If all this talk of iOS 7 has wet your appetite for a new music app and you can’t wait, then maybe you should have a look at our review of Track 8. It’s a Music app that takes the Windows Phone modern UI design (formally known as Metro) and applies it to your iOS music library. Fancy a change? Then read on.
The first screen that greets you in Track 8 is menu options for Songs, Artists, Albums and Playlists. However, there is a hint to the side of the screen that there’s more awaiting you if you just swipe to the side. As you do that, the user interface pivots to the history section, which shows all of your recently played music. Even when it’s your first time running the app, the list will be populated because Track 8 pulls from your iTunes data, which is better than having its own file storage area.
Continuing the pivoting style, you can drag across to see a list of tiles for your newest music, and one more swipe reveals the most played albums and tracks.
Tapping any of the album art takes you through to view the tracks within the album, and this will also initiate loading a background image of photography from the artist. You’ll find that it’s all stylishly laid out, very much like a magazine. Since iOS doesn’t have a back button like Windows Phone you’ll find that in the top right corner, where iOS normally has a back button, there’s a Metro style circled arrow. The developer has done an admirable job of creating the Windows Phone experience you can even choose your own theme and accent color.
While playing a track, you can share it with your social networks. In particular, Facebook, Twitter, Last.FM and App.Net. However, I found that the Twitter registration screen was empty, and so I couldn’t register my account. However, adding my Facebook account worked like a charm.
There’s nothing, in-fact that is stopping me from using this app as a full-time music player. In which case, $2.99 in iTunes is good value for money – it just comes down to a question of whether you like the Metro style or not. Like it or not, the appearance of iOS is changing.
