WINDOWS:

1. After downloading the installation files, unzip or extract the files, using the built-in Windows file unzipper or another similar program.
2. Right-click the ZIP file. In the drop-down menu, click "Extract All…" The unzip window will open, with a default destination for the unzipped files. If you want to unzip the files to a different folder, click "Browse…" and choose a location.
3. Click "Extract" and the files will be unzipped and copied to the folder you chose.
4. Navigate to the unzipped files and click through one or more folders until you see “setup.exe”. Double-click this file to activate the installation.
5. If you see a green screen headed "Windows protected your PC" click "More info" then "Run anyway."
6. Click Next twice, then review the Terms of Service, click Next, review the End User License Agreement, click "I Agree", then Next, then review the installation location and if it satisfactory, click Next twice, then Close.
7. After the app is installed, click the desktop icon for SongwritersdB. Alternatively, you may need to type "songwritersdb" in the search box to find the icon for the app. Click the icon to open the program.
8. In order to activate the program and access all the Pro-level features, click "Activate License" at the top of the page. You will need to copy the License key from the email you received from us and paste it into the License box, together with the same email you used when you purchased the license..
9. Now you should be fully activated! Under normal circumstances, you will not need to re-enter your license key (such as after updates, etc.).

MAC:

1. After downloading, double-click the .zip file.
2. Double click the resulting .dmg file.
3. A window opens up showing your Applications folder and the new SongwritersdB file.
4. Drag the file into the Applications folder.
5. Open the Applications folder and double-click on the SongwritersdB file to activate the installation.
6. Click “Open” on the screen asking “Are you sure you want to open it?”
7. Paste the License Key from your welcoming email into the Password box on the next screen and click "Allow".
8. Now you should be fully activated! Under normal circumstances, you will not need to re-enter your license key (such as after updates, etc.).

NOTE RE ANTI-VIRUS PROGRAMS: This app is fully approved and not malware! If you get warnings from your anti-virus program, be sure to click "Allow" or "Accept" to permit the app to install. (See "Anti-Virus Settings", below)

Recording a New Song

To record a new song, there are two methods:

1. From the Home page, click the red “Record” button on the right. This takes you to a page named “ Add New Song .”
   
2. SONG TITLE: Type in whatever name you’d like in the box next to “Song Title.” If you’d prefer to add a name later, a default song name will be attached to your recording, consisting of the date and time of the recording, e.g., Rec_23_Apr_22_14_23_52, which means “Recorded on April 23, 2022, at 2:23 and 52 seconds, p.m.”
3. Click the "Record Song" button.
4. Select your microphone and speaker or headphone output from the dropdown menus.
5. RECORD: Finally, click the red button with the microphone icon. This will immediately begin your audio recording.
6. PAUSE: To pause your recording, click the same button, which is now showing two vertical bars. Re-clicking that button will resume recording from where you paused.
7. STOP: Clicking the little square in the red circle will STOP the recording and you will then notice on the right, in the section headed “Recorded File Details,” an indication of the song’s length in minutes and seconds and its file size.
8. START OVER: If you want to replace what you just recorded, click the START OVER button all the way on the right. This will erase your existing recording and immediately start another audio recording.
9. PLAY: After clicking "Stop," you can listen back to what you just recorded by pressing the Play button below.
   
   As you listen to the playback, the Play button will change to a Pause icon. Pressing the Pause button will pause the playback and allow you to re-record all audio from that point forward (see paragraph 10, below).
10. ADDING NEW AUDIO:
    1. For adding audio to the end of an existing recording:
       • Play your recording.
       • Go to the end of the recording (either by moving the "ball" all the way to the right or using the Go to End icon).
       • Click Record to start recording new audio, which will be added to the end.
       This can be helpful if you have recorded the verse and now want to add the chorus to the audio.
    2. For replacing audio from a specific point:
       • Play your recording.
       • Click Pause at the point where you want to start the new audio (or move the "ball" to that position).
       • Click Record to start recording.
       • The new audio will overwrite everything from that point forward.

       Example: If you have a two-minute song and pause at the one-minute mark, then record new audio, the final recording will contain:

       • First minute: Original recording
       • After one minute: Your new recording

         This can be very helpful if you are recording a song and need to change the last part of the song, saving you from having to record the whole song from scratch.

       When you're satisfied with your recordisng, click the SAVE button to save your audio file.

11. RETURN TO ZERO: The Return to Zero button takes you back to the beginning of your recording.
    
12. SAVE: When you are satisfied with your complete recording, click the SAVE button at the bottom of the Add New Song window, to save your audio file. This will also take you back to the Songs page.

1. Click “Songs” in the left menu of the home page.
2. Click “New Song” in the upper right corner of the page. This takes you to a page named “Add New Song”.
3. Proceed as outlined above, starting with step #2.

Adding Just Lyrics or Title Ideas

1. Click “Songs” in the left menu of the home page.
2. Click “New Song” in the upper right corner of the page. This takes you to a page named “Add New Song".
3. Titles: To add just a title idea, replace the default date in the Song Title field and click "Save". Now you will have a blank song tile with just a new title.
4. Lyrics: To add just some lyrics or lyric ideas, click the "Lyrics" tab, type in your lyrics or lyric ideas, then click "Save." Note that the song will be saved with the date and time as the title; to avoid that, type in a word or two in the Song Title field before--or after--you click over to the Lyrics tab, but in any case before you click Save. Of course, you can always edit the Song Title later, but a brief title related to the lyric may help you find the song faster later on. Back on the Songs page, adding a few comments to your just-written lyric may also help you locate the lyric later, when perhaps you can't remember the exact words used.

