Songtext: Lyrics done right

[Elo Everidge]

Yay, Apple just released Songtext, my first app. Songtext brings you the lyrics to the songs you are listening to in your iPod app. Launch Songtext while a song is playing and it automatically downloads the lyrics. There are a few other apps that do this similarly but I think its smooth iPod-like UI and full playback controls make Songtext quite unique at the moment: no need to switch back to the iPod app to skip to the next song or turn on Shuffle.

$0.99 at the moment, might increase later (depending on sales). Check it out at http://songtextapp.com.

Songtext downloads lyrics from the huge database at http://lyricwiki.org (700,000+ songs).

 

[GoCubsGo]

Yay, Apple just released Songtext, my first app. Songtext brings you the lyrics to the songs you are listening to in your iPod app. Launch Songtext while a song is playing and it automatically downloads the lyrics. There are a few other apps that do this similarly but I think its smooth iPod-like UI and full playback controls make Songtext quite unique at the moment: no need to switch back to the iPod app to skip to the next song or turn on Shuffle.

$0.99 at the moment, might increase later (depending on sales). Check it out at http://songtextapp.com.

Songtext downloads lyrics from the huge database at http://lyricwiki.org (700,000+ songs).

I am going to try this I think just because I was thinking about it the other day. However, may I caution you to revise your statement in bold?

Determining price based on sales seems to be a bit twuntish. If you're going to increase your price then you may as well say you'll be adding additional features instead of insinuating that if sales are good or bad (it's assumed that you will raise the price if they're good) then you may raise your price. I don't like this sort of behavior and frankly if you raise your price if the app sells well without giving additional features then rest assured the public will speak out against that.


Edit: Can you view any previously viewed lyrics offline?

 

[Elo Everidge]

Determining price based on sales seems to be a bit twuntish. If you're going to increase your price then you may as well say you'll be adding additional features instead of insinuating that if sales are good or bad (it's assumed that you will raise the price if they're good) then you may raise your price. I don't like this sort of behavior and frankly if you raise your price if the app sells well without giving additional features then rest assured the public will speak out against that.

Jessica, thanks for your reply. You're right, I should have explained this better. Actually, my thinking was the other way around: if sales go well I might as well leave the price at $0.99 but if I only sell a handful of copies a day even at $0.99, I'd rather (a) increase the price to $2.99 or so in the hope that the handful of people will still buy, or (b) make the app free, realizing that's a tough call too because I might offend my early customers.

Since this is my first app, I have no idea how the response from customers will be and I'm very excited to find out. With my statement above, I wanted to say that this is all a big experiment for me (as it is for many independent developers on the App Store). I did not want to call the $0.99 an "introductory price" because I haven't got a firm schedule if and when I was going to increase it (and by how much). It might very possibly stay at $0.99 forever.

And yes, more features are planned, regardless of the price I am going to settle on eventually. But you are correct: I should avoid a price increase without adding new features, and I promise you I will. Sorry for the wrong impression.

I'm not going to revise my post above (if only to document the discussion) but I'm definitely going to think about this (and my sales verbiage).

Can you view any previously viewed lyrics offline?

Yes, Songtext caches previously downloaded lyrics. By default, it will try to update cached lyrics if a week (or a day, or a month; this is configurable) has passed since the last update but even if you're not connected to a network at that time, you will still have the "old" lyrics.

 

[sparkomatic]

Cool app. Thanks for sharing it.

Just so I understand, this won't sync the lyrics back to iTunes though, right? I'm guessing that's the case since I saw a cache setting in a screenshot.

 

[BittenApple]

Thanks for sharing you App. I'll take a look at it, I been looking for an App like this.

 

[Macjames]

Congratulations, this is a very nice app. Its very quick on my 3GS which is a bonus and it saves me using safari to find the lyrics, i'll leave you some positive feedback on iTunes UK store.

 

[Elo Everidge]

Cool app. Thanks for sharing it.

Just so I understand, this won't sync the lyrics back to iTunes though, right? I'm guessing that's the case since I saw a cache setting in a screenshot.

Thanks! Unfortunately, you are correct. Apple does not give developers write access to the iPod library on the iPhone so there is now way to sync the lyrics back. I hope that changes sometime.

 

[Elo Everidge]

Congratulations, this is a very nice app. Its very quick on my 3GS which is a bonus and it saves me using safari to find the lyrics, i'll leave you some positive feedback on iTunes UK store.

Thanks a lot Macjames. Much appreciated. I'd love to hear your feedback or feature requests once you have used Songtext a little longer.

 

[GoCubsGo]

Cool app. Thanks for sharing it.

Just so I understand, this won't sync the lyrics back to iTunes though, right? I'm guessing that's the case since I saw a cache setting in a screenshot.

Apple's SDK prohibits this.

To the developer: look at your competition with regards to the $2.99 price point. I've purchased it at .99¢ myself, but for the future, it would seem that all other apps like this hover around .99¢.

 

[Macjames]

Thanks a lot Macjames. Much appreciated. I'd love to hear your feedback or feature requests once you have used Songtext a little longer.

