What's Good (and Free!) in the iTunes App Store

More than 550 new applications arrived for the iPhone and iPod touch this morning in iTunes' brand new App Store and more than 130 of them are available for free. Today we're taking a look at the best free applications for your iPhone and iPod touch, available once you've got iTunes 7.7 and the iPhone 2.0 software update installed.

Note: Most of the apps listed here work with both iPhones and iPod touch models, but we've noted where an app requires the iPhone's voice, SMS, or GPS capabilities to run.

Remote Controls Your iTunes Library

The iTunes App Store's marquee freebie, the Remote app turns your iPhone or iPod touch into a remote control for your media library. Remote works almost exactly like the iPod application on your device—the main difference being that rather than playing back music on your iPhone or iPod touch, you've got access to your entire iTunes library and you're playing it over your computer's speakers.
Read more about setting up and using the Remote app>>

Google Mobile is Quicksilver for the iPhone/iPod touch

Google already has a fast and slick iPhone version, but this app is hyper-optimized for quick searching. Search-as-you-type results spin up for web pages, click-to-call business and residential phone listings, nearby stores and restaurants, and more—and Google Mobile's brought to you by the guy who made one of our favorite free launcher desktop apps, Quicksilver.
Read more about how Google Mobile searches your contacts and the web>>

Jott Transcribes Speech to Text

iPhone only: Free voice-to-text service Jott is a natural fit for an iPhone app, and its implementation here is pretty nifty. You can simply say a note into the recording interface (at right), and it'll show up in your Jott notes (or on Google Calendar, Remember the Milk, or Jott-connected applications). You can also simply type a note in, making the Jott app a quick interface for a lot of web apps. Managing all your notes with finger-swipe deletion is pretty handy as well.

Evernote

The universal stuff-gathering site Evernote gives you all the major tools of its desktop and web software in its iPhone app—add text, snap a phone cam shot, record a memo, or upload a photo, and it's all available for organizing, tagging, or searching later. New in this interface is a straight-forward voice recorder; if you'd rather have your audio transcribed, you can use the Jott app as a gateway to Evernote. Given that even free users of Evernote can have the service scan their pictures and extract visible text, Evernote's app makes your iPhone a serious universal capture device.

NetNewsWire

As Adam has detailed, users of desktop-based readers like NetNewsWire (Mac) or FeedDemon (Windows) have their reasons for sticking with them. NetNewsWire for iPhone syncs with either of those clients, meaning you won't read the same items twice. There's a "Clippings" feature for setting items aside for later (or when you'll be offline) that also syncs to your desktop, and the interface is straightforward—and that's about it. If you're a Google Reader addict, you're already set up with GReader's iPhone beta view.
Read more about how NetNewsWire brings synced RSS feeds to Your iPhone>>

Zenbe Lists

Free service Zenbe works as a multi-account mail organizer in its web form, but they've stuck with to-do-style lists for their iPhone app. Those lists, however, can be edited on any browser and synced back to your Zenbe account, or published on an iGoogle page. The real benefit, though, is sharing with other Zenbe Lists users. Anyone you share with can then edit and update your list and sync them back to you—a kind of nifty no-real-computer-required list wiki.

Yelp

The iPhone app for business review site Yelp takes good advantage of your location-aware device to dish up the details on nearby restaurants, bars, gas and service stations, and much more. There's a custom search function too, so you can always know when you're in the presence of, say, high-quality sushi while you're traveling, and how much reviewers say it's going to cost you. A great app for traveling, or just seeing what the hive says about your home town.
Read more about finding and filtering everything around you with Yelp>>

Save Benjis

Save Benjis (as in the face on the bills) makes it seriously convenient to compare prices on online purchases, or the gadget that's sitting right in front of you at the store. Type in a name, a product ID number, or other details, and you'll get a list back with links and prices from Amazon, NewEgg, and other online merchants. If you've ever wondered how much markup you're paying to grab that gear now, wonder no more. Saving Benjis also integrates well with Amazon for making actual purchases.
Read more about comparing prices on the fly with Save Benjis>>

Talking Phrasebook (French, Italian, German, Spanish)

Translation tools and dual-language dictionaries are great, but sometimes, you really just need to ask "How much to park here?" in German. The Talking Phrasebook apps offer phrases you'll want to know translated from English to Spanish, French, German, and Italian, and you can click to hear them pronounced (or, perhaps, just have your iPhone speak for you).
Read more about getting the words you need quickly with Talking Phrasebook>>

Midomi

iPhone only: This one's not terribly productive—unless you're the type to spend far too much time trying to name that song you just can't remember. For those moments, or for proving a friend right/wrong, Midomi is a true gift. You can type in an artist or song name to get more info (and you can write it phonetically), but the true joy is in humming or singing a few bars into your iPhone, waiting a bit, then seeing your song title come back. You can also hold your phone up to the music itself, and Midomi will try to ID it. Seriously neat stuff.
Read more about Midomi—and watch a video demonstration—at Gizmodo>>

Where

One of the most comprehensive location-aware apps in the Store, Where gives you all sorts of location-based information—like where the nearest restaurants, Zip cars, gas stations, and Starbucks locations are in relation to you. Enable Buddy Beacon to see nearby friends also using Where. Get to know the new place you're visiting—or even your hometown—with one of the coolest features, called HeyWhatsThat, which identifies landmarks you can see from your location—like the names of nearby mountains and overhead constellations.

AOL Instant Messenger (AIM)

Send and receive instant messages over Wi-Fi, EDGE, or 3G networks, and manage your AIM buddy list right on your device with the AIM iPhone app.

PayPal

Send money from your iPhone or iPod touch to anyone—like your dinner companion when you're splitting the bill—with the PayPal app. You've been able to send money via SMS using PayPal for some time now, but the app makes it even easier—it keeps you from having to remember the text message format.

Aside: Gedeon Maheux points out that six iTunes Store Apps listed under Productivity use the check mark as their icon. Group-think! [via Daring Fireball]

We'll be updating this list with more free apps as we download and test 'em out. What should we look at next? Post your favorite free iPhone application in the comments, and vote for the best you've seen (so far) below.