This Month's Editorial Pick is one for the Music Lovers

By David Goodwin, 10 September, 2012

Each month the AppleVis Editorial Team take a look at all the apps that have been posted to the AppleVis website during that month and decide which is our pick - the one app that stood out from all the rest.

Quite frankly, August was a lean month for noteworthy apps. Unlike some recent months, when the decision was made hard by the number of high quality apps that were in the mix, the choice this month was difficult because so many of the apps were mediocre at best.

Ultimately, we felt that only a very small number of apps were noteworthy enough to be considered. Of these, Muxic - The Music Lovers App was the clear favorite among our Team.

Describing itself as "the music fan's best friend", Muxic offers an alternative to the native music app on your iOS device. Its notable features include crossfading, volume normalization and artist information and exploration.

Our decision was also influenced by the way that the developer of Muxic has actively engaged with the community to improve and enhance their app for VoiceOver users. They deserve credit for being so proactive about accessibility, and we could only wish that other developers would follow their example.

There are a couple of apps that we felt also deserved at least a mention in passing.

The first is Hourly News, a simple iOS app that brings together the latest audio news updates from a number of leading sources. It's an interesting concept, and something that we have not seen before. It's quick and easy to use, although sadly the ability to reorder sources is currently not accessible with VoiceOver. Hopefully this will be corrected in the next update.

Some of our Team have been busy playing A Fistful of Penguins since it was posted to AppleVis.

This dice game features, not unsurprisingly, penguins, along with kangaroos, lions, camels, squirrels and moose. I won't even try to explain the gameplay or scoring, but if you've been looking for a game that combines zoo management with the rolling dice, this is probably it.

One final app to earn itself a mention is SofaScore live score. This one, however, comes with a very big caveat - this is not fully accessible.

In its current state, you will need to accept that some parts will not be accessible and that you will also need to spend some time familiarizing yourself with the layout, content and operation of this app. If you are willing to do this, the app provides access to detailed and up-to-date scores for a number of sports. The push notifications are particularly good. When watching a recent game in the US Open, the app was pushing through updates in near real-time with the televised coverage.

In terms of accessibility, SofaScore still leaves something to be desired. But, it is free, so we think that it is at least worth checking out if you are a sports fan. If you do try this app, and would like to see it become fully accessible, be sure to let the developers know.

And those were our picks for August. If nothing else, it's an eclectic mix of apps that should ensure that there is something for everybody.

If you think we've overlooked an app that deserved a mention, please be sure to let us know by adding a comment.

Please keep submitting any new and noteworthy apps that you find in your travels through the App Stores. Not only does this continue to add to the value of this site to the community, but it also gives you a chance of winning an iTunes gift card in our monthly giveaway.

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