Sonos, best known for wireless music systems that link to your iTunes library and internet services like Pandora, Rhapsody and Napster, is offering a one piece, 5 speaker system that can be placed in any room. It's called the Zone Player S5 and it's US $399 direct from Sonos or dealers around the country.

Sonos shipped me a review system to try for 30 days, and I thought the sound was great. I already had a mutli-room Sonos system so adding the new portable player was just a matter of plugging it into AC power and pressing two buttons on the S5.

If you don't already have a Sonos system, you have to plug your unit into a router to connect to your music library and the internet. If that doesn't work in your home layout, you can buy what Sonos calls a Zone Bridge (US $99) that plugs into your router and lets the S5 make a wireless connection. Once that basic pairing is made, you can add as many other Sonos music systems as you like, all connecting over a wireless mesh network.

The system sounds quite good, given the limits of the small desktop-friendly size (8.5 x 14.4 x 4.8 inches). There are 5 speakers, two tweeters, two 3" mid-range drivers, and one 3.5" woofer all driven by individual amplifiers. The woofer is a ducted port design and the rear port serves double duty as a carrying handle.

This is the kind of thing that probably should have been done a long time ago, but Macworld is reporting that Apple has launched iTunes Preview, a page that appears when you click an iTunes link (like this one) and your browser sends you over to iTunes. Previously, you just got that placeholder page that said "One Moment Please" and asked if you wanted to open the link in an external application, but with iTunes Preview, you get a nicely laid out page with information and reviews (and your browser still opens up the iTunes store).

Currently it only seems to work with music -- movies and television only get a small thumbnail, and applications get the same old gray page. But that'll probably change before long -- it's much smoother to see what you're clicking through to, and of course there's the added bonus for people who don't actually have iTunes installed. As MacWorld points out, there are actually no "preview" buttons on the page -- you can't listen to music there, only click through to the iTunes store. But like I said, it's better than a blank window and a browser popup asking for your permission. I wouldn't be surprised at all to see this grow a lot more in the future.

VentureBeat reports that Shazam [iTunes Link], an app that's long been a favorite among several TUAW staffers, is now offering a paid version. The $5 Shazam Encore (link opens iTunes) offers faster, unlimited tagging of music. A new mode designed for your car will tag whatever music is playing over the radio if you have your iPhone or iPod Touch hooked up to a car adapter. There are also recommendations based off existing tags, the ability to search Shazam's database, and more.

This new feature set does come at a cost to new users of the Shazam free app. New users can now only tag five pieces of music per month. The VentureBeat article adds that existing users of the free app can still tag with no limits.

[Via Macworld]

Smart playlists have been a feature of iTunes since version 3.0 (circa 2002), and they provide a means for you to create automatically-updated playlists that fit a certain criteria. For me, they serve as a hands-off way to stay up-to-date on my latest music and Podcasts, as well as a repository for a certain genre of music. To create a smart playlist, click on "File" and select "New Smart Playlist" (or you can use the command-option-n keyboard shortcut).

If you want a playlist that contains only holiday music, you could specify that the playlist include all songs with either the "Christmas" or "Chanukah" genre tag on it. Because smart playlists auto-update, you needn't worry about adding songs to it: as long as the track's tags meet the criteria, it is automatically included in the playlist -- unless, of course, you choose the "limit to" option, which limits the the tracks in the playlist based on your choosing.

Read more for five of my favorite smart playlists, as well as criteria for how to create them.

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Here in the UK, it's getting pretty chilly on the willy compared to a month ago, or so. The warm memories of the summer are slowly dwindling to the reality of earlier, darker evenings (the clocks have just gone forward) as well as tentative first visits from our old friend Jack Frost. Generally speaking, the cold grasp of winter is steadily fastening on us (or not).

But we are blessed with a few heart warming occasions over the winter season (Christmas, New Years Eve etc) that make the cold, well, a little less nippy on the bone. One of these such occasions is, of course, Guy Fawkes night (Remember remember the 5th of November...) And, to me, that means one thing, HOUSE PARTY! And what does a great house party need? An authentic DJ.

So when I heard my main man Dan the DJ couldn't make the party (or at the least lend me his decks) I turned to the next best thing, Sonorasaurus - the first complete deejay setup for the iPhone / iPod Touch.

