SongBook on iPad

ukunuke

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This is undoubtedly old news for many of you, but I just finally got busy loading songs into SongBook on my iPad and I couldn't be happier with the app. Larry Wyatt of the Hapa Hillbillies got me interested in using it, and it's simply great. I've moved my songs from Chordie, converted some others from .txt files, and overall, my life with the ukes just got much more portable. Functionality is great - it's nice to have easy key transposition, scrolling and direct search to the internet capability. Just thought I'd share my enthusiasm!

(oh, and you can increase the font size and it's also available for the iPhone for those of you young folks who can still see :))
 
It's my main song storage. Easy transpose to a key that suits you. It displays the finger charts on the side if you want and easy editing of song. Some songs have odd chords, some not enough. Quick fix here.

I highly recommend it too.

Also copy PDFs to iBooks.

(ps. Always back up!)
 
I am talking about ChordPro's Songbook myself.
1. SongBook Chordpro: $5.99 by LinkeSOFT, excellent ratings

2. Chordpro SongBook: "Free" (with in-app purchases) by Lauer/Teuber, mediocre ratings

I assume you guys are using the first one. I hate someone (#2) copying the name like that.
 
I use a 7" Pandigital Novel Android Tablet I got at Big!Lots for $77. I have 12 large PDF songbooks loaded into it. It has built in WiFi, so you can get on the web wherever Wifi is available. It will work with a mobile hotspot if you have one. You can search the web get on Facebook and E-Mail and other sites. It does get YouTube with a Free app from the SlideMe Market. It will play MP4 video. It uses the Slide Market Place, but not the Google Android Market Place. My main purchase motivator for this tablet was to load my songbooks/sheet music into it for viewing. It handles that task very well, with great resolution and visibility due to bright backlighting. You can also download APK App files from other sites on the web. If your Big!Lots is out of them, you can get low priced Android Tablets at http://www.geeks.com/products.asp?cat=TAB&sort=ASC . While this is not a sophisticated tablet with cameras and recording studios, it certainly lets one get rid of the burdon of lugging large songbooks around. It also comes with a stand (for horizontal or vertical mounting), an A/C adaptor and a USB to Mini USB cable (to connect to your computer). The full color display adds to your web surfing enjoyment. Ric
 
SongBook Chordpro is what I'm using. The best $5.99 I've spent on an app.

1. SongBook Chordpro: $5.99 by LinkeSOFT, excellent ratings

2. Chordpro SongBook: "Free" (with in-app purchases) by Lauer/Teuber, mediocre ratings

I assume you guys are using the first one. I hate someone (#2) copying the name like that.
 
Can you import songs or do you have to type in the lyrics and chord symbols? It looked like there was some type of import function, but it wasn't clear to me.
 
I'm another fan of Songbook ChordPro. I work regularly with a folk singer, and have a binder full of charts that she's printed out and given me. I spent a good amount of time converting them, but it was so worth it. The organizational functions of the app alone are enough to have me happy; I have my own "songbook" of her originals and covers at my finger tips. Making a set list is a piece of cake as well.

All in all, I couldn't be happier.
 
I use a 7" Pandigital Novel Android Tablet I got at Big!Lots for $77.
Hey Ric did you see the mic stand holder I made for my tablet on another post. I am going to check out Big Lots. I figure these tables got to be getting cheaper and for displaing music they are perfect. I'll put a going to try this pedal to advance the page on mine.
 
Can you import songs or do you have to type in the lyrics and chord symbols? It looked like there was some type of import function, but it wasn't clear to me.
If you find a song on the Internet using the built in search function you can import the song into SongBook (SongBook Chordpro: $5.99). It works very well with chordie.com. You can also sync via Dropbox if you already have ChordPro songs on your computer.
 
Very cool I wonder if it works for iPod touch

Yes, it does. I send pdf files to my email, open the email on my ipod touch, then open the file and it can get saved to ibooks, which works. Another way is to do it in Itunes, you put the songs in your Books and then have that Book downloaded to your ipod touch during syncing.
 
I've been using songbook for six months or so and love it. So far I have several hundred songs loaded. What I like best are its ability to change keys, edit arrangements, display chords (for those I'm still learning), link to mp3 songs I have loaded (especially nice when learning Hawaiian songs), scrolling the text while playing, and the playlist function.

I've been frustrated with trying to load songs through Dropbox although I'm sure that's operator error - anyone have a clue? I have the songs in the Dropbox but they don't show up on the iPad. I do have the auto sync turned on and songs loaded on the iPad show up in Dropbox and transfer to my iPod touch. Then I can use my Touch when my wife takes the iPad on a trip.

Flexibility and functionality are the key. I have PDF songs loaded into iBooks as backup and for songs I don't have in Songbook but hardly ever use them.
 
I use a 7" Pandigital Novel Android Tablet I got at Big!Lots for $77
Although I'm sure these lower priced tablets work great for some people, I'll just note that a 7" screen is less than half the size (by area) of a 9.7" screen. I think that a majority of people would have trouble figuring out how to actually get songs into a non-iPad tablet. Finally, there's a significant difference between simply viewing PDF chord sheets and the full feature set offered by SongBook Chordpro.

As is true with many things in life, cheap is not always the best value. There's a reason the market is flooded with sub-$200 tablets that are not selling as well as the "expensive" iPad. The ukulele equivalent is trying to find a Lanikai LU-21T vs any K-brand Tenor. JMO. YMMV. No disrespect intended towards any person or manufacturer. :)
 
Is there any way to share a song library with others, say like through the forum? The app sounds interesting, but it sounds like a bit of work compiling the songs from other sources.
 
I think that's the beauty of the $5.99 SongBook app. There are multiple ways of importing your songs, including using .txt files if all else fails. It just takes some working with it. I've had the app for several months and finally had the time yesterday to really get it set up. I am finding that for some of my songs, I'm looking on the internet for .pro or .chordpro versions, just because the transfer is so easy and I can look up in the app itself. A darn handy option. I haven't yet tried linking the songs to the songs in my iTunes library - that's next weekend! Good luck all . . .
 
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