new or updated files. I have yet to see that completely seamless action with other third-party storage options.

Dropbox

My Dropbox usage can be be simply summed up with this: any document that the sandbox model flatly doesn’t work with, goes into Dropbox. I’m also a musician, so I have several gigs worth worth of sheet music, scanned music magazines (that I’ve scanned myself) and other reference files. These documents need to be read on either my iPhone, iPad, Mac, PC or Android device. Obviously for my cross-platform needs, Apple’s sandboxing won’t work.

I also have crucial folders from my Documents folder moved to my Dropbox folder. This way, I can access them remotely as well as have another backup if they are deleted (I use CrashPlan for my online backup). Dropbox’s ability to restore files has come in quite handy.

So, what would it take for me to forgo iCloud and just use Dropbox?

Better Office-type apps, for the most part. For my uses, Pages remains the best word processor on iOS. I’ve had just enough “hmm, that didn’t work the way I thought it would” moments with QuickOffice and OfficeHD. Sometimes it didn’t refresh the Dropbox folder fully, or the document open with the formatting a mess. While these overall percentage this occurs is small, I don’t want to risk it.

What the future could hold

The biggest change that could happen to my workflow is if Microsoft ever releases Office for iOS. This will likely result in yet another cloud service (Microsoft’s Skydrive), I’m OK with this. SkyDrive works similar to Dropbox where I can get file level access if I need to.

What I expect to remain unchanged is that a single-source of cloud storage will likely never be possible for my uses.

I can live with that.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• The evolution of consumer-media cloud storage
• NewNet Q4: Platform mania and social commerce shakeout
• NewNet Q4: Platform mania and social commerce shakeout

Apple’s (AAPL) GarageBand ($14.99) is a versatile, and cheap, recording program that lets you record song ideas and demo tapes on your Mac. Today I’m going to look at various USB options to plug your instrument into GarageBand. Fortunately, there are a lot of different devices out there that will let you perform this task. That said, I’m going to focus on a cross section of these input devices, not the entire spectrum. While I’m going to use guitars as a frequent reference point since that’s the instrument I play, any of these input devices should work on instruments that have a 1/4″ output.

The devices

Apogee Jam ($99): At 99 bucks, the Apogee Jam isn’t cheap, but it earns high marks for me. The great thing about the Jam is it comes with connectors for the Mac, and a 30-pin iOS cable. I’ve never had a problem with it and the audio quality is very, very good. The chief concern is with the two small, cables it’s easy to misplace them. To avoid that, I keep them both rubber-banded to the body of the Apogee. You can also buy replacement cables if you lose them.

Line 6 Pod Studio UX2 ($199): The Line 6 UX2 is a very versatile device. It will let you record two instruments at the same time (handy if you’re recording with a pal). It also has two XLR inputs if you want to mike your amps instead of directly inputting your guitar. But wait, there’s more: the UX2 also has more than 20 models of guitar and bass amps, and more than 20 models of guitar and bass cabinets. The amp models are based on Fender and Marshall amps. The UX2 is a good piece of gear to start building your budget studio around and is great if you’re recording multiple instruments at the same time.

Ubisoft Rocksmith Real Tone Cable ($29.99): While the Ubisoft Rocksmith Real Tone Cable is primarily designed for the Rocksmith game (not available for the Mac, which is either a good or bad thing, depending on your view of learning devices such as these). I’ve found it to be a pretty decent USB guitar interface given the cost, and while it has no iOS connectivity, that’s not a deal breaker, especially since this article primarily deals with OS X. In the short time I’ve had it, it feels like a decent cable and I haven’t experienced any issues with it.

USB Fender Squier Guitar ($199): Now, admittedly the USB Fender Squier guitar won’t let you plug in any instrument to GarageBand, it being a guitar and all. However. for $199, I’ve found it to be a great guitar. Since the Squier is Fender’s low-cost line, when I got mine I expected it to be extra low-budget, given the additional electronics for the on-board USB interface. Instead, I was quite happy with it and still continue to play it almost four months after I got it. The iOS interface is especially nice if you’re traveling and want to practice. It comes with the cables to connect the guitar to your Mac and iOS device.

Connecting the devices to GarageBand

Obviously step one is connecting the USB cable to your Mac. (Note: for best results plug them directly into your Mac; not into a USB hub.) After that, open GarageBand and go to Preferences and click on the Audio/Midi tab. Select your input device from the pull-down list.

