Introducing "KrithiBook" - an app for iPhone and Android

arunk · Post by **arunk** » 17 Dec 2011, 09:45

Dear Friends,

I am pleased and excited to release KrithiBook, an app for iPhone/iPad and Android smart phones and tablets. I am sure many of you would find it useful on a continual basis. The app is regularly priced at $9.99, but is now available for an introductory price of $7.99 till Jan 15th - as a december music season special (in India it would be rupee equivalent). The price is less than a price of music CD (in most places), but I think it would be much more than a "few times listen" item, and would serve as a reference during concerts as well as during other times.

KrithiBook is an essential companion app for all Carnatic Music connoiseurs! It is a handy quick reference to more than 3000 songs (krithis) featuring most of the major Carnatic Music composers. For each song, the title, the raga (with mēḷa, ārōhaṇa, avarōhaṇa), the tala and the composer is provided. All informaton is cross-referenced in multiple ways resulting in a simple, yet powerful storehouse of knowledge!

KrithiBook is bound to come to handy to many of us during a carnatic music concert to look up information about songs being rendered. However, even at other times, it is an invaluable knowledge-base on carnatic music for finding answers to many questions such as:

Which of the composers composed in a certain raga - say ābhōgi?

How many songs did tyāgarāja compose in a raga, e.g. pantuvarāḷi? What are they?

What is the ārohaṇa and avarōhaṇa of a raga - say andhāḷi?

Who composed the varnam in nārāyaṇagauḷa?

What songs are part of the nīlōtpalāmbā kṙtīs composed by dīkṣitar?

What songs are part of the nauka caritramu opera composed by tyāgarāja?

The song title, names of ragas, talas and composers are shown using roman diacritics, and thus conveying accurate pronunciation detail. The song detail page also shows the information in Tamil (iPhone & Android), and Devanagiri (at present only in the iPhone version) scripts.

KrithiBook also features a "fuzzy" search that is extremely flexible and can find a song even if you provide only an approximation of its spelling. For example, sItamma maayamma, seetamma mayamma, seethamma mayamma will all locate the song sītamma māyamma by tyāgarāja.

All these features make KrithiBook indispensable to carnatic music rasikās with smartphones all over the world! Expand your knowledge on composers, krithis and ragas! Impress your friends!

Please visit http://arunk.freepgs.com/krithibook to take a look at the screenshots as well as a short video demonstration of the capabilities of the app.

Please spread the word around to your friends and relatives who may own smart-phones and would find such an app useful.

Thanks
Arun

MaheshS · Post by **MaheshS** » 17 Dec 2011, 18:09

Hi Arun,

Can you list how many composers and how many of the compositions are included? Will there be periodical updates of this DB?

Mahesh

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 17 Dec 2011, 18:16

Hi Arun,

Wonderful Arun

, i just saw the screen shots and they are lovely. The fuzzy search is wonderful feature. By any chance is a blackberry app on the way.?

May I also suggest you to upload atleast the first set of krithis of Arasi(first CD lyrics is available ) into your app.

Are you sourcing/synching up the lyrics with LJi's karnatik.com

arunk · Post by **arunk** » 17 Dec 2011, 18:23

MaheshS wrote:Hi Arun,

Can you list how many composers and how many of the compositions are included? Will there be periodical updates of this DB?

Mahesh

There are about 25 composers (but some of them are varnam composers and so not many songs) - major (or ones that more commonly featured in concerts) ones covered at this point are the trinity of course, svati tirunal, papanasam sivan, gopalakrishna bharathi,, HMB, annamacharya, koteeswara iyer, patnam and subbaraya sastri.

There are slightly more than 3000 songs.

Yes, I do plan to provide updates to the database

Arun

Sreeni Rajarao · Post by **Sreeni Rajarao** » 17 Dec 2011, 18:28

Arun,
Congratulations! Just the other day I was wondering why you are not that much active on the forum lately. Now, I know you were busy with a mega project!

I am sure your database will be quite exhaustive. And, knowing the quality of your work on earlier projects, I am sure this will be of high quality also.

arunk · Post by **arunk** » 17 Dec 2011, 18:28

rajeshnat wrote:Hi Arun,

Wonderful Arun , i just saw the screen shots and they are lovely. The fuzzy search is wonderful feature.

