MusicSmart - Liner Notes Reviews

by Not What I Need

I hope MusicSmart gets better. I don’t use Apple Music, but I bought MusicSmart based on a couple glowing reviews that said it works with your library in addition to Apple Music. It can’t find the vast majority of my library, whether downloaded from iTunes or copied from CDs. They touted that it’ll tell you which musicians are credited on albums and tracks like I miss from the liner notes of yore. But it doesn’t do that on the few songs it was able to identify. Instead it offered a links to music videos or banal snippets about the artist like where they were born. Not at all what I was expecting. Frankly I’d like my money back.

by JVC527

Wanted to love MusicSmart... and all the glowing reviews enticed me to give it a try...and what’s not to like...if it did what it said this would have been a stellar app... but unfortunately it didn’t deliver...have no idea why there were 5 star reviews... you can’t even search...yikes!
And the lack of info on so many well known albums is baffling..
The best part of this experience is at least the developer did respond to an inquiry...
However there needs a lot and I mean a lot of fixing before MusicSmart is a buyable product.
Many other sources until then...

by Roccobladr

I’m not sure if my expectations were too high from all the glowing reviews, but I’m really bummed MusicSmart does not deliver. I really enjoy finding new songs in Apple Music playlists. Traditionally, I’ll hear something new and search on the internet for more info about the song and artist, usually starting with Wikipedia.

Almost every song I’ve tried only shows the track listing for the album. No really information about the song itself or the artist. Would be great to even see the Wikipedia information show up, at the very least.

by Pu55ycat

Bought this after reading some great reviews on it. MusicSmart has huge potential but needs to be reworked. MusicSmart itself lists all albums in your Music library. Theres no way to re order them by artist or songs. No search bar. The extension portion of MusicSmart (tap the three dots when you go into an album) for the Music App is great but it’s limited to what it can do. Not sure why. Is this an Apple limitation or just the way the share extension works? When it does work, it’s fantastic. A whole wealth of information. Seriously.
Needs to be more complete. Can’t understand why some albums work and others don’t.

by Bonerowner

Yes we do! That’s what I thought I was getting. The words “Liner Notes” are below the name of MusicSmart. To me, Liner Notes are what is inside the record jacket, on the record sleeve or on the back of the record jacket. Sometimes there wasn’t much but sometimes there were comments by the artists, types of instruments used including amps, pedals, strings, cymbals and even golf clubs. Sometimes there was funny stuff, jabs at other musicians or even song lyrics. There was front cover art. There was back cover art and if you were lucky enough to get a double album there was double notes and art work. I checked before I wrote this and there are no real liner notes here. No inside art, no back cover art, No notes, The explanations included are just there to take up space. Example; Songwriter. A person who writes the song. I’ll keep hoping for change but I wish I had just tried the 1 Month trial before going all in.

by Dvermaak01

Wish this was more integrated into Apple Music, though I certainly can't blame MusicSmart for that. Main gripe right now, is that when I click View Details on this app within apple music, it takes me to the albun page, not the song page. It should be the song, not the albun, as I'm.clicking "share song". Just an unnecessary step to click tracks, find the song you are listening to, and then view notes. Wished it took you to the exact song

by KCRW Addict

Unless I’m having a difficult time navigating the updated app, it seems like all the actual “liner notes” are no longer available. There’s a wealth of information within MusicSmart , and it seems pretty well laid out since I was a more regular user, but the liner notes from old vinyl records that I used to be able to access through MusicSmart don’t seem to be there anymore. I imagine it could be a licensing thing, but it’s a shame. And if there are no actual liner notes, it makes MusicSmart name a bit misleading.

by Maurytalk

I really wish this would work within music. The instructions shows that it will, but when I follow them I am unable to add it in the share menu. I’m on the latest iOS 14.3. I’ve tried twice by deleting and reinstalling. MusicSmart ’s settings should allow one to keep attempting, but alas... So I find myself using it on its own, reading liner notes while not being able to listen to the tracks. Please make it easier!!

by A.m.walker

As a listener of contemporary Christian music, there are a LOT of songs and albums MusicSmart doesn’t know. Many entries have nothing more than what Apple Music has. We listeners are a huge genre of lots of awesome music from Crowder to Needtobreathe to Chris Tomlin and TobyMac and I hope they include more on all of these genre artists. Content developers, Klove radio or The Message on Sirius XM is a place to start with what they’re streaming!

by Strum27

I really appreciate the developer for creating MusicSmart, which addresses a glaring hole left by Apple Music. How Apple could create their extensive product catalog and simply omit all information about a given album and artist is beyond belief. For me, we should be able to find out songwriter, album/track musicians and liner notes. I am an older music lover know and that that information was listed on album covers of the time, so I guess the problem is that the information was never transcribed to a database. Again I appreciate the effort and will continue using MusicSmart , hoping some happy day to see updates.

by ArcadiaStudios

I’ve only occasionally dipped into MusicSmart for detailed information regarding my music, so I haven’t fully explored all the nooks and crannies.