After that go into your project and add a new track. Select Real Instrument from the selection screen if you are miking your amp, or using a keyboard. Select Electric Guitar if you want to use GarageBand’s built-in amps and effects.

Last, go the Track menu and select Show Monitoring for Real Instrument Tracks. This will ensure you can hear your instrument through the speakers while you play.

Using Amps and Effects

Unless you are miking your amp, you’re probably going to want to play around with GarageBand’s amps and effects. To do that, select the guitar track in the track listing on the left. On the far right, you can choose the amp you want. You can also choose from a number of preset sounds from a pull-down menu in the same area. You can also adjust the bass, treble, etc. from this screen.

How I use them

For input devices, I float between the Rocksmith cable and the Apogee Jam. For the most part, choosing one comes down to which interface I can easily find at the moment. The Jam and the iOS cables may take up permanent residence in my gig bag so I can practice outside the house regardless of what guitar I happen to have with me (I tend to favor Les Pauls over Fender guitars).

I don’t usually use the amps built-in to GarageBand. Instead I use the GarageBand plug-in for Guitar Rig and Amplitube. However, if you can’t afford either of these programs the included amps will do the trick. The presets are really helpful in quickly dialing in a sound.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• NewNet Q4: Platform mania and social commerce shakeout
• NewNet Q4: Platform mania and social commerce shakeout
• Forecast: Tablet App Sales To Hit $8B by 2015

After getting frustrated working with Keynote on the iPad for the last month, and giving and planning a few talks, I’ve come up with some presentation tips I want to share with you. Used properly, and in a situation that allows it to play its strengths, the iPad can be an effective presentation tool.

To learn more about using Keynote and other iWork apps, check out our iWork screencasts on TechUniversity (subscription required).

1. Make sure the iPad is the right tool for the job

That line I just used, about properly and in a place that allows it to play its strengths? Make sure where, and what you’re presenting, is ideal for the iPad. Remember, you won’t be able to use a remote, or have any sort of presenters view. So, if you’re giving a talk in a small conference room where you’ll be sitting at a table with the iPad hooked up to the projector, that’s a perfect use of the tool. Giving a Steve Jobs-style presentation in front of 5,000 people and a large stage? Not so good. I’m giving a talk in a month about e-books on the iPad (self plug: June 9 at the Boston Mac User Group) in a lecture-style room with a table in a convenient place to allow me to walk around and tap the screen, so I might use the iPad there.

2. Do the dirty work on the desktop, but think of the iPad

My presentation tool of choice is Keynote, but PowerPoint will do OK. Keep in mind the screen on the iPad is 1024×768. Make sure your presentation is that size when you design it. Also, don’t resize any graphics in the program. Do all your work in a graphics program and import the image at the size you want. If you want an image to take up the whole slide, resize it in a graphics program.

The iPad handles editing poorly. Any object groupings will be lost when you import it. I’d recommend only light edits on the iPad, like when you realize right before the talk that you misspelled the CEO’s name.

Fall in love with iPhoto. I have an album in iPhoto named “Presentation Images” and all my images for talks go there. That library also syncs to the iPad, so I can add an image if I need to.

3. Keep it simple

Transitions — which you should avoid anyway — can cause some problems on the iPad. Some are supported, some are not. Rather than risk it, use minimal transitions and only when needed. Don’t get fancy with line spacing, either, as that nice, tight, and finely kerned type you have on the desktop will likely be reset to default spacing.

Also, keep in mind if your talk is going to end up on a widescreen projector as pie charts might get distorted. Unfortunately, if you create a widescreen presentation, it’ll come into the iPad full screen and still get distorted on a widescreen monitor.

4. If on a Mac, use the Padlicious services to render custom fonts as images

For informal or fun presentations, I love Comiccraft’s Comic Book Fonts. However, I can’t use them on the iPad. Padlicous’s Text to Render services are a lifesaver. Select the text in Keynote and use the service to create an image of the selected text. Delete the text block and replace it with the image. Now, when you present you’ll be free of the default fonts.

5. Do several test runs before presenting

I know, you’re rehearsing the talk constantly, but make sure you’re rehearsing it on the iPad and in a similar situation. Just in case you ignored tip #1, now is when you find out any issues with the import, or if having to tap the iPad screen to advance to advance the slides really is a hassle. You’re going to want to have your rehearsal environment be as close to your venue as possible. If it’s a new enviroment, plan for the worst case scenario you can.

