I recently upgraded my mobile music capacity by purchasing a new iPod. By replaced my 60GB iPod Video with the impressive new 160GB iPod Classic, I gained a newly polished and refined user interface, a metal front that won’t get scratched to hell, and the ability to haul my entire music collection in the tiny confines of my front pocket. While some people may argue that I had an entire 60 gigs to do so beforehand… I stand my ground in saying I like having the ability to listen to what I want, when I want. I’m a collector. I don’t do single tracks. If there’s a song on the radio you like, chances are there are half a dozen more on the album that are far superior, or hell, half a dozen other albums by that artist that completely outshine anything that the radio stations would care to play. And when you start collecting those albums, hard drive space tends to get filled very quickly.

Needless to say, I have a huge music collection… nearly 130GB and nearing 500 artists. Variety is key, and when it comes to the umbrella genres of metal and rock, there are numerous subgenres to pull from. I like the ability to pull from any of those subgenres whenever I feel the need to. However, it seems I may have been slightly hasty in dropping quite the pretty penny on a new gadget, when a simple application can provided the same convenience to anyone at no additional cost. As long as you own an iPhone or iPod Touch that is.

Last week, the Company Simplify Media released a program to the Apple AppStore by the name of… Simplify Media (iTunes link). Using this app in conjunction with the PC / Mac client running on your home machine, you are able to wirelessly stream your entire music library over WiFi, 3G, and Edge. Skip out on the 16GB iPhone? Settle for the lower-end Touch? Hey, no problem… it no longer matters how much storage you have on your device. With the use of this app, you’re essentially able to limitlessly extend the music storage on your iPhone of iPod Touch. It all depends on how much storage you have on your home computer. Additionally, you are able to share your library with up to 30 of your friends, as long as they are also using the Simplify Media software. Reportedly, sound quality remains excellent over WiFi, 3G and amazingly even Edge, though there seems to be a bit of buffer time with any connection slower than WiFi.

Well shit, does this mean my iPod purchase was a waste? I asked myself that very question once I saw that this product had hit the appstore and after some consideration, I realized… not exactly. I currently don’t have a machine constantly running at home to stream from. Unless you have that, this app simply doesn’t work. I also remembered that I extensively use my iPod to rock the fuck out while on the road. Honestly, using my iPhone with my car stereo sucks. My stereo suffers from amazingly annoying interference unless I set the phone on airplane mode, but that, however, renders it damn near useless as a phone as I cannot receive calls. Plus if I have to make a quick call, it’s pretty inconvenient to have to unplug the thing from the stereo and lose the tunes.

Overall, I’m happy with my purchase, though I really can’t wait to try Simplify Media out for myself. It sounds to be a pretty slick piece of software. Check out a demo video of the app in action below:

More info: Simplify Media Website