10 best iPhone apps for music fans

6. Shazam (free/£2.99)

The theory behind Shazam is simple: hit Tag Now and have it listen to and analyse whatever music's playing around you.

The app then attempts to tell you what the song is, saving you later embarrassingly trying to sing it to your friends. In practice, Shazam is hit and miss, but when it works, the app sends a shiver down your spine, due to its spookily accurate nature.

Shazam

7. Adaptunes (£0.59)

Utilising your device's advanced innards for tracking motion, Adaptunes adjusts your device's volume, making it louder as you speed up in your car.

This saves you fiddling around with your device when you come off of local roads and start belting along the motorway.

Adaptunes

8. PlaySafe (£0.59)

Another in-car app, PlaySafe turns your device's screen into a giant button, enabling you to prod it to play/pause, or swipe to skip tracks - all while keeping your eye on the road.

It has shortcomings - notably forcing in-app playlist creation rather than directly integrating with the iPod app - but it's worth a look if your car lacks physical iPod controls.

PlaySafe

9. Remix David Bowie—Space Oddity (£1.19)

Despite the over-excited nature of this app's info page - "you ARE Ground Control!" - Remix David Bowie shows how modern handhelds can provide fans with more than just an MP3 and some art.

Here, for a price a little more than the song itself, you get a multitrack that you can play with and randomise with a shake.

Remix david bowie

10. nin: access (free)

Although it initially fell foul of over-zealous App Store reviewers, nin: access finally made it into the wider world in July 2009.

The app provides a portal into the world of Nine Inch Nails, offering news, photos, streaming audio, and the ability to swap messages and photos with local fans.

nin access