Later on, you can do a search for songs with ONLY lyrics or ONLY titles (see "Search Options," below). Then you can scan the titles for ideas (like a "title book") or switch over to "Lyrics View" (see "Song Display Options," below) to scan your unfinished lyrics (or completed lyrics that need music).

After a song is recorded, you can create a new version of the song as follows:

1. On the song tile, click Edit Song Details and open the tab Record/Edit Audio.
2. To record a completely new version, click record then “Save as new version”.
3. As soon as you click “OK”, the Versions tab will open, showing your new song version.
4. Here you can audition the new version or share it with a collaborator, entering the name or email of the person you shared it with, as well as typing in notes of what is different about this version.
5. If you click the Edit icon for a version, that version will open up in Record/Edit Audio, where you can record changes to the version.
6. When you are finished making changes, you can either click Save, which will replace the version with the new audio, or click “Save as new version,” which will save the prior version as a new, additional version.

   On the Songs page, any song which has at least one Version will display the Versions icon:
   

When recording a new song or modifying an existing song, you can use the included Beat Player to play a loop of real drum sounds in a variety of common beats. This can be very helpful in inspiring you when writing rhythm-based songs

To record to a drum beat, follow these steps:

1. Click Record on the Home or Songs page, or the Record/Edit Audio tab within the Edit Song Details page.
2. Click “Beat Player” to open the player.
3. Click various beats until you find one suitable for your song.
4. Set the tempo and volume to your liking.
5. Click Record while the beat is playing and record your song.
6. Clicking Stop will also stop the beat.
7. Review your new audio, which will include a mix of your mic-recorded sound with the drum beat audio.

Use the built-in Pitches page to keep track of which songs you have pitched, to whom sent, date sent, response received (none, pass, hold, cut), is follow up needed, type of singer (male, female, either, duo, or band), and a notes section.

To add a song to the Pitches page, click Edit Song Details then “Add Pitch”. Your song will immediately be added to the Pitches page, where you can add in all the necessary information for that song.

Once you have added at least one song to the Pitches page, a shortcut to check on the status of your songs is to click the Pitches icon in the top right row of icons on the Songs page:

Note that you can sort the Follow-up Needed column at the top of the list so as to show all songs that need follow-up.

To add existing songs to SongwritersdB, you have two options:

1. Add one or more songs at a time
2. Add an entire folder of songs

NOTE: Acceptable audio files are .mp3, .wav, and .m4a only.

To import one or more songs at a time but less than an entire folder of songs, you must use "Import Songs" on the Songs page to import songs from your computer (either from a local drive or synced cloud drive such as Google Drive, DropBox, or OneDrive).

To import an entire folder of songs, you can either use the above method or go to "Import Songs from Drive" on the Cloud Drive page.

Adding one or more songs at a time

Here are the steps to follow:

1. On the Home page, click “Songs” in the left menu.

2. Click the icon that looks likes a folder with a "plus" (“Import songs”) in the top menu...

   ...and this screen will open:

   
3. To select one or more individual songs within a folder, open the folder on your computer and drag-and-drop the files onto the center of the screen. Alternatively, click "Select Files" and then click on the song you wish to add to SongwritersdB.
   To select more than one song at a time, hold down the shift key and click on additional songs.
4. When you are ready, click "Open" and the selected songs will be visible on the next page. Here you can add more songs the same way. To delete a selection, click the X to the right of the file name. To delete ALL of the selected files/folders, click "Clear Import Songs" at the bottom of the screen.
   
5. "Use 'File Name' as Song Title": Check this box if you have already named your songs ; otherwise the file name will be the date and time you import the song. This can save you the trouble of having to re-enter the titles of the imported songs manually, after they are imported.
6. NOTE: All selected songs must already be formatted as either .mp3, .wav, or .m4a! If not, they will not be imported.
   • If you have another format of audio file, there are many file conversion programs available online, some for free, and some that will even convert the files online with no app installation required.
7. When you are ready, click "Import Songs". Now, all of your newly imported songs will appear on the Songs page. To quickly view them, go to "Sort by" and select "Date imported". The newly added songs will now appear at the top of the Songs page.

    

Adding an Entire Folder of Songs:

Via the Songs Page

Repeat steps 1 and 2, above.

3. Click "Select Folders" and navigate to a folder with the songs you wish to import. You can select more than one folder at a time (shift-click).
4. When you are ready, click "Select Folder" and the selected folders will be visible on the next page. Here you can add more folders the same way, or delete a selection.
5. Alternatively, you can drag-and-drop one or more folders onto the center of the screen.
6. To delete a selection, click the X to the right of the file or folder name. To delete ALL of the selected files/folders, click "Clear Import Songs" at the bottom of the screen.
7. "Use 'File Name' as Song Title": Check this box if you have already named your songs ; otherwise the file name will be the date and time you import the song. This can save you the trouble of having to re-enter the titles of the imported songs manually, after they are imported.
8. When you are ready, click "Import Songs".
9. NOTE: All selected songs must already be formatted as either .mp3, .wav, or .m4a!
• If you have another format of audio file, there are many file conversion programs available online, some for free, and some that will even convert the files online with no app installation required.
10. The newly imported songs from within the selected folders will now show up on the Songs page.

Via the Cloud Drive

You can also add an entire folder of songs from a cloud drive once you have made the connection to that drive (see below at "Cloud Backup").