Thanks rajesh.

By any chance is a blackberry app on the way.?

Unfortunately probably not. It could be another duplicate effort (android vs. iphone was already one duplicate effort)

> May I also suggest you to upload atleast the first set of krithis of Arasi(first CD lyrics is available ) into your app.
I do plan to update the database.

I used my own references (mainly via books I own, and some information that is freely available on the net etc.).

Arun

arunk · Post by **arunk** » 17 Dec 2011, 18:31

Thanks Sreeni Rajarao.

The idea was to find a "smart" replacement (that runs in a smartphone) for those little song reference books I see people carry to the concert - and so the idea was to cover composers whose songs are more commonly featured in concerts.

Arun

mohan · Post by **mohan** » 17 Dec 2011, 19:09

Nice app Arun. I've downloaded it during a concert by Sanjay where I am sitting. Here just sung an extensive alapana in priyadarsini followed by sri vasudeva prabho. I wish it was in the database.

arunk · Post by **arunk** » 17 Dec 2011, 19:19

Thanks mohan!

And

- hopefully all in time. The complete list as we all know can be quite exhaustive. But I hope to cover it incrementally

Arun

sramaswamy · Post by **sramaswamy** » 17 Dec 2011, 19:29

Arun
I logged in after a long time. Saw your post and downloaded. Going to be very handy and looks very good at first glance.

I know that developing app for iPhone and Android are two full efforts. Kudos to you for doing that.

arunk · Post by **arunk** » 17 Dec 2011, 19:52

sramaswamy - Thank you very much!

Arun

mohan · Post by **mohan** » 17 Dec 2011, 20:01

Arun can you also add a copy function so after finding a song you can hit copy and it will transfer the song name, raga, tala, composer to the clipboard. Will be great for compiling song lists!

arunk · Post by **arunk** » 17 Dec 2011, 21:03

I think that should be possible. Thanks for feedback mohan.

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 17 Dec 2011, 21:22

Hi Arun! Congratulations. Will it work for iPads too?

arunk · Post by **arunk** » 17 Dec 2011, 21:26

Yes Ravi - it would/should (basically in that "2x" mode - you are familiar with it right? Where all iPhone apps not explicitly targeted for iPad do run either centered as the same size as iPhone, but can be "magnified")

Arun

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 17 Dec 2011, 21:28

Yes..I do know that...let me try.....

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 17 Dec 2011, 21:32

Arun...yes, just downloaded it, but the magnification part doesn't seem to work, but I can read the contents easily...great job!

arunk · Post by **arunk** » 17 Dec 2011, 21:39

Thanks! Hmm.. I thought the magnification came always - but I am glad it is works well even without it.

Arun

srkris · Post by **srkris** » 17 Dec 2011, 23:24

Thanks for the android version

arunk · Post by **arunk** » 18 Dec 2011, 00:26

srkris wrote:Thanks for the android version

Luckily I made the decision before I started development and so I could sort of do it in tandem. Doing one after it is mature in one platform, takes extra (psychological) effort. Also, you may end up doing stuff which wont work on the other platform. Even here, there were a few nasty surprises (w.r.t Android).

Arun

cmlover · Post by **cmlover** » 18 Dec 2011, 00:53

Congratulations Arun..
...for yet another great service to CM Rasikas.

arunk · Post by **arunk** » 18 Dec 2011, 01:47

Thank you cml!

VijayR · Post by **VijayR** » 18 Dec 2011, 06:46

In typical rasika style, "bhale bhale!"

Very nice (thanks for the hours and hours you must have put into this)... yet another example of how technology is affecting (in a positive way) carnatic music.

arunk · Post by **arunk** » 19 Dec 2011, 01:01

Thanks Vijay

cmlover · Post by **cmlover** » 19 Dec 2011, 01:30

Arun
It works like a charm. Being new to iPhone Apps I had to download it twice.
Thanks for the Tamil scripting and the Aro/Avaro which comes handy.
In a future version is it possible to have the kriti too ( at least the Trinity/Swati/GKB/..)
It may increase the size but who cares for a few extra MBs...

arunk · Post by **arunk** » 19 Dec 2011, 04:58

Thanks cml - I am glad you are finding use for it.

