When I first stumbled upon My Artists last year, what I found was a great companion for iOS’ native iPod app that allowed users to play songs they had synced on their iPhones with a different interface that, among other things, came with Wikipedia and YouTube integration. My Artists’ main goal, in fact, was to provide users with more information about songs and albums they were listening to, pulling data from the web as a way to showcase videos and songs from the same artist that, however, were not available on the device. My Artists 1.0 was a discovery tool for music already synced on an iPhone; version 1.1 brought several interface improvements, whilst 1.2 focused on Last.fm support as in-app purchase, and made the app independent from iPod.app in that users could see My Artists’ icon in iOS 4′s multitasking tray.

My Artists 2.0, released today, takes the whole concept a step further to become a full-featured music player and discovery system for all kinds of artists, not just the ones you already know and have on iTunes. Thanks to built-in integration with 8tracks, the “handcrafted Internet radio”, users can now listen to a personalized radio station with easy controls to jump through live-streaming songs from the popular online service. Whereas previous versions of My Artists wanted to put more information about your music at your fingertips — by displaying artists’ bios, related music, and videos — My Artists 2.0 brings actual new music to the mix thanks to an 8tracks button that’s always accessible from the main list view, which as usual pulls beautiful and high-res artist pics and album artworks from the web.

The new control bar in the list view has also got buttons for quick play all and shuffle, surely a welcome addition for those who don’t always want to navigate to an artist’s page to start playing music. Once you hit the 8tracks button, My Artists will open a new window, and start streaming a random playlist within seconds. The playlists are user-generated on 8tracks.com, and you can skip and pause songs with the app’s regular playback controls. Tapping on the album artwork of a song streaming from 8tracks will display an overlay with the playlist’s information, although you can also use the sharing button in the upper right corner to open 8tracks’ website in-app. As with older versions, the sharing button has additional options to “explore” (opens Wikipedia, YouTube, or related artists and genres), open an artist’s profile or album details. And when you check out the details for an album you don’t own or have on your device, that’s where another new feature of 2.0 comes to light: native iTunes Music Store integration.

As you can see in the screenshot, alongside a nice inline playing indicator (available both for local and streaming songs) there’s a blue Buy button next to each song belonging to the album you’re listening to through 8tracks. My Artists 2.0 enables you to preview iTunes Store songs without leaving the app or, alternatively, tap on the purchase button to open iTunes and start downloading right away. No matter how you get to an album or song you don’t own, whether it’s an 8tracks streaming session or Last.fm-based “discovery” for related artists, the app will have an iTunes button next to music you don’t have synced.

Speaking of Last.fm: gone is the in-app purchase from version 1.2. Last.fm scrobbling is now free for every My Artists customer, and it needs to be enabled through a login page the first time you hit the Last.fm button. From there on, My Artists will scrobble songs — be them “local” or coming from 8tracks — to Last.fm.

For me, My Artists 2.0 nears perfection. I still miss the ability of displaying lyrics alongside artists’ bios in the now playing overlay, and it’d be nice to be able to “forward” discovered songs to Rdio or Spotify, besides the iTunes Store. But other than that, for someone who listens to music every day, all day (well, almost), My Artists 2.0 offers a fantastic combination of local music playback (enhanced with better, up-to-date artworks and a fresh UI) and Internet-based discovery.

You can get My Artists 2.0 at $1.99 on the App Store.

My Artists, a nifty iPod-integrated app for the iPhone I first reviewed last year, just received a major update to version 1.2 which, among several improvements to the interface and speed optimizations, turns the app into the ultimate iPod replacement the developer was aiming for since the first release. My Artist, in fact, used to provide a beautiful alternative view for the standard iPod.app installed on every iPhone, but that was nothing more than a custom extra layer that still relied on iPod.app for music playback and controls. Like most “iPod.app controllers” in the App Store, My Artists added a lot of functionalities but was unable to directly control and play music already synced on your device. This changes today, as My Artists 1.2 finally ditches iPod.app dependence, being able to directly play your music. This means you’ll see a My Artists icon in the multitasking tray when using the app, not the iPod app’s one, and yet you won’t have to give up on standard iOS features like AirPlay — which works just fine even without using the native iPod software. I don’t know how Top Drawer Apps did it, but it works — music is now both recognized and played by my Artists.

Version 1.2 also brings Last.fm integration for those willing to scrobble music to the service, but that will cost you $1.99 as in-app purchase. A little last.fm icon in the playing screen will allow you to activate or disable the feature at any time. Speaking of which, the Now Playing view got some interesting updates as well, namely an icon in the upper right to quickly jump to more albums or tracks from the artist you’re already listening to. Alternatively, you can open the (improved) Bio section, which uses Wikipedia to display artist and album info.

My Artists was a great app before this update, now it’s just a must have for heavy mobile music listeners and general music lovers who would like an app focused on artists, albums, and information coming from the web. My Artists can be downloaded at $1.99 from the App Store.

In my review of My Artists for iPhone months ago, I wrote that the app was the ultimate iPod.app replacement for me. It still is, months after its release and with lots of alternative music players available in the App Store. I never deleted My Artists from my device, and I don’t see it going away from that Music folder on my homescreen anytime soon.

My Artists fetches artists and songs already synced to your device and sitting in the iPod app but provides a completely new layout that offers more information thanks to the magic of the Internet. Not only does the app provide better artist profile pics and cover albums, it also lets you check on detailed bios and related artists.

The latest 1.1 update brings several interface improvements, especially in the main list view where the app feels more solid and crisp than ever. You can also shuffle entire albums or artists now — heck, you can even shuffle your entire library from the main view. That’s quite handy. Last, the app’s engine has been update to be faster, and more stable.

My Artists 1.1 is a nice update to an app that is still one of my favorites on the iPhone. Highly recommended. Go download it here.