1. To do so, click the Cloud Drive icon in the main left menu, then click "Import Songs from Drive".
2. You will see a listing of folders within that drive: check the box next to the particular folder or folders that contain the songs you wish to import.
3. Once you have all the folders you want listed, click “Continue to Download Songs.”
4. The newly imported songs will now show up on the Songs page.

Cloud-to-Cloud Transfer

A third alternative is to copy a folder full of audio files directly into the cloud drive folder SongwritersdB/Songs, and follow this with a Sync Manually on the Cloud Drive page, which will import all the songs into the desktop. This can be a real time saver if the source folder is on a cloud drive, thus saving you the time it would take to download into the desktop from the cloud and then upload back up to the cloud when you Sync Manually.

Deleting One Song at a Time

To delete a song, go to the Songs page, be sure you are in Tiles View mode (not Lyrics View), find the song you wish to delete, click the icon with three vertical dots...

and then click “Delete this song.”

CAUTION: Note that any imported songs will still exist in whatever folder they were copied from (see prior section), but any new songs you recorded within SongwritersdB will be erased from both the local AND backup drives once you click the delete button. However, if you have made a Backup and no new Backup has been made (either manually or via the auto-backup feature) since you deleted the songs, going to Settings/Data Backup & Restore/Restore Backup will restore your Songs folder to the way it was before you made the deletions. So if you inadvertently delete a song, you can still retrieve it by quickly doing a Restore Backup. This is a good reason to make frequent backups, especially after adding a number of new songs to SongwritersdB.

Thus, if you wish to retain a song you recorded within SongwritersdB after removing it from the app, be sure to copy the audio files to another location before you click “Delete this song.”

Deleting Multiple Songs

To delete multiple songs:

1. Click “Songs” in the left menu, then click the first icon: at the top of the page.
2. You will then see all your songs with greyed-out checkmarks, like this:

3. Find any number of songs you wish to delete and click the checkmark, which will turn solid.
4. When you have selected all the songs you wish to delete, click "Delete Selected" in the top right menu:

1. Tiles View

   The typical view of your songs is represented by the icon with the four small squares, in the top section of the page. Hovering your mouse over that icon displays “Tiles View.”

   

   This is the default view of your songs, where each song is displayed within a square, with the name, comments, genre, tempo, and star rating in full view.

   The bottom row of icons contains the Play/Stop button, a Song Lyrics icon to take you to the song’s lyrics page (where you can type in lyrics to the song), the “Edit Song Details” icon , the “Share” icon , and finally an icon with three vertical dots, which includes a “Browse location” link (which takes you to the actual file location on your computer) and “Delete this song” option.

   NOTE: At the bottom of the left menu is a small volume control. Moving the slider to the right will increase the playback volume of all songs, moving to the left will decrease the volume.

2. Lyrics View

   Clicking the icon next to the Tiles View icon takes you to the Lyrics View. Unique to SongwritersdB is the ability to display songs not only by their song names, but also by their lyric content! For example, you may have started a song and only have a few scraps of lyric typed in. Months later, you want to review the lyrics of your songs but don’t remember exactly what you wrote. Or maybe you’d like quickly to scan the first lines of song ideas you’ve started at various times. How can you do that? It’s easy with the SongwritersdB Lyrics View!

   This view will initially display the title and first line:

   

   However, by clicking the “Show only lyrics” box on the right side of the page, you can view a two-line display containing the first few lines of every song in your collection. Here you can quickly scan your forgotten lyrics for renewed inspiration or to refresh your memory.

   

   Once you find a lyric you want to focus on, simply click the Play icon to the right to hear the associated music. Clicking the “Show Lyrics” icon will take you directly to the source of your lines, the Lyrics page for that song. Clicking the “Song Details” icon at the end of each song tile enables you quickly to add comments, attach a genre, and give a star rating, to help you further organize your songs.

3. List View

   Clicking the List View icon takes you to the Lists View, which is a database view of all your songs.

   

   The advantage of the List View is that you can see all the data (title, tempo, genre, star rating, etc.) for all your songs in a quick overview:

   

    

Scrolling to the right reveals the Action section, where you can immediately play any song, view the lyrics, open the Song Details window, or delete the song.

A useful technique: Clicking on the name of any song will immediately open the Song Details window for that song. This allows you to quickly add comments to any song, as well as make any other desired changes.

For more control over the playback of your songs, click the small Play icon at the very top of the main app window:

This will open the Song Player Window. At first it is mostly blank, but upon playing any song it will look more like this:

(Windows version):

Mac version: Click near the very top of the window and you can move it anywhere.

Auto Play Songs: Checking the "Auto play Songs" box will cause the next song in the current song display to begin playing upon the termination of the previous song. This setting applies to the Songs page, Albums page, and Song Player window.

There are two ways to edit song details.

1. METHOD ONE: Click the“Edit Song Details”icon on a song tile:

   

   This opens a large window…

   

   …that gives you the following options:

   Song Title: Here you can enter a song title, if you have one. If not, the date and time the song was recorded will be displayed here. If you have a lot of songs with no mp3 metadata title, but the title is same as the name of the mp3 file, you can tick the box on the Import Songs page to use the mp3 file name as the Title of the song. (See “Adding an entire folder of songs,” above.)

   Comments: Adding comments is super-important, since it will help you find the song months or years from now, when you can’t remember the name or if there are no lyrics, yet. For example, you might add the comment “Justin Beaver-type beat” or “super-moody minor melody” or “this would be great for Bob’s new band” and so on. Our super-fast search feature will quickly locate the missing song months or years from when you recorded it.