Honorable Mention Tip

Bring a backup of the talk on a USB drive in all possible formats — if you’re a Keynote user, have an exported (and checked) file in PowerPoint and PDF. This way, if for some reason the iPad doesn’t play nice with the projector, you’ve got a fall back plan.

Related TechUniversity Screencasts: Keynote Transitions & Effects

---

It’s been a little over a month since I’ve introduced the iPad to my digital workflow. In a post last year, I wrote, “I’m not saying I don’t think there is a market for a device that’s larger than an iPhone but smaller than a MacBook …” and lo and behold, that is how Apple billed it.

I did have an iPad-sized hole in my life. For me, a MacBook is weighty overkill. I have two jobs: the corporate-level one that pays the bills and my writing gig where I blog, freelance, and work on personal projects. The day job comes with its own Windows laptop that I lug around. I try to maintain a separation between the corporate job and personal work, so there’s very little in the way of personal data on the work machine. My commute is almost four hours round-trip. Most of it’s on a train, but if I wanted to write, I’d need the MacBook with me.

For personal work, my needs are modest. I need to write, research ideas, and read a book or watch a video. Simply put, I just need a tool to let me put words down. I don’t care about how they look when I’m composing on the iPad; just want to get them out of my head and onto what passes for paper for these days.

Productivity

A month in, I find Pages whelming. I felt Pages was about one patch from elevating itself from “merely OK” to “good,” and the 1.1 patch did that with support for landscape toolbars. I find myself to be fairly proficient with the virtual keyboard. While I am clearly faster and more accurate with an external keyboard, the iPad doesn’t seem to handle swapping between virtual and physical keyboards well, so I tend to say with the iPad’s.

What I wasn’t expecting is, even at home, I prefer to write on the iPad. I think it comes down to a fantastic screen and, oddly, the single-tasking nature of the device. Pages gives me enough of a distraction-free environment that I can focus on writing.

For an in-depth look at Pages for Mac, view Pages 101 (subscription required).

I’m going to be giving a talk in a month or so, and as much as I try and tell myself I can do it on the iPad, the fact is, I can’t. While I tend to use my own fonts for my talks, I can design an effective presentation for the iPad using stock fonts, but I don’t want to be chained to the podium with no remote control.

The presentation issue pales to getting files to and from the iPad. Original rumors hinted of some sort of a shared-pool for files, but that never came true. Instead, each app still has files isolated to its own sandbox. You can use iTunes to transfer files into the sandboxes, but it’s a pain. Since there’s no true syncing, I can’t really work on a file on a desktop and get it back to the iPad without feeling like I’m playing a shell game. My ideal solution would be to have a Documents version of Photos. Apps could read and write to that sandbox to their heart’s content and there would be  OS-level integration of MobileMe iDisk.

These issues, while frustrating, don’t make me regret my decision to buy the iPad at all. I’m getting more done with the device, so that’s a win

Recreation

Like most writers, I read. A lot. I probably read about 30-40 books a year, not counting assigned reading for class and the like. I also am somewhat of a magazine junky. The iPad is indispensable for consuming this type of media.

Amazon’s Kindle app and Apple’s iBooks are both fine readers. Amazon’s selection is better, but I like the flexibility in iBooks’s presentation; the ability to change the order of my library is huge. However, when I’m researching, Amazon’s note tool wins out.  One small thing iBooks does is tell me how many pages are left in a chapter. That’s great for reading in bed and deciding if I want to commit to the next chapter.

I find the Zinio app fine for reading magazines. Recent updates have significantly improved page load times. As with the Amazon app, my chief complaint is not being able to arrange the library the way I want it. Deleting magazines seems undoable, also. I’d love an archive feature like the Kindle’s. I have a few subscriptions that thoughtfully provide DRM-free PDFs and GoodReader is my choice for reading them.

3G vs Wi-Fi

This was one of the hardest decisions I made regarding the iPad. In the end, I chose the Wi-Fi because it was out sooner. A close family member was having some major surgery and hospital stay before the 3G game out. I’d had some luck using the iPhone during a previous hospital visitation, but knew the iPad would be better. I also knew I’d be weak and keep the $30 data plan going and didn’t want the expense. While there have been times I wished the iPad had always-on Internet, I don’t regret my decision.

Final Thoughts

A month later, like my iPhone, the iPad is a device I rarely leave the house without. Its excellent battery life means I don’t need to worry about charging out. A heavy night of writing, surfing and game playing barely takes 30 percent of the battery. I like that I can get a creative idea and be writing it in less than 30 seconds. I do see an anti-glare film in my immediate future. It’s almost unusable outside, and a frequent place I use it has a fluorescent light directly overhead.