Lyrics is possible and seems like a natural enhancement, but it is a tall order because of the # of songs => a lot more laborious effort to get them in etc. So I wont rule it out but cant commit a timeline etc. - doing it of course incrementally is the only viable way, but I need to find a suitable way of doing that.

Arun

cmlover · Post by **cmlover** » 19 Dec 2011, 05:02

I know Arun which is why I said the Trinity to start with. All of them are available in machinereadable format already (thanks to Govindan). And there won't be any copyright violations! Touch base with our Lakshman too..

emilija · Post by **emilija** » 21 Dec 2011, 22:25

I really was thinking how great it would be to have such app and here it is! Downloaded it to my iPod, it's brilliant!
It would be great to have the lyrics of the compositions as well.

Really thanks for this much needed app!
Emilija

arunk · Post by **arunk** » 22 Dec 2011, 07:48

Thank you very much Emilija!

Arun

arunk · Post by **arunk** » 05 Apr 2012, 00:02

Hello Rasikas,

I am excited to announce the next version of KrithiBook an app for iPad/iPhone/Android which would be an invaluable resource to carnatic music connoiseurs all over the world.

KrithiBook is an essential companion app for all Carnatic Music connoiseurs! It is a handy quick reference to more than 4250 songs (krithis) featuring most of the major Carnatic Music composers. For each song, the title, the raga (with mēḷa, ārōhaṇa, avarōhaṇa), the tala and the composer is provided. All informaton is cross-referenced in multiple ways resulting in a simple, yet powerful storehouse of knowledge!

What's new in this version:

- Lyrics and word-by-word meaning for all Thyagaraja krithis! Many thanks to Shri V. Govindan for allowing me to use his wonderful lyrics and meanings database. I am also happy to time a release with thie feature on the same day as the starting of the Cleveland Aradhana
- Added songs of Purandara Dasa, Oothukkadu Venkatakavi, Mysore Vasudevacharya, and Mysore Jayamaraja Wodeyar.
- Total number of songs is now more than 4250. (more than 1000 songs were added for this new release)
- Runs on iPad natively.
- Supports landscape mode (besides portrait mode), which should help when viewing lyrics and meaning.
- Improved fuzzy search.
- Fixed bugs, typos.

The app is priced at $9.99. This update is free for all current users of Krithibook.

You can get more information about KrithiBook at http://arunk.freepgs.com/krithibook

Thanks
Arun

mahavishnu · Post by **mahavishnu** » 05 Apr 2012, 01:29

Great work, Arun. Thanks.

arunk · Post by **arunk** » 05 Apr 2012, 02:50

Thanks!

mohan · Post by **mohan** » 05 Apr 2012, 05:03

Hi Arun - I got the Android update and applied it. Now the app crashes when I start it, every time. Should I uninstall completely and reinstall? Will the Google market recognise that I have previously paid for the app if I do that?

arunk · Post by **arunk** » 05 Apr 2012, 05:37

Oh no! Sorry about that! I dont know why it is doing that. I believe you should be able to uninstall and reinstall on the phone - since what you paid is tracked against your google account.

Arun

mohan · Post by **mohan** » 05 Apr 2012, 05:48

I uninstalled completely and then reinstalled from the Google Play (market). It started ok and seems to be working fine for now. Still no copy details feature - which would be useful. Nice to have the lyrics for Thyagaraja kritis.

arunk · Post by **arunk** » 05 Apr 2012, 06:02

I am glad it worked. It looks like a database upgrade problem I.e. new code got installed but previous database wasn't overwritten with the new database. I am puzzled as to why because the android system has built-in upgrade features and I'm using it and I especially tested this while development. But on googling I'm seeing that other developers have run into it as well. I'm not sure at this point if there is a bug in some specific versions of the platform or whether all the required procedures for proper upgrade of application databases are being followed by my app. Frustrating - obviously not the user experience any developer wants. I will keep hunting.