At this point you may be wondering what a DJ app has to do with 'Count The Beats', or, in fact making music on an Apple platform, but it quite literally has everything to do with it. Come on, we all know that deejays are real musicians too, right?

Shazam is one of the first apps I actually used in context on the iPhone, and while we haven't heard much about the app since it debuted way back in the early days of the App Store, apparently the company itself has been blowing up, thanks to the free app. They've picked up a nice round of investment from venture capitalists, and the service itself now boasts over 50 million users (by comparison, Last.fm claims only 30 million, but they've gotten way more press than Shazam's service, including recent integration on Xbox Live). That's a heck of an achievement, and Apple is a huge part of it -- not only did Shazam make a big splash on their iPhone app, but they say that Apple actually helped connect the VCs and the company together. That's an interesting peek behind the scenes at what Apple is doing for one of the App Store's oldest and most popular free apps.

As for why Shazam is so popular, the VCs say they can see the platform as a "springboard" for selling music, advertising, and a few other commodities. Currently Shazam's free app only lets you tag five songs a month (a limit I never hit and thus didn't know about, even though I would say that I do use the app regularly), but they're planning a paid version that will allow unlimited identification of songs through the iPhone's microphone. I don't know how well that will sell (it's hard to believe that people will pay $5 for a service they are already using for free, though perhaps I'm underestimating the amount of music that people want to "tag"), but it's clear that Shazam is a company that is making the absolute best of having an extremely popular free app on the App Store.

Just like the Facebook pages that Apple has set up for iTunes and the iTunes Trailers Twitter account, Apple has just set up several Twitter accounts for iTunes, which cover Music, Podcasts, Movies and TV Shows.

First, the Music account, twitter.com/iTunesMusic , will provide information on "new releases, pre-orders, iTunes LP, exclusive offers and more."

Second, the Podcasting account, twitter.com/iTunesPodcasts , will provide a "Podcast Episode of the Day, from iTunes Podcasting."

Next, the iTunes Movies account, twitter.com/iTunesMovies , doesn't contain a description, but does contain one tweet so far, and it looks like it will be used for Movies on the iTunes Store.

Finally, the iTunes TV account, twitter.com/iTunesTV , which contains no tweets yet, will provide "Official TV updates from the U.S. iTunes Store on Twitter."

Will these accounts make a impact on what you discover in the iTunes Store? Let us know in the comments below!

If you've ever played Gears of War 2 (who hasn't), or watched Desperate Housewives (we know you secretly love Mrs Van De Kamp), then chances are you've heard music composed by Pieter A. Schlosser from PaaxMusic in Los Angeles.

Pieter's been in the music business for the last five years working on a whole lot of tunes for film, TV and gaming. From CSI New York to composing in "French" for The Sims 3, he's got a wealth of experience in this field and, must be mentioned, he's an avid reader of TUAW too.

When Pieter got in touch with us regarding our 'Count The Beats' series, and sent us the above picture of his studio, suffice to say that the TUAW offices descended into a flurry of excitement (papers flying in the air and everything). What can we say, we love a picture of an inspiring setup.

The logical next step was to sit down with Pieter and talk shop. Read on to find out how the complexities of this mighty setup come together, how the iPhone works as a part of the composing journey, a little bit on DAWs, the "dream upgrade" and how to get the job done when all else is failing.

A word of warning, there is some serious music tech geekery ahead. If in doubt, just pretend that it all makes sense and slowly nod your head, then move onto the next paragraph. That's what most of us do anyway!

Star6 [iTunes link], from Agile Partners, is a beat-mixing iPhone app with a lot of power behind its kitschy interface. While I see it being a fun toy for the casual user, there are some possibilities for great things, if you have the dedication to get good with it. I won't award it a heap of points for aesthetics, but the interface is highly usable and well thought-out.

You get six pads to which you can assign sounds, either from the array of included kits or from your own wav or aiff samples. Once you've got your kit loaded up, you can trigger the sounds in Grain mode, which makes it more of a sound effects machine, or in Sync mode, which will beat-match the samples to keep the rhythm flowing. While you're playing each sample, you can modify attributes like pitch, gate, speed, jitter and "size" by holding down each respective button and raising or lowering the iPhone. There were times in my trial of Star6 that I just wanted sliders, but the accelerometer-based manipulation has a definite right-brain appeal. Additionally, you can turn effects like delay, filter and distortion on and off whilst grooving away.