No problem, i tested it on a lot of songs both old and new and it worked very quickly finding 99% of them (the one it did not find was very obscure so i do not mind at all) it even found one not in the english language and one that is in an old video game.

 

[WhoDatWayne]

This is a great App! I have tried it on several songs old and new-worked everytime so far.

 

[Switz213]

Good app, but I would just download any of hundreds of programs that grab lyrics from lyricwiki and auto add them to your itunes library. That way you always have them, and in your iPod itself. Plus they are free. You can leave it running overnight if you have a big library.

I thought about writing an app like this though, so good luck!

 

[Elo Everidge]

This is a great App! I have tried it on several songs old and new-worked everytime so far.

Thank you SaintsMac. I'm glad it works well for you.

Good app, but I would just download any of hundreds of programs that grab lyrics from lyricwiki and auto add them to your itunes library. That way you always have them, and in your iPod itself. Plus they are free. You can leave it running overnight if you have a big library.
I thought about writing an app like this though, so good luck!

That method is certainly the most flexible. And thanks for the good wishes.

 

[UrFatMom]

Bought. Super cool app. Thks

 

[psywzrd]

This app is no longer available for some reason (not sure why). I'm glad I got it when I did but it sucks that there won't be any updates and that nobody else can get it now.

Are there any similar apps?

 

[LoganT]

This app is no longer available for some reason (not sure why). I'm glad I got it when I did but it sucks that there won't be any updates and that nobody else can get it now.

Are there any similar apps?

TuneWiki

 

[GoCubsGo]

This app is no longer available for some reason (not sure why). I'm glad I got it when I did but it sucks that there won't be any updates and that nobody else can get it now.

Are there any similar apps?

I hope the developer comments asap. I bought the app and I like it.

 

[Daremo]

Is it possible to set it up so you can at least email the lyrics to yourself, to save them later?

 

[psywzrd]

Is it possible to set it up so you can at least email the lyrics to yourself, to save them later?

I'm not sure if you're specifically asking about Songtext but I don't see any easy way to do it. You can copy and paste the lyrics into an email though so I guess that's better than nothing. It would be nice if there was an automated way to do it instead, but like someone mentioned earlier, there are programs that can grab the lyrics for you and add them to your library automatically. I wonder how much space that would take up though. Plus, how would you even see the lyrics when you're listening to music on your iphone or Touch?

 

[xsecretfiles]

Songtext Lyrics is no longer available on the App Store. Unfortunately, this also means that there will be no updates for existing users, either. Sorry


I feel sorry for those who bought it, man but http://appshopper.com/music/tunewiki

is way better and has more functionality into it....plus it's FREE

 

[habubauza]

I tried tunewiki but took it off my iphone because it didn't work properly for most of the songs. I did record a video when it was working though..

http://www.vimeo.com/5832214

 

[Elo Everidge]

This app is no longer available for some reason (not sure why). I'm glad I got it when I did but it sucks that there won't be any updates and that nobody else can get it now.

Are there any similar apps?

I am sorry to disappoint existing customers and potential buyers. I have removed the app from the App Store because it is not entirely clear (to me) whether the music industry likes this usage of lyrics or not. And no matter how convinced I might be that my app does nothing wrong, I just do not like the idea of living for months or years with the risk of an argument with the music industry.

Similar lyrics apps that I know of: Lyrical (free version available) and Lyrics+ for example. TuneWiki is also an alternative but has a totally different approach.

 

[Daremo]

I am sorry to disappoint existing customers and potential buyers. I have removed the app from the App Store because it is not entirely clear (to me) whether the music industry likes this usage of lyrics or not. And no matter how convinced I might be that my app does nothing wrong, I just do not like the idea of living for months or years with the risk of an argument with the music industry.

Similar lyrics apps that I know of: Lyrical (free version available) and Lyrics+ for example. TuneWiki is also an alternative but has a totally different approach.

So the removal was elective? I thought you may have been shut down for some reason. This is even worse for those who gave you money. Isn't there a moral obligation to pay back the people who paid you for this?

Why not just pull the App IF the time came and the industry had issue? Basically the app is a search engine that displays lyrics pulled from someone else's dedicated sever. Those servers hosting the lyrics would be the first to go, long before an iPhone App, and that's even IF anyone would care. Your app was pretty safe.

 

[brn2ski00]

Can you cut/copy/paste the lyrics? That would be awesome for me - I like to post lyrics on FB/Twitter - songs that I enjoy.

 

[Elo Everidge]

Isn't there a moral obligation to pay back the people who paid you for this?

You know, I don't even have the possibility of paying you back since I don't know who my customers are. Only Apple does. But as far as I know, there is a "Report a problem" button in the App Store that you can use to tell Apple about your concerns and ask for a refund. Regarding my moral obligation, I believe I did deliver a decent value to most buyers for the price of 99 cents (let's not forget the amount we are talking about here). The app does not stop working just because it's not available any more. But I will certainly not stand in your way if you choose to ask Apple for a refund.