3 ms·

Ask HN : What do you think of my app - lyrics formatting

4 points by dan_sim 17y ago

SMrF 17y ago
I took a look. Just a few comments: Typo here, I think you meant "you're": "Formats lyrics on your screen to be easy to read while your playing an instrument." It took me a little while to figure out how to create an account. You should probably let people create their own account on your site. It seems redundant but I think it's an accepted convention. I clicked on "try it" and I can't honestly figure out how to do anything. I clicked all over, tried dragging the red bars, tried editing text, etc. Hope that's helpful, and best of luck.
- dan_sim 17y ago
  Thanks for the typo. For the login, I really don't think I will do it. Maybe I'll try to make it clearer but nothing more. If it means that nobody will ever use this tool, I'm ready to live with it. I really don't want to make a lot of money out of it. I basically did it for my own use but thought that I'm surely not the only one with that problem.
  - thinkbohemian 17y ago
    I didn't want to sign up either, maybe a demo link to a video showing how it works, or some screen shots or something. I have no idea what this is, how it works, or what it does...but i'm asked to log in. It is much harder to get users to sign in to something than it is to get them to watch videos, look at pictures, read testimonials. Don't sell you site short by not marketing the sites benefits.
imp 17y ago
I poked around for a bit. I guess I wasn't sure if you have a database of song lyrics, or if I need to type in the lyrics or something. The "try it" demo didn't really explain how it works.
- dan_sim 17y ago
  Thanks, I'll reword a bit.
spokey 17y ago
I'd rewrite this sentence: "To create a user or log in, click on that button", maybe something like "To create an account or log in, click on the button below"? More generally, I don't understand what this app will do for me (and didn't want to give up my credentials to find out). As imp asked, do you have a lyrics database or do I need to key in the lyrics myself? Once I have lyrics, what exactly will the app do for me? Is the answer simply format them into two columns with zebra striping? What happens when there's not enough room on the screen for the full lyrics? (You promised me no more scrolling, does the font just get smaller?) Maybe I'm just not in your target market, but I'm having a hard time understanding the value proposition here. More importantly, while I'm a fan of the MVP approach, your site does not currently inspire much confidence. There's no way I'd give my credit card details to this site if I encountered it in the wild.
JangoSteve 17y ago
I tested it out by clicking try it, and then copying the lyrics that were there and pasting them a few times (to see what happens when there are 3 times as many lyrics). It looks like your app finds repeated sections (or paragraphs) in the lyrics, like choruses, and then is able to abbreviate the repeated occurances after to one grayed-out line. That's pretty cool, but it took way to much work on my part to figure it out. Also, maybe it would be helpful to color-code the different sections (keeping the repeated sections the same color). When I'm playing an instrument, once I get to one of the grayed out parts that indicates it's a repeated section, I then have to hunt back through the sections to find the corresponding unabbreviated section. This is a hassle and kind of negates the benefits of not having to scroll (i.e. it distracts me and makes me pause my playing, just like scrolling does). Other than that, I agree with the other comments that this is an MVP to the extreme, and I would not feel comfortable handing over my credit card info to a site that looks like this.
Deneb006 17y ago
This app is simply awesome. I can't believe almost no one saw its potential. Of course you have to be a musician or else it wont be of any interest. The point is to be able to clearly see the lyrics while you're playing the song with an instrument. Btw, I would love it if there was a place to see the chords. I mean, not the chords above the lyrics but just a little floating box with the basic structure of the song (ex. Chorus : G - D - C, Verse Em - C, Bridge ...)

4 points by dan_sim 17y ago

SMrF 17y ago

I took a look. Just a few comments: Typo here, I think you meant "you're": "Formats lyrics on your screen to be easy to read while your playing an instrument." It took me a little while to figure out how to create an account. You should probably let people create their own account on your site. It seems redundant but I think it's an accepted convention. I clicked on "try it" and I can't honestly figure out how to do anything. I clicked all over, tried dragging the red bars, tried editing text, etc. Hope that's helpful, and best of luck.

dan_sim 17y ago
Thanks for the typo. For the login, I really don't think I will do it. Maybe I'll try to make it clearer but nothing more. If it means that nobody will ever use this tool, I'm ready to live with it. I really don't want to make a lot of money out of it. I basically did it for my own use but thought that I'm surely not the only one with that problem.
- thinkbohemian 17y ago
  I didn't want to sign up either, maybe a demo link to a video showing how it works, or some screen shots or something. I have no idea what this is, how it works, or what it does...but i'm asked to log in. It is much harder to get users to sign in to something than it is to get them to watch videos, look at pictures, read testimonials. Don't sell you site short by not marketing the sites benefits.

imp 17y ago

I poked around for a bit. I guess I wasn't sure if you have a database of song lyrics, or if I need to type in the lyrics or something. The "try it" demo didn't really explain how it works.

dan_sim 17y ago
Thanks, I'll reword a bit.

spokey 17y ago

I'd rewrite this sentence: "To create a user or log in, click on that button", maybe something like "To create an account or log in, click on the button below"? More generally, I don't understand what this app will do for me (and didn't want to give up my credentials to find out). As imp asked, do you have a lyrics database or do I need to key in the lyrics myself? Once I have lyrics, what exactly will the app do for me? Is the answer simply format them into two columns with zebra striping? What happens when there's not enough room on the screen for the full lyrics? (You promised me no more scrolling, does the font just get smaller?) Maybe I'm just not in your target market, but I'm having a hard time understanding the value proposition here. More importantly, while I'm a fan of the MVP approach, your site does not currently inspire much confidence. There's no way I'd give my credit card details to this site if I encountered it in the wild.

JangoSteve 17y ago

I tested it out by clicking try it, and then copying the lyrics that were there and pasting them a few times (to see what happens when there are 3 times as many lyrics). It looks like your app finds repeated sections (or paragraphs) in the lyrics, like choruses, and then is able to abbreviate the repeated occurances after to one grayed-out line. That's pretty cool, but it took way to much work on my part to figure it out. Also, maybe it would be helpful to color-code the different sections (keeping the repeated sections the same color). When I'm playing an instrument, once I get to one of the grayed out parts that indicates it's a repeated section, I then have to hunt back through the sections to find the corresponding unabbreviated section. This is a hassle and kind of negates the benefits of not having to scroll (i.e. it distracts me and makes me pause my playing, just like scrolling does). Other than that, I agree with the other comments that this is an MVP to the extreme, and I would not feel comfortable handing over my credit card info to a site that looks like this.

Deneb006 17y ago

This app is simply awesome. I can't believe almost no one saw its potential. Of course you have to be a musician or else it wont be of any interest. The point is to be able to clearly see the lyrics while you're playing the song with an instrument. Btw, I would love it if there was a place to see the chords. I mean, not the chords above the lyrics but just a little floating box with the basic structure of the song (ex. Chorus : G - D - C, Verse Em - C, Bridge ...)