From 1950 to 2010, the average American shopping experience didn’t change all that much. Grocery stores have always had aisles and always had cooler sections for frozen foods. They have always had large parking lots out front for cars. Shoppers have always found recipes at home or took cookbooks into the store, they have always made lists, and they have always compared prices manually.

Now there is a shopping revolution occurring. The revolution is subtle; it isn’t in the aisles, or in the parking lots, or in shoppers’ homes. In fact, the shopping revolution is in the shoppers’ hands.

The rise of smartphones has completely changed the dynamics of the shopping experience. Shoppers no longer need to spend time leafing through a cookbook to find a recipe and writing down a list that will invariably get lost or forgotten in the car. Now, all shoppers have to do is open an app or three and they have all of the information they need.

Here are five apps a shopper needs if they want to maximize their shopping speed and efficiency:

RedLaser
RedLaser is a very useful scanner app. Not only does it have a scanning function for four different types of barcodes, it is also a QR reader. On top of that, whenever a shopper scans an item with RedLaser, the app searches the web to compare prices. It also has the ability to store information about the user’s favorite products so the user can access up to date prices quickly. RedLaser is free, and available for iPhone, Android, and Windows Phone.

Yelp
No matter the establishment, Yelp provides an assortment of detailed, consumer-written reviews with the press of a button. It is one of the most popular review sites, and the app demonstrates why with its easy to use interface. As with RedLaser, Yelp is free and available for each of the three major smartphone operating systems.

Epicurious
Epicurious is the Swiss Army Knife of recipe apps. It allows shoppers to find previously tested recipes online, save them, and share them on social media sites. Shoppers can convert the recipes to grocery lists, or even print them using an app for HP Printers. Epicurious is available for Android, iPhone, and Windows, as well as select tablets and e-readers, and is free. However, for a one-time fee, users gain the ability to share their saved and “favorited” recipes with all of their devices.

Foodswitch
Foodswitch allows shoppers to scan the barcode of a food they are thinking about buying and obtain healthier or more diet-appropriate alternatives. Users of the app can select from the Classic option, which is more general, or specifically attempt to reduce their salt or gluten intakes. Free for Android and iPhone.

Shopular
Shopular is an app that registers a shopper’s location and finds coupons and deals offered by the store they are currently in. When the app user enters a store, Shopular uses their phone’s location settings to register that and immediately searches for promotions and discounts. Free for Android and iPhone.

All five of these apps are extremely useful for any shopper, and are sure to make shopping easier, faster, and less expensive. Download them for free and try them out.

Most of us are familiar with the big players in the smartphone music app game—Pandora, iTunes radio, Spotify—but these are only the tip of the mobile music iceberg. While these apps are great for streaming music, they lack little to no additional functionality. For that reason, we’ve found five of the best music related apps to supplement your library or streaming service of choice.

1) Songkick

Songkick is for the concertgoer in all of us. It can be frustrating following each of your favorite bands individually, getting email updates every time they’re doing a show regardless of whether it’s in your city, or even your time zone. With songkick, not only do you receive the added benefit of cleaning up your inbox, but the app does all of the concert hunting work for you. Songkick syncs with your personal library or Spotify account, and tracks your music preferences to provide you with personalized alerts about concerts near you. As a matter of fact, I just bought tickets (and cheap tickets at that!) to a performance by a new favorite band of mine that I otherwise would not have known about. Songkick is both fiscally sane and hassle free, so this is a must have for anyone who enjoys a good concert every now and then.

2) Stezza

Stezza is an app any responsible driver/DJ should have in their arsenal. Most of us are guilty of spending a bit too long looking down at our phone or mp3 player in the car, trying to change the song because we can’t seem to hit the play or skip button just right. If you’re reading this, you’ve been lucky enough to have avoided any accidents as a result of the poorly sized play icons (read: your fat fingers). In all seriousness, however, DJing while driving can be a serious safety issue, which is why we recommend Stezza. For only $0.99 you can pause, play, and skip at ease with icons your grandparents would appreciate. (Not to mention you can customize the background color to match your ride.)

3) Listen

For those of you who prefer your bike to a car (or, because you don’t have one), Listen may be the app for you. With this app, you don’t even have to look at the screen to play, pause, or skip. The entire app is gesture-based, meaning you swipe left or right to skip, swipe up to add a song to your favorites list, down to access your library, and a simple tap to pause/play. You can even share music on your favorite social media sites by dragging the center button to the upper right corner. And, this one is free so you can put the money you save toward that hybrid you’ve been eyeing.

4) Djay 2

Djay 2 is for the DJ on the go (or the one that would rather not haul their equipment to every party their friends ask them to be the DJ). I’m not going to pretend to understand the lingo here, but this app has been entirely redesigned and is apparently pretty great. Now, users can switch to waveform view, which pretty much any professional DJ prefers, in order to make song-matching easier. Plus, for $1.99 we can all pretend to be professional DJs (and impress that cute girl at the party).

5) CanOpener

CanOpener is for the slightly more sophisticated audiophile. If you’re satisfied with the quality of sound coming out of your iPhone earbuds, this app, at $4.99, probably isn’t for you. However, any respectable sound expert will tell you that what you are hearing is an abomination. That’s where CanOpener comes in. The app gives listeners increased control over the crossfeed, equalizer, and dosimeter settings on your music device. Also, by selecting the type of headphones you’re using and a specific preset based on the current song or type of songs you’re listening to, you can increase the depth, pull up the highs, or bring out the bass. (Now that’s music to a sound snob’s ears.)

Whether you’re a recreational music listener, or are looking for something to up your mobile music game, there’s an app for that.