Star6 is running a contest right now, with two grand prizes of $500 each. You can see some of the entries by going to the YouTube Group, and join the group to submit your own. Details are available at the Agile Partners page for the contest. I'm a little late on the jump here, but the deadline has been extended to October 25th, 2009. It can't hurt to try, right?

Star6 is available in the App Store for $6.99US. Check out the gallery below for a few shots of the interface. If it looks interesting, though, definitely head over to the introductory video and samples (play before you buy) at the Star6 website.

Any musician worth his/her credit knows that accurate tuning is a given. It's a crucial starting point to playing any instrument at home, on the job, in the studio, or on the road, and an embarrassment when it isn't.

Some time ago I was doing an unplugged acoustic gig when my regular stomp box tuner broke down mid-rehearsal. I was in desperate need of a reliable tuner, without a music store in sight. Roll on Agile Partners Guitar Toolkit [iTunes link] for the iPhone/iPod Touch at £5.99

I had heard about various tuner apps on the App Store, but I was reluctant to try any of them. I could not believe that a tuner on my phone would provide the same accurate and reliable tuning that my current (expensive) tuners could. However, I was desperate, so I took the plunge.

Utilizing the iPhone's built in microphone (or the iPod Touch with a microphone headset), Guitar Toolkit's chromatic tuner performed just like using any other quality tuner. It was simple, effective and to my delight, it got the job done.

After the gig, upon further inspection, I soon realized that there was much more than just a common guitar tuner in this app.

Guitar Toolkit comprises a chromatic tuner, a metronome, a chord section, and a scale section too (practice your scales!!).

The chromatic tuner can be used to tune a variety of stringed instruments. By changing the 'mode' selector on the tuner, from standard 6-string EADGBE guitar tuning to 'all notes' tuning, you'll be able to tune almost any musical instrument. Or, you can preselect a particular stringed instrument, from a custom list, for that instruments specific tuning arrangement (guitar, bass, banjo, mandolin, etcetera).

If you're feeling creative, why not come up with your own custom tuning arrangement and input it into the tuner for later reference, or choose one from the alternate guitar tuning selection. DADGAD anyone?

For advanced tuning, you can alter the standard reference pitch from 440.0 Hz to whatever you'd like (some orchestras play at varying reference pitches). I've used it to tune a violin perfectly, and for all you bass players Guitar Toolkit, using the iPhone's microphone, picks up those low notes as well.

There are a few noticeable nice touches here and there. On the tuner, there is the option to alter the display to a 'high contrast mode' for tuning in low ambient light conditions. Also, when the app is open, the power saving/auto-lock features of the iPhone are disabled so the tuner remains usable until you're finished.

Short of being able to plug an instrument line directly in, I can't find a fault with the the Guitar Toolkit tuner.

So, Apple has confirmed that there will indeed be an event next Wednesday, September 9th. The image on the invitations indicates iPods, or at least "music", will be the focus of the shindig.

Will we see new iPods with cameras? How about iTunes 9 with some whiz-bang new social networking features? And what about that bright yellow underwater elephant in the room?

While the date is almost too tasty to pass up, I can't imagine (pun intended) that The Beatles will even be mentioned during the event. Why? The slogan the iPod silhouette girl is rockin' to is "It's only rock and roll, but I like it." Now, I'm a little younger than the relevant time period, but I've heard that neither The Rolling Stones nor The Fab Four would be thrilled with the mix up.

So, what do you think? What kind of magic are we likely to see next week?

If you're lucky enough to have a Sonos music system in the house, you've got lots of music everywhere. The Sonos is a deluxe, wireless distribution system that integrates beautifully with iTunes, and can get your music, Sirius Radio and Pandora, Last.fm, Napster, Rhapsody and Deezer to any room where you have a Sonos Zone player. It can also access more than 15,000 internet radio stations. Subscriptions are required for some of these services.

It's an elegant, easy to set up (yet pricey) system. It is also very reliable and supports wake up and sleep alarms, sending music to every room at once, or letting each room have a choice of what to listen to.

