Jul 15 2012
Many, if not all, of us use our iOS devices to listen to music, often on the go. While we have the option to choose songs to listen to or allow iTunes to select tracks at random, it often seems like there's something lacking in our music experience. Enter Project Now, a newly released app that aims to revolutionise the way we listen to music by providing 'the soundtrack to your life'.
What is Project Now?
The app controls your music experience by playing tracks determined by location, situation and even local weather. Say, for instance, that it's early evening and you're at home, feeling relaxed. You could sift through your expansive library to find the tune to suit your mood, but the likelihood is that by the time you've done this, the mood has gone. This app can detect the situation, predict the mood and, based on an analysis of your song library's content, will play the tracks it calculates best suit your wants at the time. An impressive idea – let's see how well it's been implemented.
Getting into the app
The splash screen captures the concept behind the app in a nutshell: 'when the situation changes, the music changes'. Project Now will then ask to analyse your music library and to access your current location – essential to its functionality.
Once the app knows where you are, and a bit about your environment, such as the weather and the noise levels, it will begin playing the music it thinks suits. The screen displays the situation and the track playing, amongst other pieces of information.
Don't worry about pressing the home button while the app is running: just like phone calls, it will continue to run in the background, displaying a red bar along the top of the screen.
The best bits
Project now lists all the different moods and situations it can cater for – and there are a sizeable number. You can also choose to disable those you don't enjoy, meaning the app will deliver the optimum experience for you.
The app doesn't just change tracks for you when you change activity; there are other tweaks to be found. When noise levels around you increase, for instance, Project Now will realise and respond accordingly, moving to the 'loud' setting and notching up song volume.
Parts to improve
Understandably, Project Now wants users to sign in with Facebook and Twitter accounts, linking the app into social networks and spreading the word, as well as encouraging you to use it more, now you can see what your friends are up to with it. However, it's impossible to get this message to disappear unless you actually do sign up, which may be a real annoyance.
As several reviewers have pointed out, Project Now is prone to skipping tracks part-way through, sometimes after just a few seconds. This means that rather than suit your mood, it's liable to change it and provoke annoyance or even anger. A future update should see this sorted, though.
When songs are playing, the app 'ranks' the situation and informs you of the amount of 'airtime' your songs have. These statistics, however, are confusing, and they aren't explained in-app. Most users would prefer a minimalistic interface, perhaps one resembling the default iTunes layout.
The verdict
If you keep an extensive library on your iDevice with music to suit all your moods, this app is ideal for you. The fact that it precludes you searching for songs yourself makes it a time-saver, but also good for hands-free situations, such as when driving. Those who can't stand skipping tracks, however, may wish to hold off until this issue is fixed.
Project Now – free
http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/project-now-music-player/id530955569?mt=8
By Dan • Apps, iOS • • Tags: ios, ipad, iPhone, iPod, music, Now, Project