How about you? One month later, what are your thoughts?

---

When I got my iPad, I gave myself a mandate: don’t lug a five pound MacBook around with me to for the small amount of time I use it; instead, try to make do with the iPad. For the most part, I’ve been successful. My MacBook hasn’t left the house since April 3, and for what I do (writing, reading, video watching) I don’t really need the horsepower all that much. I wouldn’t want to do a day’s work on it, but it’s great for getting work done on the train, on my lunch break, etc.

These are the apps I’ve found to be indispensable for getting things done.

The iWork Suite: OK, in fairness, everyone who wrote about it wasn’t all that trilled with it. However, I’ve found that it’s currently the best option, which is pretty sad. Office2Pro has potential, but the lack of USB transfer is a turn off for me. Granted, the lack of MobileMe integration with iWork really makes me wonder what on earth Apple was thinking, I can’t get my iPad on the Wi-Fi network at work, so it’d nice to be able to transfer files from my work PC. It really feels like the suite is one or two patches from being excellent.

Evernote: I’m a huge Evernote user. For me, it has replaced bookmarking; any page I’d normally bookmark just gets Evernoted. Evernote for the iPad finally pushed me over the edge to becoming a premium user, primarily because premium users can sync their notebooks offline. I don’t use it a lot for taking notes, but it’s indispensable for reading my research material offline.

Goodreader: I deal with a ton of PDFs, Word docs, Presentations, and videos, all of which I tend to need to refer to and not edit. Given the complete lack of a real file system — another failure on Apple’s part — Goodreader lets me organize cleaner than the iWork suite. I’ve got lecture notes and handouts for my class all in one place, and I store my PDFs of my character sheets for D&D in it was well. Goodreader can also get files from Dropbox, MobileMe and USB sync, and more. It lets me sideload just about any file onto my iPad without it being tethered to my sync computer.

Things: No discussion of getting things done is complete without  a to-do manager. My favorite is still Things, primarily because of how well it plays with the desktop version. I’d like to see the iPad version have a little more feature parity with the OS X version — namely in being able to edit Areas on the iPad, and I look forward to the day when the syncing is done over the cloud.

Bento: I originally picked up Bento because Delicious Library didn’t let me edit my library on the iPhone — and Amazon forbidding its data to be used by mobile apps, which is how Delicious gets its data, forced the app to be pulled. I wanted to be able  to edit my library on the go. Since then, I’ve found it’s a great place to dump all sorts of data you need to sort through on the road, or need to edit. For example, an inventory manager could update inventory levels right on the iPad.

These are the apps I’m finding handy for being productive. What ones do you prefer using?

While Liam opined about the challenges an iPad can face in education here, I thought I’d tackle some potential real-world pluses and minuses from the viewpoint of a college student — I’m not going down the road of high school students; I’m so far removed from that environment, I remember learning Fortran in my school. I think the iPad is going to succeed in education marvelously for students and teachers.’

I’m not a full-time college student, but I’ve been pursing a degree at night for the last four years (Technical Communications, so my focus on educational tools tends to revolve around writing). I’ve used Macs and iPhones as tools for the entirety of my collegiate career. When I started thinking of the possibility of using my iPad as a single-source solution — mostly to reduce weight by leaving my MacBook at home — I came up with a series of pluses and minuses I’ll personally face with the iPad. My focus here is taking notes in class first, and doing coursework second.

Although, I’m a night student, I don’t think how I use technology is different from a full-time student. I use my laptop to take notes in class, research and study in the library, and work on my homework at home. I am hoping the iPad will let me start leaving my MacBook at home for everything but the most-intensive tasks. I’m going to take a look at how I think the iPad could help me in school, or be problematic.

Pros

Better battery life/Light weight: OK, so the “10 hours of battery life” is likely wishful thinking. But so is the “up to 7 hours” on my MacBook Pro. My best time with the MBP is about four hours, so, it’s not unreasonable to think I’ll get about six to seven hours on the iPad.

My biology book was over five pounds. My MacBook is four. The iPad is 1.5. When you’re carrying a ton of books around, weight starts to matter. The iPad can shave nearly three pounds off a college student’s shoulders compared to using a MacBook, not to mention the weight savings if you were able to replace most or all of your books with the iPad. Also, its size and function make it very easy to quickly throw into your bag and go — just hit the home button and toss it in your bag. The instant on is nice as well — no more waiting for your MacBook to power up to make a quick note or look something up.

