6 Essential Apps for Your iPad

According to PCWorld, here are six of the most essential iPad apps to have in your arsenal. And for those on a tight budget or without any extra money at all, the following programs won't cost you a dime to download.

ABC Player

Much like the Netflix app, the free ABC Player app for iPad truly feels like the future. ABC Digital’s app lets you watch recent episodes from two dozen ABC primetime and daytime shows on your iPad, without paying a cent or breaking the law. It’s excellent. [Download via Macworld]

Epicurious Recipes & Shopping List

This app from award-winning food site Epicurious.com features over 28,000 delicious, professionally tested recipes from world renowned magazines, popular cookbooks, top chefs, and leading restaurants. The app works on both the iPhone and iPad, giving you an experience optimized for whichever device you're currently using. This next-generation kitchen companion enables food lovers to search for great recipes, create interactive shopping lists, and follow step-by-step, stove-side instructions. [Download via Macworld]

IMDB Movies & TV

IMDb is the world's largest collection of movie, TV and celebrity information. IMDb is also currently the leading app in the Apple gadget family to find US showtimes, watch trailers, browse photo galleries, get US TV listings, find the latest DVD releases, explore popular charts, and share movie info. Their ultimate goal is to list every detail about every movie and TV show ever made. [Download via Macworld]

Kayak Flights

The cost of air-transportation has gone sky-high and everyone but the most well-heeled seeks ways to save a buck when flying. Kayak.com provides one avenue for doing just that with its free iPad app. Kayak Flights is simple to use. Just tap the From and To fields to enter your departure and destination points, choose the dates you’ll depart and return, set a few On/Off options (One-way, Include Nearby Airpots, Prefer Nonstop), set the number of passengers and flight class (Economy, Business, or First), and tap Search. In short order, Kayak Flights produces a list of available flights. [Download via Macworld]

Kindle

Amazon.com has converted its free Kindle app for iPhone into a universal app with the launch of the iPad. Kindle for iPad excels because of its visual customization ability, and its overall simplicity. You can tweak the screen to your liking, and then simply read. While the free Kindle handles only books you purchase from Amazon, it also lets you jot onscreen notes while reading and lets you choose between standard, sepia, and nighttime (grey text on black) page displays. And, of course, Amazon offers far, far more books right now than Apple's iBookStore. [Download via Macworld]

Netflix

If you've got a Netflix unlimited membership and haven't downloaded the free Netflix app for the iPad, head on over to the App Store this instant. With Netflix installed on your iPad, you get access to the thousands of movies and TV shows available from the video rental service's 'Watch Instantly' service. The Netflix iPad app lets you manage your account, report problems, and update your DVD and Instant queues. It supports streaming over both Wi-Fi and 3G connections, and the video quality is pretty impressive over the former. (It's less impressive over 3G due to bandwidth issues.) Whether at home or on the road, Netflix ensures that entertainment is never more than a tap or two away. [Download via Macworld]