Sting, Pink Floyd out ‘appumentary’ apps

English progressive rock band Pink Floyd and Sting, another British-born musician, singer, songwriter, activist, actor and philanthropist, both released their apps for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad in the App Store yesterday. Neither is your typical app album, that is – a music album repackaged as a native app with added multimedia bells’n'whistles.

Sting decided to give away his iPad app free of charge, his way of paying tribute to Steve Jobs. Sting 25, the 442MB download, features an elegant user interface and hours of music videos, interviews, concert footage and other material. The musician unveiled the app yesterday at the Apple Store in New York’s Upper West Side, where he performed the song “Fragile”.

He actually dedicated the song to Steve Jobs, saying:

In some way he’s created our future.

As for the Pink Floyd app…

This Day in Pink Floyd, a $2.99 universal binary for the iPhone and iPad, offers a wealth of audio and visual stimuli. True fans will appreciate thousands of music facts related to the band’s career and a guide to every one of the 167 studio tracks. Casual listeners can indulge themselves with a hundred photos, rarely seen footage, over 200 quiz questions and trivia, plus a free ringtone (‘Shine On You Crazy Diamond’), two wallpaper screen images (the ‘Dark Side’ prism and the ‘Wish You Were Here’ cover) and the ability to play your own Pink Floyd music from your iTunes library.