I just got turned on to this great free app called Simplify Media.  Simplify Media lets you share your music library anywhere over the web.  Simply install, pick a username for your free account, select folders or playlists to share, and you’re all set.  The setup is simple, and I didn’t have to configure my firewall or open ports or anything.

How is this helpful?  You can listen to your home music library at work.  Or listen to your work computer’s music library at home.  Or listen to your home music anywhere on your iPod touch or iPhone.

What? On my iPhone??

It’s true.  And the sound quality is fantastic.  Once you set up Simplify Media at home, you can log in with your iPhone or iPod touch using the Simplify Media iPhone app (the app is US$4.00) and listen to your music, streamed in full quality to your device over wifi.  Incredible.

For months now I’ve been using lala.com to stream my music to my work machine in a browser.  This was OK, but it took an initial upload of a couple of days to get my music sync’d with the lala.com servers.  Once my music was there, I could open a browser and listen to my stuff at work.  But Simplify Media does one better than that, and plays your music right in iTunes or Winamp.

Have friends?  Good.  Have friends with music?  Even better.  You can invite your buddies (and they can invite you, up to 30 friends total) and share their music too.

I got this set up the other day with a good friend that has been living in Spain.  We both installed Simplify Media this week, shared our music folders, invited each other, and can now enjoy each other’s music library from the computer, iPod touch, work machine, or whatever.  The little Simplify Media window even tells you what songs are being shared!  At this time I’m listening to The Decemberists on my iPod touch, streamed from his laptop in Spain.  The sound quality is great, buffering is quick (plus once you’re listening to an album there are no gaps between songs; if you shuffle, there is a bit of a pause between tunes).  This is great fun.

While the iPhone / iPod touch app costs 4 bucks, the PC client is free.  They have a version for Windows, Mac, and Ubuntu Linux.  Check it out, and free your music.

The Good

  • PC or Mac client is Free
  • Easy to set up (and nearly firewall-proof)
  • Share and stream your music anywhere you have a ‘net connection
  • Share and stream your friends’ music anywhere
  • Sound quality is excellent

The Bad

  • Must use iTunes (or Winamp) for music playback
  • iPhone / iPod touch app isn’t free (but well worth it for 4 bucks)
  • Won’t play music purchased from iTunes (DRM’d)

In short

If you love music and wish you could access your own music library anywhere, this app is a great way to do it.  If you have an iPod touch, and wish you had bought the larger one, regret it no longer; you can have access to all of your music, not just 8gb.

Download Simplify Media for your computer (free)

Download Simplify Media for iPhone / iPod touch (link to Simplify Media’s site)

Download from iTunes Simplify Media

Already using Simplify Media?

Leave a comment below and tell us how you’re using it!