The app is what it sounds like: a collection of audio recordings from many of Winston Churchill's speeches during World War II. There's nothing remarkable about this as an iPad app though. In fact, I'm kind of surprised the developers didn't first release it as an iPhone app and just make it available for use on the iPad. They went the opposite route though as this one is only available as an iPad app. Odd.
So what do you do when your app is really about audio and you have that nice, large iPad app screen at your disposal? You offer some totally unrelated, cheesey background images. Listeners can opt for one of five different backgrounds including my personal favorite, the video loop of someone's fireplace.
Don't let the goofy video chase you away from this one though. I've only listened to a few of the speeches so far and I love it, although I do wish I could use it on my iPhone. I'd also like to see them release similar apps with the amazing speeches from people like FDR, JFK and Martin Luther King, Jr., for example.
I've got a problem with people repackaging public domain works for profit. I will choose the free one every time, unless they've made a real effort to add some value. I guess they got at least one dollar (yours) out of posting this thing. I agree with you that the visuals are tacky at best.
ReplyDeleteThe same developer, "Hurryforward Ltd." has an iPhone version that's been out for about a month. It's 139MB and is also a dollar. The iPad version weighs 182MB, probably because of the fireside chat video.
You can download or stream these speeches for free from http://www.archive.org/details/Winston_Churchill
...which is probably what the app developer did in creating this thing.
Joe, you've piqued my interest and I might check some of these out as I go for a walk. Streaming under iOS4 is smooth and good.
Don't forget that part of this new economy is an opportunity to sell convenience. I never would have even thought to download those Churchill speeches and I certainly wouldn't have bothered with the multi-step process of finding them, downloading them and putting them onto my iPhone. I'll gladly pay 99 cents for the discoverability and convenience of this app.
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