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The pricing model is confusing at first and not very clear until you start trying to use the app (tried the macOS version for now). The App Store description do
by ics 3y ago
The pricing model is confusing at first and not very clear until you start trying to use the app (tried the macOS version for now). The App Store description does not mention the subscription and what features it unlocks, and in the app it doesn't trigger until you try to play a song. If you dismiss the window, you actually have to go back to playing a song (and wait) to see it again as there isn't a settings pane or other trigger just to see the subscription page. A few suggestions on that front:
- Put the pricing either on a splash window after opening for the first time OR in a message tile on the library screen
- Include certain (full) songs in the free version and give them a badge of some sort ("free", "included", etc.)
- Put a badge in the toolbar indicating whether you are in a free or paid mode
- Make it clear if a subscription is valid for iOS *and* macOS or if they are separate (2x the cost) (edit: downloaded on iOS and it's not limiting anything so it must be a universal subscription. Put that early in the description for sure.)
I put a piano in my apartment in 2020, the year the app appears to have been first released. Several people in my household were looking for something exactly like this to practice and never came across it, though we did get suckered into a few $10/month or $75/year subscriptions for other things that ended up barely getting used. If the pricing stays the same but is much clearer to people I believe you could get decent conversion from a little bit of targeted advertising.
Besides that, the import dialog could be less spartan. It is not indicated in the app itself that it takes MIDI files only. Normal users may not know what a MIDI file is at first but you might be surprised at how many would learn and go seek those if given a tiny bit of guidance. Tons of non-technical people have learned to get their hands on playable guitar tabs the same way.
As for the playing interface, I like it quite a bit. Plenty of people will comment about how anything getting in the way of becoming an expert in sight reading is somehow evil (hyperbole) but this is silly. I could easily recommend this app to friends who played Guitar Hero as kids and now want to play along to stuff on the piano or keyboard– hey, we all got older and maybe acquired more "mature" instruments with black and white keys. I used to read standard sheet music for chamber/orchestra but it's been years and frankly it's the least important skill for the type of music that I play. However I do have a piano and once in a while want to play something without getting into a lesson on sheet music especially since what I used to read had far less range than a piano.
App Store note: searching for "piano tabs" the app doesn't show up even after a lot of scrolling. "piano tabs learning & practice" finds it as the top result. I am a fan of the plain name; it's short and self-explanatory to the point that I imagine people do randomly search those terms without knowing about your app. That should be a good thing but in practice it seems the discoverability isn't there which is worth looking into.
- ics 3y agoSome suggestions and features based on personal preference, so I'm putting in a separate comment. - Put an "Import MIDI file" button in the Imported Files section - Star or bookmark icon, pick one for favorites. Currently one is used on the library screen and a different one in the song view. - Sidebar for the different sections with hide/show toggle, for example I don't like to scroll through stacked Sections and don't really care to see Recents at all - Options for thumbnail, tab display could be one but some variations would be interesting: - Color based on tempo - Dot-based graphic (primarily aesthetic, but recognizable at a glance) - Size S/M/L option which assigns per section - Tags for tracks, ideally color-codable. Maybe I want to tag something "mastered", or "difficult", "somber", etc. - After entering the search box, escape key or outside click should dismiss and return to the home layout. Currently the sections get reorganized, Favorites and Recents disappear and Pieces shows up at the bottom, but I can't get back without closing the app. - "Choose Random" button to open a piece - Composer interface, create new pieces from scratch or modify from the library using something similar to the playing interface (n.b. a decent interface for this if no keyboard/midi-in would be present a 1+-octave keyboard with some modifiers, so multiple key taps can create individual notes, optional rest interval, or extend a continuous note. Row-level actions so you can duplicate creating repeats, shift up/down, etc. Slight differences between macOS/iOS.) - Allow user editable text, emoji, or color highlight in the play scroll. Noting a section of the piece is one obvious use but it could be handy for several uses. - (semi serious) watch integration to vibrate on tempo. - Music box mode, notes only play as you scroll (I see you did this actually. My daughter is gonna love this...)
- jacobp100 3y agoThanks again for the suggestions! What OS were you using where you couldn't get out of the search page? On the main page, the layout is altered so there's no duplication on results - but if you exit the search interface, it'll go back Also note you can press the chevron to the left of a section to collapse it, and it'll remember that setting
- ics 3y agoOn macOS 13.5, entering the search shows no obvious way to end/return. However I just pressed Enter and that took me back, which was unexpected. So it works, just oddly mapped I think. On iOS the search+cancel is just fine. For the sections, I noticed that but still find it odd that the home library view doesn't actually show me... the full library. You have to discover pieces by composer which I missed at first. BTW, there is a typo on both mac/iOS versions where the header is missing an r in "Lib[*r]ary".