Musicians. There's an app for that...

As a musician, I found it quite an inconvenience that my Baby Grand piano and guitar took up too much space in my cramped living quarters at college. Even though the iPhone music apps cannot count as a complete substitute for the real instruments, I was pleasantly surprised at how vast the choices were for those without instruments at their disposal.

For those who want to practice or mess around on an instrument of their choice, they can download the app for it! Pianist is an iPhone app with the full keyboard (that's all 52 white keys and all 36 black keys) that even includes the three pedals for softening and sustaining notes. You can play around on the keyboard or compose a piano piece all on your phone. There is also the Pocket Guitar app, if you are a guitarist. This is includes all six strings, so you can strum away without the nasty blisters. If you need a refresher on chords, download the Guitar tool kit. It will show you any chord variation you need to learn or need to be reminded of. You can even set your phone on your desk and have it become your portable metronome, tuner, or recorder. The one downside of these instruments on your phone is that they are harder to manipulate than a real instrument. However, anyone who plays an instrument knows how addicting it can be to play. Any instrument, even a electronic substitute, will do. Also, if inspiration for a song comes into your head at any point in time, you can record it on the spot instead of forgetting it later.

But for those music lovers who do not play an instrument, there are apps for you, too. Pandora.com is quickly becoming a cheap college students favorite website for free music, and the iPhone was quick to notice. Download the Pandora app and listen and create your stations from anywhere to listen wherever you are. However, I think the most ingenious app was created for those who always ask, "Who sings this?" Put your iPhone up to a speaker when you hear that new song you can't get out of your head, but still don't know the artist or title and Shazam will identify the song, artist, and allow you to download it from the iTunes store. Did I mention Shazam is a free app?