   Rating: Adding a star rating helps you separate the great from the not-quite-there-yet songs. No one writes nothing but hit songs every time they sit down! Going back every month or so to re-visit your works of art with an honest assessment—reflected in the star ratings—will help you to concentrate on those most worth working on. No use spending a lot of time on a 2-star song when you have 5-star songs that still need to be finished, first! Later, a quick search for unfinished 5-star songs will pull up a bunch of songs you really need to work on first.

   Genre: We start you off with 15 of the most common genres (e.g., rock, folk, blues, country, etc.). The Pro version allows you to add and delete genres (see below) to fit your particular styles of songwriting. Attaching a genre to your songs will help you narrow down a search for a particular type of song if you are pitching to an artist within a certain genre, etc.

   Tempo: Is the song a ballad? Mid-tempo? Or Uptempo? This will also help you in your searches for particular types of songs to fit a certain situation.

   Completed:

   None = neither music nor lyrics is complete

   Music = the music is complete but not the lyrics

   Lyrics = the lyrics are complete but not the music

   Music & Lyrics = both lyrics and music are complete

   Recorded:

   No = No demo recorded, yet

   In-Progress = Demo started, but not yet finished (mixed, mastered)

   Complete = Demo complete, ready to pitch or post online

   Registered Copyright:

   Yes = Song has been registered with the U.S. Copyright Office

   No = Not yet registered with the U.S. Copyright Office

   Registered with PRO:

   PRO: Performing Rights Organization (ASCAP, BMI, or SESAC)

   Yes = Song has been registered with a PRO

   No = Song is not registered with a PRO

2. METHOD TWO: Click the “Song Details” icon on the right side of a song tile:

   

   This opens a smaller window to edit the same song details:

   

   Because this window opens outside the main window, this can be useful when you wish to keep the display of song tiles in view and show the details of another song: simply click the “Song Details” icon in another song and the details in the Song Details panel will immediately be updated to that of the new song. Very handy for making a lot of quick changes to many songs!

   Moving the Window: Left-clicking in the top portion of the Song Details window will enable you to drag and reposition the window wherever you like.

On the “Edit Song Details” page, there are several tabs:

• Song Details (discussed above)
• Record/Edit Audio (discussed above)
• Lyrics
• Import Audio, and
• Versions (discussed above)

Lyrics: Type your lyrics, here. If you want to listen to the audio for the selected song, click the Play button to open the Song Player window. This way you can hear the music and come up with some great lyrics as you're listening! Click Print to access your computer's print function, to print out a copy of the lyrics.

• Rhyming Dictionary: Just double-click any word in your lyrics text and then click the Rhyme button. Immediately, the rhyming dictionary will open with many rhymes for the selected word already displayed.

Import Audio: The file location of the current audio for the selected song will be displayed, here. To substitute a different audio file--or to import a new audio file for a song that has only lyrics--click the Browse button to find the audio file you wish to import (.wav, .mp3, or .m4a only). Double-click on the file name to import the audio into the song tile.

On the “Songs” page, there are several ways to sort the songs display, using the “Sort By” drop-down menu in the upper-right corner.

Date Imported: Reflects the date and time when the song was imported into the SongwritersdB program. (When a song you recorded on the phone app (SongwritersdB Aux) is synced to your desktop, that is not considered "imported", since it originated within the SongwritersdB system.)

Date Recorded: Reflects the date and time a song was recorded within the SongwritersdB system (desktop or phone).
NOTE: The program has no way of determining the actual recording date of a song recorded outside of the program. For example, every time a file is copied and saved within Windows, it is given a new date and time. If you want to retain the ability to search by the original recording dates--if you know when that was--you can still do that by entering a year in the comments section. Then, a search for the keyword "2021" (for example), will immediately display all songs originally recorded in that year.

Last Edited On: Reflects the date last edited. An edit is any change in song file data (rating, genre, comments, lyrics, other tags, etc.) or when audio is appended or merged. Edits also include adding a new version of a song.

Song Name: Songs displayed alphabetically according to their song titles.

Star Rating: Sort by star rating, with 5-star songs at the top (5-Star - 1-Star) or 1-star songs at the top (1-Star - 5-Star). This is handy if you are looking to find your best song or song ideas or maybe looking to eliminate low-ranked song ideas.

One of the primary features of SongwritersdB is the ability to search through all of your songs, to find the ones you want to finish, collaborate on, or share. A robust and sophisticated search engine will accomplish all of that, no matter how many hundreds of songs you may have in the database.

Entering keywords in the search box at the top of the page will search for those words, based on the other search options you have selected in the Advanced Search (see below). Note that capitalization is ignored. Also, a search for more than one word will limit the results to those songs that include ALL the listed words.

To start with a clean slate, open Advanced Search, click Reset, then tick whichever boxes at the top (Title, Comments, and/or Lyrics) you wish to search through. Click “Apply” and now your text searches will check all songs based on your selection.

Clicking the small icon with three horizontal lines and a magnifying glass takes you to the Advanced Search window. Here you can search just song titles, just comments, just lyrics, or any combination of the foregoing. In addition, you can search for all songs within a particular genre, tempo, star rating, music/lyrics completion, demo recording status, and copyright status.