Sonos has a very strong iPhone app, [App Store] which is free. It's been recently updated to version 3, and gives you complete and easy control of your system. You can see album art, change the configuration of the system, adjust the volume, and even access artist information on Rhapsody and Last.fm. If you are running Pandora, as I am, you can create new stations, advance to another tune, or even rate what you are listening to so you can tailor your custom station to your taste.

Sonos has recently offered a wireless handheld controller for US$349.00, but frankly, the iPhone is free [assuming you already have one –Ed.] and has the same capabilities.

Even if you bought the cheapest iPod touch for $229.00, and ran the free Sonos app, you'd have the same features, plus you'd have an iPod touch.

The Sonos system also comes with desktop controller software that lets you play and manage the system from a Mac or PC.

I've had the system for years, and it really is great. I have also used and enjoyed the Squeezebox solution, and Apple can get your music moving around with Airport Express running Airtunes.

If you have a Sonos system and an iPhone or iPod touch, the free app is a no-brainer. If you're looking for a whole house, state of the art music system, the Sonos should be on your list.

Screen shots of the iPhone app in use are below:

The hyperbole around the iPhone platform has become hyperbolic itself, so I'll spare you the deconstruction of what is now an obvious conclusion: the iPhone has musical chops. The dizzying array of apps on the store has led to quite a few musical apps as well. It makes sense, as the multi-touch screen is a divine interface for manipulating sound.

Along with the dump truck of musical apps has come an even larger group of iPhone performers. I have yet to see impromptu drum circles made of iPhones, but you never know what the future will bring.

We begin our afternoon concert with Jordan Rudess demoing one of my favorite musical apps, Bebot. Take it away, Jordan!

Some apps are almost universal. Chances are you may find a use for one of these apps in your daily goings-on, just as I have. All links are iTunes links.


Flicktunes, $0.99
Remember our chat about driving and using your iPhone? Flicktunes makes controlling the iPod in your iPhone (or touch) much easier when you have to focus on other things -- like driving. Flick your finger left or right to navigate your playlist, up or down to start or stop the music. The album art is all you see, plus a speaker icon indicating playback. It's super easy, a simple app, but very useful if you're driving or otherwise occupied while jamming out.

Army Knife, $1.99
If you need to measure something in a jiffy, Army Knife is a 9-in-1 tool with several measuring tools. There's a protractor, a caliper and a tape measure, plus a level and a "heart monitor" (you tap as your heart beats). There's a unit converter with distance, volume, weight and temperature conversions, and a flashlight and whistle. The flashlight, yes, is just a screen of white, but the whistle is kind of fun and will irritate your pets (please note: I do not condone irritating your pets, please do not flame me for hating animals).

Todo, $9.99
If you use Remember the Milk or Toodledoo, you should know that Todo syncs with them. There's also a free sync app for your desktop, which is essentially a backup... except there's a way to sync Todo with The Hit List via iCal. Is it optimal? No, but until THL has an iPhone app (not criticizing the developer as I'd rather it be done right than fast) this does the trick to an extent. Todo even without sync is a beautiful thing to behold and full of flexibility. In fact, the flexibility of the app is a little shocking, given the lowly status of the "to do" genre of apps. If you need a listmaker/to do/checklist app with or without sync capabilities, this is one of the best out there. Worth the $9.99 for what you get.

CardStar, free
If you're tired of carrying around a dozen membership or discount cards, CardStar will help you out. There are templates for many retailers and discount systems (air miles and so forth), and you can choose from a variety of barcode types. I was able to experiment with the codes a bit and test things at each of my errand stops (Blockbuster, Kroger, etc.), eventually winnowing my keychain down to just 2 keys and a door opener.

BigOven, free
I've toyed around with a few cooking apps, but if you're out and about (and have a signal) BigOven is a great way to throw a dish together based on an ingredient. BigOven basically makes everyone an Iron Chef -- at least as far as cool recipes goes. It can't help you cook things, and the text rendering could be a little more clear, but you can favorite stuff (with a BigOven free account), and copy an entire recipe for emailing. I'm not saying the interface is great, but the BigOven database is huge and stocked with what looks like good recipes.