Copy feature - sorry. I do have that mind but lyrics was the big thing many people wanted and that took a while to get done. I will definitely get this in for the next version.

Arun

cmlover · Post by **cmlover** » 05 Apr 2012, 07:26

Arun I eagerly upgraded.
Then the songs database now is empty.
What should I do?
My App is on iPhone 3G

arunk · Post by **arunk** » 05 Apr 2012, 07:37

Can you try deleting the app on your phone, and reinstalling? To delete, press the icon of the app for a couple of seconds - it (in fact all icons) should then "vibrate" (visually) with a big X on it. Touch the X and it would remove it. You should then be able to connect to update again (or if you transferred via iTunes, you can transfer again)

Arun

cmlover · Post by **cmlover** » 05 Apr 2012, 07:46

Voila!
It worked.
So nice to have the lyrics of T (with meaning)!
I love the Tamil version.. Grateful to Govindan for the permission
Thank you so much Arun for the prompt help!!

arunk · Post by **arunk** » 05 Apr 2012, 07:49

Thanks. I guess this database upgrade was trickier than I thought. I will try my best to fix this in the next few days so that existing users dont experience this problem!

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 05 Apr 2012, 16:30

Arun, I have it on my iPad, and had to go through the deleting and reinstalling process....but it works well now.

cmlover · Post by **cmlover** » 05 Apr 2012, 20:46

Arun
Consider incorporating MD and SS.
They are not copyrighted...

arunk · Post by **arunk** » 19 Nov 2012, 05:09

Hello Rasikas,

I am excited to announce the next version (version 1.2) of KrithiBook, an app for iPad/iPhone/Android which would be an invaluable resource to carnatic music connoiseurs all over the world..

Version 1.2 adds the following new features:

Added lyrics for songs of Muthuswami Dikshitar (Lyrics are now supported for Thyagaraja and Dikshitar songs thanks to Shri. V. Govindan).

Added songs of Periasami Thooran, Andal, Ramnad Srinivasa Iyengar, and Arasi Rajee Krishnan . Total number of songs is now more than 4600!

Added "copy" feature to song detail page to copy the details of the song (song name - raga - tala - composer) to clipboard to help towards preparing concert song lists.

(iPhone/iPad only) Added "Now Playing" feature which does a fuzzy match of the currently playing song against the songs in the database.

The app is priced at $9.99. This update is free for all current users of Krithibook.

You can get more information about KrithiBook at http://arunk.freepgs.com/krithibook

Note for existing users: The new version 1.2 should not have upgrade/update problems that was present with the earlier version 1.1 upgrade. However, if you are having problems after updating to the new version, please delete the app from your phone/tablet device, and install the new version

Thanks
Arun

mohan · Post by **mohan** » 19 Nov 2012, 06:45

Was able to update easily. Thanks for adding the copy feature and the Dikshitar lyrics!

Rsachi · Post by **Rsachi** » 19 Nov 2012, 10:14

I purchased the app sometime back. Thanks to this thread, I found I could update to add MD lyrics!
To really expand the utility of such an app, it would be nice to collaborate and add links to (via web connection)
Raga clips
Song clips

arunk · Post by **arunk** » 19 Nov 2012, 20:48

Thanks mohan.

rsachi - thanks for the feedback. There was some logistical and other issues behind providing those features. Maybe in the future. Thanks for your support!

Arun

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 20 Nov 2012, 04:16

Arun,
Congratulations on your 'new improved' KrithiBook and thank you for adding my songs from the three CDs

arunk · Post by **arunk** » 22 Nov 2012, 00:56

Thanks arasi and Thanks for your songs

Arun

smala · Post by **smala** » 22 Nov 2012, 02:56

Is it just an info book or are the 3000 songs playable? I see from post 45 and 46, it may not be, just to confirm.

arunk · Post by **arunk** » 22 Nov 2012, 03:22

Hi smala,

It is information - basically an (cross-referenced) index (song name, composer, raga with aro/avaro, tala) for all songs, lyrics are available (in roman diacritics, tamil, and devanagiri (on iPhone/iPad) for all tyagaraja and dikshitar krithis. There is no audio.

Thanks
Arun