If I wanted to display all uptempo country songs rated four stars, I would enter it this way:

To display all songs including the word “sun” in the title:

To display all songs including the words “James Taylor” in the comments section:

To display all blues songs with incomplete lyrics but completed music:

How to use “Complete Status” dropdown menu

If you want to find all your songs with:

1. Completed music but still need lyrics: Select “Music”
2. Completed lyrics but still need music: Select “Lyrics”
3. Completed music AND lyrics: Select “Music & Lyrics”
4. Completed music OR lyrics, but not both: Select "Music Or Lyrics"
5. Incomplete music AND incomplete lyrics: Select “All incomplete”
6. No audio file and no text in lyrics field : Select “Title only”

NOTE: After a search, sometimes NO songs are displayed, because none match the search criteria.
If you once again want to see all the songs currently within the app, you can click either "Show All Songs" within the Search window or at the top of the Search page, or "Rescan" in the middle of the page:

However, there is a small difference between the two operations:
"Show All Songs" - This button simply changes the filter. For example, if you select the "date recorded" filter and no songs were recorded within the app, yet, then no songs will display. However, if you then click on the "Show All Songs" button, the filter will change to display all the songs by their names, in alphabetical order.
"Rescan" - This button is used if, due to some system issues, songs were not fetched from the database. Clicking on "rescan" will prompt the system to check the entire database again to fetch songs and fix any issues encountered during the fetching process.

To share a song with one or more people:

1. Click the share icon at the bottom of the song tile for the song you want to share.
2. Enter the email addresses of the person you wish to receive the song. To send to more people, add their email addresses, separated by a comma.
3. Type any comments in the Notes box. If there are revisions since your last communication, type them in the Revisions box.
4. Check the Add Lyrics box if you wish to share the lyrics, also.
5. Finally, click the Share button.

Sharing History

To see a list of all the shares you have sent, click the Cloud Drive icon in the left menu then click Share History in the upper right corner of the page.

Here you can see the song titles of all the songs you have shared, along with the date shared, to whom you shared, your notes and revision notes.

You can also:

• open the shared link to see exactly what your recipients received
• copy the link (to send--via message, email, etc.--to other recipients)
• unshare the song to one or more of your recipients.

An Album within SongwritersdB is simply a collection of your songs, i.e., similar to a Playlist on other platforms. For example, you may wish to put all your Christmas songs in an Album called “Christmas,” all your favorite country songs in an album “Country Faves,” or create an album of songs you’ve co-written with your friend, Albert, called “Albert Co-writes.” (Note that you can include a song in more than one Album.)

1. Click “Albums” in the left menu on the Home page.
2. Click “Create Album.”
3. Type the name you are giving the Album, the year, and a brief description.
4. Click “Save.”
5. You will now see the new Album listed on the left side of the Albums page.
6. To add songs to this Album, click “Songs” in the left menu, then click the first icon: at the top of the page.
7. You will then see all your songs with greyed-out checkmarks, like this:

8. Find any number of songs you wish to include in your Album and click the checkmark, which will turn solid.
9. When you have selected all the songs you wish to add to your new Album, click the second icon at the top:
10. A window will open called “Tag Albums,” which is where you assign your selected songs to your new Album (or any previously created Albums, as well). Note that a song can be assigned to more than one Album.
11. When done assigning the songs to one or more Albums, click OK.
12. Back on the Home page, click “Albums” in the left menu to see your Albums on the left, and the tagged songs on the right. Click an Album name to see the associated songs on the right side.
13. To remove a song from an Album, click the icon with the small “x” next to the song you wish to remove, e.g.,
14. To delete an entire Album, click the trashcan next to the Album name:

Rearranging Albums and Album Songs

Windows:

Instead of click-and-drag, SongwritersdB uses a new method to rearrange songs and albums that is faster and more flexible!

1. Click the box next to Album Rearrange Mode (to rearrange the order of Albums) or Song Rearrange Mode (to rearrange the order of Songs):

2. To move a single tile (Album or Song), left-click the tile. The tile will then show a large checkmark to indicate it has been selected. To select more tiles, simply left-click additional tiles (in any order).

3. Once you have selected all the tiles you wish to move, right-click on the tile where you wish to move the selected tile(s). (You can scroll down using the mouse wheel or the scroll bar.) They will immediately move, starting with the position of the tile on which you right-clicked.

4. When you are satisfied with the new arrangement of Albums or Songs, un-check the applicable Rearrange Mode box.

5. To see a video demonstration of this process, go to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PA0xN65Vj7M

Mac:

Just use click-drag-drop to rearrange the sequence of Albums and songs within Albums.

Click on an Album or Song you wish to move up or down, move to the desired location, and release your mouse button.

Playing Album Songs

You will notice a Play button within an Album as well as within each associated song. If you have selected "Auto play songs" within the Play window, then the Play button within an Album will play all associated songs in order, until you press the square “Stop” icon. Alternatively, you can play any of the associated songs by pressing their individual Play buttons.

Adding Your Own Album Images (Pro+)

To add your own Album image, right-click on a generic album icon and select a .jpg or .png image file. You will find that a square image will look best in the existing format. Any change in image will be reflected in the Album images on the Home page (if it is one of the first six Albums in your list).

One of the great features of SongwritersdB is the almost-immediate backups of your recordings to a cloud drive (Google Drive, Dropbox, or OneDrive). No more lost files! The minute you click Save on a new recording, it is:

1. saved on a local drive, AND
2. saved to an app-created folder ("songwritersdB") on your cloud drive.

To be sure the backup feature will work properly, you first must set up the connections to a cloud drive.

1. Click “Cloud Drive” in the left menu.
2. Click the “Connect” button for your preferred cloud drive service.
3. Once the initial connection is made, accept the options to connect to the drive.
4. When you return to SongwritersdB, if you do not wish to import a folder of songs at this time, do not select anything and just click "Cancel".

Manual Backups At any time, you can backup your entire song database, including all songs and data, to your cloud drive.

