Apps are quickly becoming a part of our everyday lives, especially if you're a home theater enthusiast with an HDTV or Blu-ray player manufactured within the last 24 months. However, one facet of the CE space where Apps seem to be scarce is in the high-end, audiophile space. Well McIntosh, arguably one of the oldest and most storied audiophile brands, has decided, in order to keep with the times, what their customers and potential future customers needed was an App. Enter the McIntosh AP1 Audio Player App from McIntosh, an iPod like, McIntosh styled portable music interface that is currently free to download via the Apple App Store.

Additional Resources
• Read more MP3 player reviews by HomeTheaterReview.com's staff.
• Learn more about Apple's iPad 3G.

Sporting McIntosh's trademark blue meter and green back lit controls, the AP1 Audio Player is essentially a "skin" for your iPod, iPad or iPhone's music interface. The player features controls for track skip, play/pause, level (volume), library, shuffle and repeat. You can access your music through the AP1's interface without leaving the app and throughout all the various levels of control and interaction the McIntosh visual style remains constant. Even the blue output meter dances in near unison with dynamic peaks in the music, though if you listen to loudly the meter becomes tired and simply holds on zero, which isn't nearly as cool.

In terms of sound quality the AP1 does nothing to alter or improve your iPod, iPad or iPhone's sound. It is merely a cosmetic enhancement meant to indoctrinate a potential new horde of young McIntosh fans and give those who are already considered among the faithful a bit of McIntosh flare for their digital music collection. Either way, for a free app the AP1 is fun, though potential new fans will undoubtedly suffer sticker shock when they realize the next nearest McIntosh product in terms of price is $2,000 more than free.