After I finished writing last week's installment of Free on iTunes I sat back and wondered why I've almost exclusively looked at the free video content on iTunes and all but ignore the other free media available.

I couldn't give myself a good answer. After all, we have other senses that need stimulation; we feel, hear, smell, and taste to varying degrees and it makes sense to seek out anything and everything that is offered up freely at the the iTunes Store that stimulate senses other than sight and sound.

It's kind of like enjoying a glass of fine wine. You marvel at the color and clarity, you enjoy its nose, you analyze the taste, and toast with a click of the glass to ring in some sound.

Here I will focus on aspects of the free media that make it a stand-out, be that in a good way or bad.

So, from now on I will point you to content that's free, any content. And to kick things off I'd like to point you to three free absolutely cool iPhone/iPod touch apps.

Yesterday I was heading back home from several meetings in Albuquerque (Thanks again Debra, Ruben) and I found myself sitting in the Dallas/Ft. Worth airport with a three hour layover, and this particular airport does not offer free WiFi. (I know! They have that silly T-Mobile thing where you have to pay for access. Jeez! I can't tell you how much I hate that!)

I felt like reading something. I had a book with me that I had just finished (Stephen King's Cell. It was a good read.), so I needed something more to read.

Newspaper? No. More bad news and a body can only take so much in one day.

Magazine? A possibility, but they are so full of ads these days that you can hardly find the articles.

Then I remembered that I had my trusty iPhone and an application called Stanza, an e-book reader you can get free from the iTunes Store.

There are other e-book readers available, but what stands Stanza apart from the others is its breath of available material you can get for free of for purchase. Bestsellers, magazine and newspapers subscriptions, and so much more paid content is there for you to choose and download where ever you happen to be.

There's also a boatload of free content as well: Paradise Lost, Alice in Wonderland, and The Art of War are among other timeless classics.

But wait... that's not all. You can get books that are the basis of recent Hollywood hits, FOR FREE!

How about The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, the one that Brad Pitt and Taraji Henson starred in? Free!

War of the Worlds, that movie featuring Tom Cruise and Dakota Fanning?

Yep, it's free, but the book version is much better.

The list goes on: I, Robot, Pride and Prejudice, Dracula, Frankenstein (pronounced, "Fraunk-en-STEEN"), and more. Heck, if you've been to the movies in the last five years you likely watched something based on one of the free books available to Stanza.

And you might not think it, but the iPhone is a pretty decent e-book platform. The screen is smallish, but you can enlarge the font so you can read comfortably (even without glasses for some folks), you can reverse text and back ground so as to reduce eye strain, and navigation is as easy as touching the screen.

Now, I ask you, how cool is that?

Me? I grabbed In the Year 2898 by Jukes Verne (free!). Before I knew it I was boarding my plan. Life can be good.

Get Stanza.

Another prime freebie app is iTalk from Griffin Technology.

Again, there are other free recording applications, and some nice paid one too, but I like iTalk because it has a clean interface and is nearly idiot-proof.

To record, just press the big red button. Press it again (it's now green) to stop recording. Press "done" to finish the session and save.

Play back is a cinch as well. And when you want to move your recording to your Mac or PC you can use the free iTalk Sync app, also from Griffin, to move the files.

The sound quality is first rate and adjustable, and each recording is timed and dated for easy reference. It's a nice little app that comes in handy.

Grab iTalk at the App Store. Can you believe this is free?

OK, everybody needs a time waster. You know, something that's completely useless, has no intellectual or socially redeeming value, and exists purely for the sake of existing. I know a few people that fit that description, but we won't talk about them here.

What we will talk about is iSlots, a slot machine app for your iPhone or iPod Touch.

What's so great about iSlots? I honestly don't know, but I play this game whenever I get a free minute or whenever I want to clear my head. It's like a topical anesthetic, it numbs the mind temporarily using spinning wheels, flashing lights and a chance to win virtual money.

Bet up to three coins and spin, and if the objects are stop exactly on the payline you get paid. It's got to be dead center of you get zip. Scroll to the top of the machine to see what the payouts are. The slot machine keeps a running tab.

I don't think this machine is set up like those in Vegas because my current total is over 7300 credits. I don't think that would happen in Vegas.

You can stop exist the game and come back later and your credit remains.

Waste time. Get iSlots.

And on that note this week's Free on iTunes is a wrap.

Next week I'm going to mix it up a little, so stay tuned.

More free stuff below (with direct links):

Vern Seward is a writer who currently lives in Orlando, FL. He’s been a Mac fan since Atari Computers folded, but has worked with computers of nearly every type for 20 years.