To do so, click the Settings icon in the main left menu, then click the"Data Backup and Restore" tab:

Click "Create backup manually." The app will now start to back up any newly added songs since the last backup, to an app-created folder (named "songwritersdB").

Multiple Backups

If you make a new backup after making changes on the desktop, the old backup will be replaced by the new one. This can be done by mistake! Thus, if you, for example, have hundreds of songs on the desktop and you want to make extra sure you will not lose those songs (as well as all the details you have included for each song: lyrics, song details, versions, pitch info), you can create a new folder called, e.g., "SongwritersdB backups", and save it within your cloud drive where you have located SongwritersdB: /data, /Mobile Songs, /songs, and /Version. Within the "data" subfolder will be a file called "backup.zip". Copy this file into the "SongwritersdB backups" folder. Then, if for any reason you need to replace or restore the existing backup file, you can just replace the file with the one from "SongwritersdB backups."

Another use of multiple backups would be to reduce the number of songs displayed on the desktop. Thus, you can create a number of different backup files, named, e.g., "backup 2000 songs.zip" or "backup songs 2011-2021.zip". Just be sure to change the name to "backup.zip" after you copy it into the default backup folder (i.e., SongwritersdB/data).

Cloud Drive Sync

Backup vs Sync: What's the difference?

The purpose of the Cloud Drive Sync is to ensure that any new songs added to your local drive will be copied to a folder in the cloud, and any new songs recorded on your phone (via the SongwritersdB Aux app) that are in the cloud are copied to your local drive.

While a Backup (see above) will copy all the songs from your local drive to the Songs folder in the cloud, it will not include any songs that may have been recorded on your phone (via the SongwritersdB Aux app) and synced to the cloud. Also, a Backup is a snapshot in time; if you delete a song, it will also be deleted from your cloud drive folder. However, that song will be still be available if you made a Backup before deleting the song, so by doing a Restore Backup, you can get that song back if you deleted it in error.

Phone-Recorded Songs: In order to retrieve your phone-recorded songs , you need to go to Cloud Drive in the left menu and click the Sync Manually button:

This will open a message box that will show the songs as they are being synced FROM your local drive to the cloud and those being synced from the cloud TO your local drive.

You can see the last time you did a Sync by viewing the "Last sync on" date and time display. We also recommend you set the Auto Sync Settings slider button to "On" for at least every 30 minutes, to reduce the chance that a crash will cause you to lose a recently recorded song.

The “Settings” left menu item takes you to the Settings page. Here you can select a microphone (input) and speakers (output) for recording any new songs, or add/delete genres (see "Adding/deleting a Genre," above).

APP SETTINGS: Setting Audio Input/Output: In order to record audio and listen to songs, you need to specify your audio input and output devices. To do so, click "Settings" in the left menu, then go to the "App Settings" tab.
1. Select a microphone in the drop-down menu where it says “Mic for recording”. (Mac: Click "Open system audio settings") You will have the option of using the internal mic in your computer--if there is one--or an attached mic. If it says it is unable to find a microphone, be sure your audio interface is on and connected to your computer, then repeat the above steps. On Mac, if the Input button does nothing, you will need to close the app, turn on your audio interface, and re-open the app.)
2. Next, select a speaker or headphones as your audio output device.

GENRE SETTINGS: To add or delete a genre, enter the name in the text box and click Add. To delete a genre, click the x to the right of the genre name you wish to delete.

DATA BACKUP AND RESTORE: Once you have added your own songs to SongwritersdB, you will want to make a complete backup of the audio, lyrics, tags, ratings, etc., by going to the Data Backup and Restore tab on the Settings page. (See "Cloud Backup" tab, above.) In general, it is a good idea to leave the auto-backup button set to "On" for automatic backups of all your data every hour or so. For more frequent backups, click the "Create Backup Manually" at any time. Doing so places a file ("backup.zip") containing all the data within SongwritersdB on your cloud drive. If during your use of the program you inadvertently change or delete one or more songs and want to revert to an earlier time before the errors, click "Restore Backup"; this will restore all audio and data to the way they were at the time of the last Backup.

DEVICES: Under our license agreement, you are able to install SongwritersdB on up to three different computers (Mac, PC, laptop, etc.). You can use the same license code you received when first installing SongwritersdB on all your devices, and the list of those devices will appear on this page. If you wish to substitute a different device at any time, you only need to "Deactivate" one of the listed computers on this page and then you can activate an additional computer. (NOTE: The above limit does not apply to the auxiliary Android or iOs cellphone apps, which are in addition to the foregoing.)

External Audio Editing

To edit the audio file of a particular song within SWDB (to add reverb, delete an interior section of the audio, add harmonies or other instruments, etc.), we recommend the following procedure:
1. Download and install Audacity, a terrific free audio editor (Audacityteam.org). It works in Mac and PC.
2. Open Audacity. Go to File/Open, and browse to the desired song audio file you wish to edit (it should be in your "Music" folder, within the "SongwritersdB Songs" subfolder).
3. In Audacity, open that song file.
4. Edit the file within Audacity.
5. When you are satisfied with your edits, export as an .mp3 back to the location of the song, overwriting the old file; be sure to use the exact same name!
6. Now when you play back that song within SongwritersdB, you will hear your new, edited version, complete with reverb, harmonies, etc.

Of course, you can also modify the above by using any other audio editor or DAW, following the steps above.

We hope you find the SongwritersdB app helpful to your songwriting!

