12-13-2023, 01:38 AM
Prior to the availability of MobileSheets on iPadOS, one of the better sheet music display apps was OnSong. I also used forScore, but OnSong was really the closest thing to MobileSheets in terms of overall feature set. Years back, I tried to get both forScore and OnSong devs to work with Mike on some kind of interoperability -- at the bare minimum, at least the ability to import each other's setlists -- to make it easier to run larger groups with diverse tech. It would have made good sense, as neither forScore nor OnSong has an Android version, but we never could get even the time of day from them.
When MS for iPadOS became available, I immediately switched to it and cancelled my OnSong subscription. MobileSheets made my life so much easier with full cross-platform compatibility with everyone on our rather large church music team. Even taking away that huge benefit, MS would still be my choice over OnSong. Their lowest-cost annual subscription is almost 2x the one-time cost of MobileSheets, and the only real feature advantage in OnSong is the ability to generate lyrics-only slides from a ChordPro and send to external video. Slick feature, but also very distracting when you're trying to make music. I used that feature once or twice, and found that it was much better to let a 2nd person run lyrics using OpenLP on my laptop.
Anyhoo, when my OnSong subscription expired this week, they emailed me and asked me to fill out a survey on why I was leaving. I did the survey, told them OnSong is too expensive, that they had a chance at interoperability with MobileSheets long before it ever became a competitor, but they blew it, and now MobileSheets on iPadOS is far and away a better "bang for the buck" than OnSong. Submitted the form, and got this:
So, apparently, OnSong still just pretends to care what we think...but Mike really cares. He really wants MobileSheets to be the best. The money is nice, and well deserved, but the motivation is a pursuit of excellence. I'm thankful for Mike's dedication, for the way he uses his gifts in service to the church and the rest of the musical world, for the good example he sets in his work. Thank you so much, Mike!
When MS for iPadOS became available, I immediately switched to it and cancelled my OnSong subscription. MobileSheets made my life so much easier with full cross-platform compatibility with everyone on our rather large church music team. Even taking away that huge benefit, MS would still be my choice over OnSong. Their lowest-cost annual subscription is almost 2x the one-time cost of MobileSheets, and the only real feature advantage in OnSong is the ability to generate lyrics-only slides from a ChordPro and send to external video. Slick feature, but also very distracting when you're trying to make music. I used that feature once or twice, and found that it was much better to let a 2nd person run lyrics using OpenLP on my laptop.
Anyhoo, when my OnSong subscription expired this week, they emailed me and asked me to fill out a survey on why I was leaving. I did the survey, told them OnSong is too expensive, that they had a chance at interoperability with MobileSheets long before it ever became a competitor, but they blew it, and now MobileSheets on iPadOS is far and away a better "bang for the buck" than OnSong. Submitted the form, and got this:
So, apparently, OnSong still just pretends to care what we think...but Mike really cares. He really wants MobileSheets to be the best. The money is nice, and well deserved, but the motivation is a pursuit of excellence. I'm thankful for Mike's dedication, for the way he uses his gifts in service to the church and the rest of the musical world, for the good example he sets in his work. Thank you so much, Mike!