“Bag of Holding” for class materials: In D&D, a bag of holding was how we got around the game’s encumbrance rules. At least one party member would have one, and it became the gigantic suitcase we’d have to sit on to close, but it fit in our pockets. Printing out an entire course-load of lecture materials, lecture supplements, lab reports, sports scores, fantasy draft rules, team standings, notes, research materials and cited sources will quickly bulge a notebook to bursting, requiring industrial-strength banding to keep closed. With an iPad, I can keep all that on a device slightly larger than a composition notebook. Plus, I can quickly adjust my fantasy roster when my starting pitcher ends up needing Tommy John surgery.

Easier to do work in the library: My college has a large, four-story spacious library, yet it seems space and power is always at a premium — no doubt due to one person taking up a large, four-person table. When I’m doing research in the stacks, being able to use the iPad in tight quarters will be a boon. Also, I won’t need to worry as much about finding a comfortable table near a power outlet. I’m never comfortable in a chair with my laptop, but I’m hoping the iPad will be a little more comfortable for use sitting down. It will also be great for reviewing class material in the hall before an exam.

No laptop stigmata: Whenever I use a laptop in class, I’m always leery of what the teacher thinks of it. While none have had a problem with it, I’ve never liked having the laptop screen be a wall between the teacher and I. The iPad will sit on the table and act much more like a traditional notebook.

Single-tasking may let me focus better: In the “I’m a bad student” category, when I’m taking notes, I’m also checking my e-mail, IMing, and following the Red Sox game during periods when the lecture fails to hold my attention. I’m hoping the iPad not being capable of multitasking might help me focus a little better. Say, anyone know how many innings Wakefield went today?

Seriously, though, one of the reasons I don’t take notes by hand is my handwriting is illegible. If I can take notes distraction-free on the iPad, I’ll be thrilled. Yeah, I know I can turn off Wi-Fi and go into full screen mode, but I don’t.

Cons

Lack of e-textbooks: Hopefully this will change, but the Kindle DX was marketed as a potential e-textbook reader, and a quick scan of the textbooks section of the Kindle store yielded slim results. I was able to find my Biology book on CourseSmart, who is claiming to be releasing an iPad version of their reader, but other than that, I came up empty. After lugging around a five-pound biology book last semester, I’d have been thrilled to have a e-textbook. Hopefully, Apple will partner with textbook publishers as part of iBooks, but if Amazon and Barnes & Noble haven’t had much traction here, I’m not betting heavily this will change soon.

No camera: While some people have bemoaned the missing camera for its video chat purposes, in the previously mentioned biology class, I found it a lot easier to take an iPhone pic of a diagram the teacher drew on the board than attempt to recreate it in my notebook. The ability to take a photo on my iPad and quickly integrate it into my notes would be fantastic.

No citation/equation support: OS X Pages does a decent job at handling citations, albeit via third-party tools. Almost all of my papers require some sort of APA citations. While I expect I can get the bulk of a paper written on the iPad, handling citations looks like it could be problematic. Granted, this isn’t a deal-breaker, it’d be easy to simply put the proper citation reference in-place — (Crump 440) — and then insert the proper citation with the source on my MacBook. However, I can see not being able to complete and submit a paper solely on the iPad. I am also admittedly spoiled by technology; I couldn’t build a bibliography by hand now if my grade depended on it. Also, I’m lucky I’m a communications major, but, if you’re in a major requiring equations during note taking, this could be a problem — hopefully, there will soon be an app for that.

Locked-down/Walled Garden: For the most part, Apple controlling the gates of the App Store hasn’t caused me much wailing and gnashing of teeth. Sure, I’d have loved a native Google Voice app, but since I need an Internet connection to use it, I’m OK with a web app. However, if there’s a specific application you need for a class, if there isn’t a similar app already in the App Store, you’re out of luck.

No full-size keyboard (speculation): One of the big unknowns for me is how the keyboard will fare in real-life usage — it might not be that bad, or doing any sort of long-form writing could be unbearable. I’m OK with using the small Apple keyboard (it’ll likely be a permanent resident in my carry bag, but I’d love to just use the iPad. Also, the lack of travel is something that bugs me about the Apple keyboard, so the iPad keyboard could be hard for me to get used to. I’m ok with the iPhone keyboard, but that’s for light typing and I’m usually using just my thumbs. I’m also leery of touch typing on it.

I’ll be getting my iPad on April 3 and my next class starts April 12. I’m looking forward to seeing how this new gadget works in school.