Metallica may be a band of ageing rockers but they have embraced the digital age with gusto. The new LiveMetallica app (59p for iPhone and iPod Touch) streams an entire gig for free, uploaded just hours after each concert on their current North American tour. Once archived, they remain available at $10 (£6) each for both streaming and as a download.

Strange to recall, but Metallica were hate figures for internet music fans after they forced Napster into bankruptcy in 2002. With this app, they’ve become possibly the most net savvy band in the world. That’s not to say they have the music app world to themselves. Depeche Mode, clean-cut Basildon boys turned goth titans, offer an innovative app for their recent Sounds of the Universe album (free, iPhone and Touch) that allows you to create remixes of tracks. But it lacks the facility to save your creations, and there are only so many times you can listen to Dave Gahan screaming “Wrong!” over a wobbly bassline.

Shy and subtle as ever, Lady Gaga joins the Mode on the virtual music racks. Be Like Lady Gaga (£1.19, iPhone and Touch) lets you overlay any portrait photo with a huge selection of tasteless bling. The tuneless screeching you’ll have to provide yourself.

The Prodigy (free for iPhone and Touch) is more like it: audio clips from the techno rockers’ four albums, videos and a great Twitter feed (sample, filed from Riga: “Bangin hard. Bring on Minsk!”).

Are all the cool kids hanging out on Apple devices? Google phone users will find little in the web giant’s Android Marketplace except a Pink Floyd slideshow. For BlackBerry users, the choice is even thinner. But wait: there in the empty corridors of BlackBerry App World sits Mobile Album (free) by U2. As well as excerpts from No Line on the Horizon, the band’s latest CD, fans can enjoy “origami-style” photos, see where Bono is in the world and buy tour tickets. Roll up, BlackBerry fans, and join the fun.

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