While the free version is great to give you a good idea of the app’s capabilities, note that the Pro version will give you the following additional benefits:

• Import/create an unlimited number of songs (free version is limited to just 20 songs)
• Share songs & lyrics with friends and collaborators
• Add/delete unlimited number of song genres
• Share data between your cellphone and computer
• Instant cloud backup. Never lose a song!
• Insert or append new audio to existing songs

• Click the Home icon in the left menu on the Home page.
• Click “Activate Now” on the pop-up screen.
• www.songwritersdb.com will open; click “Buy Now” at the top of the page.
• Follow the instructions for your desired method of payment.
• Once the payment is complete, you will receive an email containing your license code. Copy and paste this code into the License Key box.

To use SWDB on more than one computer:

Each license entitles you to use and connect up to three computers (e.g., desktop, laptop, Windows PC, Mac). Thus, you can open SWDB on each registered computer

and immediately connect to the same cloud drive. This allows you to have access to all of your songs on each separate computer, and all can be synced.

If you wish to activate a fourth computer, you will need to de-activate one of the other three computers within the Settings/Devices tab. This can be changed back at any time.

If for any reason you need to uninstall the app, follow these steps:

In Windows, type “Add or Remove Programs” in the Windows search box, and select the highlighted text.

Next, search for the app “SongwritersdB,” click the three little vertical dots and then “Uninstall”. Click “Uninstall” again, to confirm. That’s it!

Alternatively, within Control Panel, click “Uninstall a Program.” Click on the name of the app, SongwritersdB, and then click Uninstall and Yes (to confirm).

Occasionally, an anti-virus program will flag SongwritersdB as a virus or malware and prevent its installation. To avoid having the installation blocked, you will need to add the app name to the exclusion list of apps not to be blocked. The exact method of doing so will vary from one anti-virus program to the next.

For example, in Avast Free, a popular anti-virus program, you need to go to the Menu, click Settings, then Blocked & Allowed Apps. Under “List of allowed apps” click “Allow App,” scroll down to the name “SongwritersdB”, and click “ADD.”

Where are my songs stored?

All songs (whether recorded within the app or imported from an external folder) are located here:

Windows: The 6 default songs and any new songs you record or import can be found in the "SongwritersdB Songs" folder within your "Music" folder, which is located here:: C:\Users\YourUserName\Music

Mac: SongwritersdB/Songs

Backup files: In addition to the above locations, Pro version customers with an active license will be able to make a backup to an online folder, as follows:

1. Click “Cloud Drive” on the Home page.
2. Click here at the page bottom:
3. A backup folder will be created to hold a zipped backup of your songs (audio) and all data (titles, lyrics, comments, tags, genres, Albums, etc.) here:
   1. Google drive: MyDrive/SongwritersdB/data
   2. DropBox: Dropbox/SongwritersdB/data

Song Locations

To locate the audio file for any song within the Songs page (in Tiles View), click the icon with three vertical dots on the song tile in question , and then click “Browse location.”

While SongwritersdB will work with either .mp3, .m4a, or .wav files, note that .mp3 files occupy between one-tenth (1/10) and one-fifth (1/5) of the hard-disc space within your computer (depending on the selected bit rate). For example, a three-minute song in .wav format will typically require around 32 MB of hard drive space, while an .mp3 file of the same song at 256 kbps will require only 6 MB of space.

For the purposes of SongwritersdB, where the absolute best CD-quality audio is not needed, we recommend always using a 256 kbps/.mp3 file format whenever possible. This will save a lot of space on your hard drive, as the number of your songs increases, yet still deliver high-quality audio.

Program Locations

Windows: The default location of the program and related files is C:/Program Files (x86)/SongwritersdB.

Mac: The default location of the program and related files is Applications/SongwritersdB.

Updates: When a new update is issued, you will see the notice when you next log into the app on your desktop. After the download is complete, it will automatically install the update.

• Windows: Should you need to re-install the new update, the files will be located in the default Downloads folder (C:/Users/[yourname]/Downloads).

We want to hear from you!

If you are a Pro user, to leave us feedback just click the link in the Feedback section of the Settings page, and our special Feedback internet page will open in your browser. Once you are on this webpage, you will see two options:

FEATURE REQUESTS: Got a great idea to make SongwritersdB even more useful to you? Click the "Feature Requests" button and type in your idea. Other visitors to this page can upvote your idea if they agree that this would be helpful to them, also. This helps us know where to prioritize any future updates/changes in the program.

BUGS OR PROBLEMS: If you run into any bugs or other issues as you use the program, be sure to report them here. In order to assist our programmers, please describe in detail what you were trying to do, what happened instead, what led up to the bug or problem, and which operating system you were using. Most essential of all is to describe the series of steps required to reproduce the bug.
If you wish specific assistance, please return to the Homepage and use the Contact Us form. We will be sure to respond as quickly as we can!

If you are a free user, go to https://feedback.songwritersdb.com, create a free account, and follow the instructions above.

SongwritersdB also includes a FREE remote recording app for your iPhone/iPad or Android phone!

To get the app, click here for the iOs version or click here for the Android version, then install onto your phone.
While the app is free for all to use, note that only Pro users will have the ability to sync automatically to the desktop version.

RECORDING OPTIONS: Tap the music note icon at the bottom of any page to get to the audio recording page:

To begin recording, tap Record (the microphone icon) near the bottom of the screen. When you are done recording, or wish to pause the recording, tap the Pause icon. This will cause a new section to appear:

If you wish to audition what you just recorded before saving, tap the Play icon.

1. If you wish to replace your entire recording, tap Record once more--or tap Start Over--and record your new audio. This can be repeated as often as necessary until you hear your song the way you want it.

