Mail of the Month - March

One of the interesting things with writing software that people actually use (as opposed to what many of us programmers do for a living) is the mails. I get ideas, problem reports, feature requests and questions on a daily basis. Keep it coming!
I will collect some useful or otherwise interesting conversations under the Mail of the Month headline. With a little luck and some input from you it may result in an interesting FAQ.
The first mail I'll publish here is a little special. As some of you may have noticed, the GoodVibrations app is extremely simple, but at least I put some effort into the Market description. I tried to be funny, making up some pretty unlikely use cases. Or so I thought, until I got this mail:

I would like it if the vibrations widget would keep vibrating after the screen times out or is locked.
My father paints houses and his new phone is waterproof. I was thinking that if he dropped this phone in a bucket of paint he could rinse it off but it might be hard to get the paint out of the tiny microphone and speakers holes and maybe the crevices. So after quickly rinsing most of the paint off in the sink or with a hose, he could set it to vibrate and put it in a bucket of water for 5 or 10 minutes. It would probably work like an ultrasonic cleaner but slower and dissolve the paint.

Why didn't I think of that...

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Da Da Da for suits

So, the day after Amazon Appstore approved Fakebook, it is time for another app, another market and another platform! Today the BlackBerry Playbook version of VL-Tone was released on the BlackBerry App World.

No big deal really, the functionality, look and sound of the synth is the same as before. That is, the same as the original Casio calculator from the early eighties. Nevertheless, it will be interesting to see what the more business oriented BlackBerry audience can do with it.

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The Real Fakebook

Well, it definitely took a lot longer than expected to get this app ready, approved and published on Amazon. But now it is time to proudly present:  the Real Fakebook.

• All the tunes you need – in the pocket.
• Preloaded with chord progressions for more than a thousand classic jazz standards (perfectly legal, as it is chords only – no melodies).
• Import songs from other programs.
• Include pictures from the phone's camera.
• More than 1500 Spotify and YouTube links to classical recordings of the preloaded songs.
• Compact, only 600 kB for app and 1200 songs.

I know you love your well-worn Real Book, doggy-eared at all the right places, sharpie-corrected at all the wrong, stained with coffee and beer...
Still, the Fakebook gives you all the tunes you need. In the pocket. And it even looks like The Real Thing.
Fakebook comes preloaded with chord progressions for more than a thousand of the classic jazz standards from The Real Book ed 1,2,3,4,5... Easily add and edit your own songs or import from other formats (e.g. iReal b / iRealBook). Include your precious originals or paper-napkin fakesheets using the phone's camera, import stored photos or scans from the web.

Fakebook is the ultimate tool for practicing. The app includes more than 1500 Spotify and YouTube links for the preloaded jazz standards. Add your favourite links or stored mp3 to any song. Or use the built-in metronome, which synchronizes to the tempo you choose.

Compared with other similar apps:

• Chord syntax, style, font and looks like the original Real Books.
• Extremely compact (the app including 1200 songs is only about 600 kB).
• Local storage, no Internet access needed.
• Low requirements on resources, no strange permissions.
• Runs on almost all phones and pads with Andoid 1.6 or above.

You get all this for the lowest price currently allowed on the Android Market. Why? Because I want as many as possible to try it out and provide feedback. Because I need help with deciding what songs to add (yes, I take requests). And because there is a long list of features that will be added, I may need help with prioritizing:

• Song lists.
• Transposing.
• Integrated editor.
• Zooming/adjustable font size.
• More import formats (abc, xml, ChordPro, others?)
• AirTurn wireless pager support
• ...?

For each upgrade and major new feature added, the price will increase. But, of course, all this will come free for those that download now and help with input to the further development. The introductory price on Amazon will also be used on Android Market and Google Play once published there, but for a few weeks this is an exclusive Amazon app.

Please note: Fakebook is completely legal as the bundled songs are chord progressions only, intended for jazz improvisation. The app does not contain any copyrighted material, such as melody lines. Skrivarna Software strongly support musicians and composers rights to get paid!

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