I’m a huge fan of Simplify Music. This simple but powerful iPhone app allows you to 
access your entire iTunes music library, as well as share libraries
 with up to 30 friends. Setting up an account is simple.

The two-part system requires a program to be
 running on your Mac, PC or Linux computer as well as the iPhone or
iPod touch application.

  Once you sign up and sign in the
 application indexes your library. After that, so long as you have a data connection, no matter where you go you have 
access to all your music. In other words, with this application my 32
GB iPhone has access to my 60+ gigabytes of music as well as Larry’s, 
Wayne’s and a number of other friends music libraries.

The original application cost $3.99. At that price it was and is a bargain.

A
 number of months ago Simplify Music 2 was released. This version had
 some nice new features including the ability to search music and use
 playlist management. Although I already spent the money on the
 initial application I liked it so much that I bought the update as
 well. I wasn’t entirely satisfied however. The new version of the 
application felt more like an evolutionary update rather than an 
entirely new version yet the company was selling it for more than the original as an 
entirely new app. Then again, it wasn’t like the old version stopped working and no one made me buy it. It does add some nice 
features so c’est la vie. After all, companies deserve to make money
 and how they price their product is up to them.

Yesterday I noticed that the desktop program was updated to allow you to 
share pictures. “How cool!” I thought to myself, “Now I can grab my 
entire iPhoto library on the go as well.”

Not so fast. Larry just
 IMed me that when he went to look at pictures he discovered that in
 order to do so you need to purchase Simplify Photo for… $.99.

I was 
kind of surprised. It seems to me that this is a nice new feature but it is really a FEATURE. Many Twitter apps like Twitterific Premium have added video functionality but they did so as  a free update.

 Not here. This new feature requires yet another purchase.

Like many other iPhone owners I’ve spent a small fortune on iPhone
 applications. There are a few key ones that I use all the time and all 
of-them have been updated numerous times. Some of them have even
 received complete makeovers. Thus far Simplify is the only one that has 
required a repurchase or  new purchase to access evolutionary updates.

It
 makes me a little bit concerned about 
what’s coming down the road. I assume that there will be a point in
the development of every application that an entirely new version is 
released and requires a new purchase. Hopefully prior owners will get the update for a discount. Again, I don’t question the company’s right to promote this as a separate 
application and to sell it as such. Each company gets to create their own business model. But it does get me wondering if we will see more and more of this in the coming months and weeks and if iPhone ownership is about to get a whole lot more expensive.

As for Simplify Photo… it is only a buck but I’m not buying it.

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