2. If you wish to add additional audio at the end of what you just recorded, tap the Go to End icon--or move the little ball all the way to the right--then tap Record.

3. If you wish to replace your audio starting partway through, either tap Play and then Pause at the point where you wish to begin the new audio, or move the ball to the position where you wish to begin recording the new audio. Then press Record, and the new audio will replace the audio you recorded from that point on.

Example: Song is two minutes long. You listen to the song and tap Pause at the one-minute mark. You tap Record and record new audio. On playback, you will hear the first minute of your song followed by your new recording: you will have erased the original recording from the one-minute point to the end.

4. Once you are satisfied with your recording, tap Finish Recording.

5. If you are not connected to the internet, click Save, and your audio will be saved locally to your phone's drive. If you are already connected to the internet, your song will be saved automatically.

5. Click OK. This takes you to the Song Details page, where you can change the default name. (If you already connected to a cloud drive, your song will be saved upon pressing Finish Recording.)

LOCAL SONGS PAGE: After you save a song, tap the back arrow to get to the Google Drive/iCloud Songs page. Here you can see all the songs you have recorded with the SongwritersdB Aux app. You can tap Play, tap the Share icon to share the audio with a friend or collaborator, or tap the song tile anywhere to return to the Song Details page for that song.

Sync All will upload all of your phone-recorded songs to your designated cloud drive (Google Drive or iCloud). Once within your cloud drive, your songs will be downloaded to the SWDB desktop (via its Manual or Auto Sync). Remember to use the same cloud drive for both phone and desktop!

SONG DETAILS PAGE: Here you can see the song file info (format, length, size, date recorded) and also rename the song (by touching the title), Sync to the desktop, Share, or delete the audio entirely.

NAMING SONGS: To remind you of the subject of a new song, we recommend that when you first see the Song Details page with the Song Title, you immediately change the default file name (date and time of the recording) to a name that relates to the song. Later tapping Sync All will upload to your designated cloud drive all unsynced songs with the names displayed on your phone.
If you change the name of a song on your phone AFTER you have tapped Sync All, it will change the name displayed on your phone, but it will not change the name of the song within the desktop. (This is to prevent the creation of duplicate song titles with the same audio.) When you get back to your desktop, you can update the song name to match the name on your phone, if you want.

Existing Lyrics. If you save a new song (audio) with the exact same title as an existing lyrics-only song (matching the capitalization and spacing), it will be added to the same-named song tile. If the title is new, then a new song tile will be created to hold the new title and audio.

DELETING SONGS: There are two ways to delete songs from your phone: (i) tap on the song name then tap "Delete" at the bottom of the page to delete only that song, or (ii) tap Remove All Songs at the bottom of the Settings page to delete all the songs on your phone (within the app). In all cases, the songs are deleted only from your phone , and will still appear within the desktop. This is done so that you can clean up the songs on your phone without worrying that you have inadvertently deleted them permanently: they will still be in the cloud and--after syncing--also within the desktop app.

WRITING LYRICS: You can type in lyrics and (i) save as a new song or (ii) add to an existing song. The key is in the TITLE: If you save a new lyric with the exact same title as an existing song (matching the capitalization and spacing), it will be added at the end of any existing lyrics of the song. If the title is new, then a new song tile will be created and your lyrics will be placed on the lyrics page thereof.

To open a new page for lyrics, tap the Lyrics icon in the middle of the bottom of any page. You will see this:

To start a new lyric, tap the red "write lyrics" icon, just above the gear icon. This will open a blank page, where you can enter the song title and type your lyrics. Click Save Changes to save your drafts. When complete, tap the back arrow at the top of the page, then OK. This brings you back to the Local Lyrics page; if you already connected to the cloud, this page will instead show "Google Drive Lyrics" or "iCloud Lyrics".

SYNC WITH DESKTOP APP: If you have not yet connected to the cloud, click the gear icon and sign in to Google Drive (or, on iOs, alternatively to iCloud). After signing in, go back to the lyrics page (now called Google Drive Lyrics or iCloud Lyrics), and click Sync All. Do the same on the Songs page. These steps will guarantee that all your locally created audio and lyrics will be able to be downloaded the next time you sit down in your home and click Manual Sync on your desktop/laptop version of SongwritersdB.

For Google Drive, the songs uploaded from the phone during Sync will be located here: MyDrive/SongwritersdB/Mobile Songs.

SETTINGS PAGE: Tapping the gear icon at the bottom of any page takes you to the Settings page, where you can review your total songs data, remove all songs and/or lyrics from the app displays, sign out from your cloud drive, find where your songs are located on your phone, and find links to all SongwritersdB social media and video tutorials.

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USE OF THIRD-PARTY VOICE RECORDER APPS: There are many other voice recorder apps available for iPhone/Android, some with sophisticated editing capabilities. If you prefer to use one of those instead of SongwritersdB Aux, you can certainly do so, as long as the audio file is saved to the same cloud drive as is used for SongwritersdB desktop.

For Google Drive, after you have connected your desktop version to Google drive and completed at least one Sync Manually operation, look for a folder within the MyDrive folder named SongwritersdB/Mobile Songs. This is the folder you need to point your third-party voice memo app toward, so new recordings are added to this folder. Then, once the desktop app is synced with the cloud, all new songs recorded on your phone that are saved in this folder will be imported onto the desktop for adding lyrics, comments, tags, etc.

For iCloud, unfortunately Apple limits access to the folder that contains the app songs to the app itself, and it does not allow access from other apps (this is called "sandboxing," and is a security measure that prevents sharing of files between Apple applications).