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Show HN: I finally released that sheet music app I keep yammering about

etudeapp.com

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Re: Show HN: I finally released that sheet music app I keep yammering about

#91

Post by gridspy »

tvon wrote: post #65
dangrover wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Luckily, I have a precise answer to this because I have this weird habit of tracking every minute of my time on my own projects. Here's the breakdown on Etude in hh:mm Actual iPhone app: 210:11 Song converter: 72:52 Store (UI + server side): 82:23 Building site and designing marketing materials: 44:52 I did most of the work, but I did contract some of the graphics I had trouble with to a designer, and I've taken some…

OT, but how did you get into that time tracking habit and what do you use to track your time? (not) Properly tracking my time is my biggest weakness.

NB: Not the OP

Personally I track time using Excel. I have a table of start time, end time and a category and desc.

I set up a macro to create a new row, another to create a new task after the previous. It takes me about 5 seconds to "start working" and about 30 seconds to "end" and type in a desc.

It's great later when you need to have precise timing to see if you hit your estimates. I got into the habit when I was developing custom firmware on contract at Technman.

I see it as a huge motivator. I don't track time when I am not working - so it highlights for me the holes in my productivity when I slip.

Re: Show HN: I finally released that sheet music app I keep yammering about

#92

Post by WesleyJohnson »

I don't have an iPhone or iPod Touch, so I can only comment based on the video on your site - but this is ridiculously awesome. The app as well as the store and website look very professional, which is a big selling point for me when I do purchase apps. If the marketing website looks sub-par, I tend to assume the app will be as well. Perhaps not a fair assumption, but it's just the way my mind works.

Being that I play the keyboard/piano a little, but can't read sheet music I have one idea: search for webpianoteacher or shawncheekeasy on YouTube and watch a lesson or two of his. He teaches piano in way that is akin to "tabs" for guitar players. This is how I learn what little bit I do know. I don't know if the audience would be big enough to spend the time adding this as an option or if it would be even be feasible, but I thought it worth a mention.

Kudos on what appears to be a job well done and best of luck with the sales. If I end up getting an iPad, I'll be looking for an iPad version without question.

Re: Show HN: I finally released that sheet music app I keep yammering about

#93

Post by dangrover »

tvon wrote: post #65
dangrover wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Luckily, I have a precise answer to this because I have this weird habit of tracking every minute of my time on my own projects. Here's the breakdown on Etude in hh:mm Actual iPhone app: 210:11 Song converter: 72:52 Store (UI + server side): 82:23 Building site and designing marketing materials: 44:52 I did most of the work, but I did contract some of the graphics I had trouble with to a designer, and I've taken some…

OT, but how did you get into that time tracking habit and what do you use to track your time? (not) Properly tracking my time is my biggest weakness.

I use OfficeTime: http://officetime.net

I also wrote some Ruby scripts for parsing exports from it and making cool graphs

Re: Show HN: I finally released that sheet music app I keep yammering about

#94

Post by fmeyer »

Hey dan, I bought your app, a little bit expansive when we compare it against other music app. basically I love the Idea, but in my opinion you should improve the audio engine, I can hear some clicks and noises when much notes are played together. about the music as itself are you use internally using midi?

Regards and Congratulations

Re: Show HN: I finally released that sheet music app I keep yammering about

#95

Post by bbsabelli »

edtromba wrote: post #26

Looks very pretty. Nice job. I agree with the other poster about the low price of $2.99 - that's way too low.

I'm pretty sure I saw in-app sheet music purchases in the video.

If so, the $2.99 purchase price is irrelevant. In fact, if it has in-app purchases, it should probably be $0.99, and only because I believe the app store TOS say you can't charge if the app is free to begin with.

Re: Show HN: I finally released that sheet music app I keep yammering about

#96

Post by allenbrunson »

bbsabelli wrote: post #95
edtromba wrote: post #26

Looks very pretty. Nice job. I agree with the other poster about the low price of $2.99 - that's way too low.

I'm pretty sure I saw in-app sheet music purchases in the video. If so, the $2.99 purchase price is irrelevant. In fact, if it has in-app purchases, it should probably be $0.99, and only because I believe the app store TOS say you can't charge if the app is free to begin with.

It used to be that you couldn't have in-app purchases for free apps. At some point Apple changed their minds, and now you can.

Re: Show HN: I finally released that sheet music app I keep yammering about

#97

Post by Pistos2 »

dangrover wrote: post #93
tvon wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OT, but how did you get into that time tracking habit and what do you use to track your time? (not) Properly tracking my time is my biggest weakness.

I use OfficeTime: http://officetime.net I also wrote some Ruby scripts for parsing exports from it and making cool graphs

Note to others: OfficeTime appears to be primarily an OSX app. They have a downloadable Windows beta, but no immediately-downloadable Linux beta.

http://www.officetime.net/download.html

Re: Show HN: I finally released that sheet music app I keep yammering about

#98

Post by Pistos2 »

tvon wrote: post #65
dangrover wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Luckily, I have a precise answer to this because I have this weird habit of tracking every minute of my time on my own projects. Here's the breakdown on Etude in hh:mm Actual iPhone app: 210:11 Song converter: 72:52 Store (UI + server side): 82:23 Building site and designing marketing materials: 44:52 I did most of the work, but I did contract some of the graphics I had trouble with to a designer, and I've taken some…

OT, but how did you get into that time tracking habit and what do you use to track your time? (not) Properly tracking my time is my biggest weakness.

[I'm not the OP.] I use Freckle for time tracking. http://letsfreckle.com/

Re: Show HN: I finally released that sheet music app I keep yammering about

#100

Post by dangrover »

aaronbrethorst wrote: post #53
mrtron wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This app really does look like it is a match for the iPad. I would consider doing this: A) Make the iphone app free or 1$, get as many users as possible B) Approach whoever owns rights to sheet music, music lessons, etc C) Allow them to sell premium content through your app and you take 50% of the profits

I disagree wholeheartedly. Make money now. Don't leave it on the table. Sell 50,000 (or 100k! or 200k!) copies at $3 or $5, and then approach sheet music copyright holders. Copy the business model that Tapulous uses for Tap Tap Revenge: I should be able to download a Ben Folds-branded copy of Etude, and then a separate Beethoven app, and then a separate Liszt app. Each one should cost five bucks. And then user should…

Incidentally, the very last company I worked at (before realizing I should do my own thing) was Tapulous :)
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