SongBook DS

As a Linn Majik DS user, I have used Plugplayer, a cheaper network player-but it crashed every time since the last update. The Songbook Ds is much more expensive - but it is the perfect solution. Looks great, work without any problem, worth the money.

The &quot;new&quot; DS release crashes on both my iPhone and iPad - new instabilities where at least before I had a functional application.<br/><br/>I paid $80 for the original release for the iPhone. $50 is better but offers little value beyond that offered by the free PlugPlayer application.<br/><br/>The new version runs native on the iPad but makes no use of the additional screen real estate - very unimaginative and disappointing. Album artwork is tiny and slow to render and cannot be blamed on the media server or iPad as the Linn controller is much faster.<br/><br/>Cannot recommend. The original release was good work and showed much potential. Potential unfulfilled.

This is a poor app. I do not recommend you buy it. It is very unstable. Several core use cases cause iOS to freeze and forces you to reboot your iPhone. It seems to get stable for short windows and then gets very poor again when iOS updates or the app updates. The developers of this app are not investing enough effort to keep it stable. Looks like a part time hack job with not much pride of ownership.

I've just had a Klimax DS installed, and downloaded the latest version of the Songbook app. Nice interface, and it sort of works, but I find it buggy and not that reliable. On startup, I do not see the volume control, and need to shut the app down and restart. Track selection is a bit of a lottery: sometimes it selects the required track straight away, often one has to tap repeatedly to obtain song selection. Personally, having bought a Klimax, I don't much care how much I have to pay for an app to control my digital steaming, but given Songbook's limitation, it does seem overpriced. I hope more work is put into getting this app right.