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. "Review the End User License Agreement, Terms of Service, and Privacy Policy, and if you agree to the terms, click “Next,” which will install the app on the C drive of your computer.
6. Click “Yes” on the screen asking “Do you want to allow this app to make changes to your device?”
7. Review the End User License Agreement, Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, and if you agree to the terms, click “Next,” which will install the app on the C drive of your computer.
8. After the app is installed, you may need to type "songwritersdb" in the search box to find the icon for the app. Click the icon to open the program.
9. In order to activate the program and access all the Pro-level features, you need to copy the License key from the email you received from us and paste it into the License box.
10. 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:

Method #1 of Recording a New Song

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: By playing back your audio and clicking Pause--or by moving the "ball" along its progress line--you can set a point from which you can add new audio and overwrite previous audio. Clicking Record now will start recording from that point in the audio, and it will erase all that you have recorded from that point on. In other words, it will overwrite all the succeeding audio and substitute new audio. 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.
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.

Method #2 of Recording a New Song

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).

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

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.

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.

To add or delete genres (rock, folk, blues, country, jazz, etc.), click “Settings” on the Home page, then click the “Genre Settings” tab.

1. To add a new genre, type in the name in the text box, and click “Add”.
2. To delete a genre, click the “x” to the right of the name of the genre you wish to delete.
3. When you get back to your Song Details pages, you will see the changes within the Genre drop-down menu.

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.

Normal Search

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.

Advanced Search

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.

For example:

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.

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.

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.

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 a tile JUST ABOVE 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 to just after the tile you right-clicked.

4. To move tiles to the TOP of the list, you need to move your selected tiles just under the first tile, then move that first tile below your selected tiles. This is because rearranged tiles only will be pasted in AFTER the right-clicked tile.

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

6. 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.

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.

Setting Up Cloud Drive Backups

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").

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, then 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, click "Cancel" and turn on your audio interface, be sure it is connected to your computer, then repeat the above steps. 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

To purchase your license and unlock the additional features:

• 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: C:/Users/[yourname]/AppData/Roaming/SongwritersdB/Songs

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

To locate any particular 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.”

.mp3 vs .wav

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 microphone icon on the home page to get to the song recording page. To begin recording, tap Record (the microphone icon) in the middle 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 are satisfied with your recording, tap Finish Recording. This will take you to the Song Details page, where you can enter a name and save to the cloud (as well as locally to your phone).
If you wish to audition what you just recorded before saving, tap the Play icon. If you are happy with the recording, tap Finish Recording.

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 up to that point.

SONGS PAGE: After you save a song, you are taken to the Songs page, which shows all songs you have recorded with the SongwritersdB Aux app. Here you can tap Play, tap the Share icon to share the audio with a friend or collaborator, or tap the song tile anywhere to get to the Song Details page. Sync All will sync all of your phone-recorded songs to your designated cloud drive (for example, if you recorded a song in an area with no internet connection, and now you are back within range). Once synced to your cloud drive, they can be synced to your desktop and show up within the SongwritersdB desktop app. 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.

NAME CHANGES: Note that if you change the name of a song AFTER you have saved it, it will change the name displayed on your phone, but it will not change the name within the desktop, and will create a duplicate file. Thus, you will have TWO identical files, one with the old name and one with the new name. When you get back to your desktop, be sure to delete the file with the old name to avoid confusion.

SETTINGS PAGE: Tapping the gear icon on the Songs page takes you to the Settings page, where you can review your total songs data, remove (delete) all songs, signout 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 named SongwritersdB/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 will be imported onto the desktop for adding lyrics, comments, tags, etc