At this point, I can recommend MusicSmart , but I have to mention two frustrations. #1 may be outside the developer’s control, but it’s still annoying: Not all albums featuring this app data include the same categories of data or even much data at all; some feature extensive lists of performers/producers/engineers, etc., while others simply present songwriter credits. I’m sure this is based on what’s available, but I’d like to see both greater detail and greater consistency.

#2 is more frustrating for me: Before you can read liner notes or view this app data for an album, that album must be in your library. I realize it doesn’t require much effort to add a title via Apple Music, but it’s a hurdle that feels unnecessary. If I’m shopping for physical music, I’d be able to read the liner notes on the back of an LP or, perhaps, maybe even on a CD; why can’t I access information regardless of whether a title is in my personal library or not? That information could help me decide whether to stream, add in Apple Music, or purchase new music.

by Jadanzzy

Think less of this app as a standalone application, and more of an extension to Apple Music. If you start with the this app app, you’ll find the experience frustrating, as the UI and UX is pretty barebones. If you use the this app extension as you navigate through Apple Music, you’ll appreciate that you have that additional context at your fingertips. It’s a great first start, and well worth the $2, in my opinion. The information is much more robust with more recent music than older, but you can’t blame Marcos for that given he’s just pulling from 3rd party sources.

by KiltBear

Nice add if you use AppleMusic as your primary music source. If it ain’t in AppleMusic then MusicSmart won’t find the info.

The industry needs to get into the act and provide real liner notes and art with an album like they used to with vinyl.

by Tom Jersey

No database that seeks to provide information on tracks, liner notes etc. is going to be complete because the universe of albums being dealt with is so fast. However I have found MusicSmart to be really useful in so many cases. I used to have a very large CD collection which I ripped to a CD jukebox. That’s great in terms of storage and convenience, but no liner note type information was included in the files that got ripped. So I actually use MusicSmart in conjunction with the jukebox. Just a great resource.

by Transmaster

I have always been interested in the history of music releases and the artists. While Apple Music has good info it is incomplete. I have had the Discog app loaded for years to fill in the holes. MusicSmart integrates not only Discogs but several other music databases. If you have Apple music MusicSmart is almost a mandatory companion.

by T.diddy5150

Love MusicSmart! Brings me back to when I bought physical copies of albums and would spend time going through all the lyrics and liner notes to find little nuggets of guest appearances, writers and all the other fun facts you would find. It was something I genuinely missed in this digital age of music. Thanks for creating MusicSmart!

by Alexcescalona

I cannot speak too highly about the trove of information for just about every song that is streamable.

One improvement is to support artist lookups via Apple Music, in addition to albums and songs via the share option.

by Review Guy 467

This may be dumb but if MusicSmart integrates with your music library like it says. If you currently have a Apple Music subscription and cancel it will it take away albums on here? Because it keeps track of your music library ,but without a music subscription will you lose the albums that are already added on here? Again just curious but it’s otherwise a very good app & I really enjoy. You who are reading the comments to learn more about MusicSmart you will too.

by Mr. Magsby

MusicSmart is amazing!!! I love looking at the album information and the record label the album was released on. The only thing is that the release date on the album is one day off. For example, if the album was released on june 17th 2004, on MusicSmart , for some reason it says the release date is june 16th 2004. I wonder is there a way this could be rectified? On all of the albums in the Apple Music library it does the exact same thing. Other than that, I really enjoy using MusicSmart!!!

by Cswahlbrink

MusicSmart is incredible. So much attention to detail.

this app and MusicHarbor are a beautiful pair. Both help me to experience more new music and stay in the know of who is making the music behind the scenes.

Fantastic Work.

by SkyCruz718

I learn new things about the songs in my library that I never knew before. It makes me feel more engaged with the music I have in my library. MusicSmart is a must download if you have a large library of music. Keep it up with the updates!

by TobiasGates

this app is impressive. No one else is developing more straightforward, effective and afforable applications for music resources. Getting quick credit lines and additional corresponding information all in one search has been a dream of mine for as long as I can remeber. Highly reccomend.

by Onebrownfinch

Such a great idea for an app, it works perfectly for me. I echo others in that the extension is where it really shines. Being able to browse liner notes right in Apple Music is perfect! Thank you Marcos also for being so quick to reply to my troubleshooting email!

by James Mauk

Cant recommend MusicSmart enough! Perfect for when you want to find out who’s playing on a track. Perfect for finding out when a song in a playlist was released. Dev is quick to reply to questions. Cheers!