Notestar app

[Alfred59]

Has anybody else been affected by the withdrawal of this app by Apple? I have invested a lot of time and money in the  sheet music and now frustratingly  it's not there as Apple no longer support it. The downloads I've  paid a substantial sum money for over the years  are no longer available.

[Rick D.]

Alfred,

I am in the same boat. I did get fair warning that this was going to happen. They also gave me a complimentary subscription to Sheet Music Direct PASS.
Here is  the email I received.

NOTESTAR APP CLOSING 03/31/19
Today we're announcing that after nearly 6 years of creating and sharing digital sheet music with you via our NoteStar App, the NoteStar App will be closing down March 31, 2019.

Things to Know:

- The NoteStar App has been removed from the App Store.

- Your current NoteStar titles will continue to work until March 31, 2019 or until Apple releases an iOS update that makes the NoteStar App incompatible.

While it's sad to say goodbye, we greatly appreciate your business over the years and have a special offer for you, as a thank you for being a loyal customer.

Through our partnership with Hal Leonard, we are excited to offer you a complimentary subscription to Sheet Music Direct PASS—Hal Leonard's premier sheet music subscription offered through their leading digital sheet music website, SheetMusicDirect.com. With PASS, you'll receive unlimited online access to Hal Leonard's huge library – more than 1 million pages - of interactive sheet music on any device, plus 50% off the cost of all sheet music downloads and prints.

Information regarding how to access this complimentary PASS subscription will come from Sheet Music Direct in early April 2019.

For now, an IMPORTANT NOTE: In order to receive your complimentary PASS subscription, you must have a registered NoteStar App account. If you do not currently have a NoteStar App account, please register for one prior to March 20, 2019.

As NoteStar is a joint project of Yamaha and Hal Leonard, we thank you for your support over the past 6 years and hope you continue to enjoy digital sheet music for years to come.



Yamaha & Hal Leonard

Doesn't say anything about reimbursement for all the money we spent though.
Hope this helps!

Rick D.

[Alfred59]

Hi Rick,
Thanks for posting the Yamaha letter which they also sent to me. Could you let me know how I find out if I have a notestar account? I tried to register but failed.
Thanks
Alfred

[Rick D.]

Alfred,

I contacted support and this is what she sent me.
I told her I couldn't find any account information of mine either, but that I did have a lot of receipts of purchases I have made over the years.

Thank you for your email. In coordination with the shut down of the Yamaha Notestar App, Sheet Music Direct will be offering Notestar customers complimentary Sheet Music Direct PASS subscriptions: www.sheetmusicdirect.com/subscription

Details for how to access the complimentary PASS subscription will be emailed to you in early April. In the meantime, if you're interested, Sheet Music Direct has an iPad App similar to Notestar called PlayAlong: www.sheetmusicdirect.com/playalong

I tried the Playalong link. It's similar to Notestar, but does not have nearly enough content yet.

So it looks like we have to wait and see. Meanwhile if you try Notestar, your songs won't load up.
I feel like I have been ripped off, by not being allowed to retrieve all the music I bought before the shutdown.

Hope this helps.

Rick D.

[Alfred59]

Rick D
Thanks  for the additional information. Like you, I feel totally ripped off by Yamaha/ Apple. It's made  me realise how vulnerable digital music purchases  are. Strangely enough I can still access notestar on my iPad pro (but not on my iPad) so I'm frantically photographing them before they disappear.
Thanks again
Alfred

[Rick D.]

Alfred,

Thanks for letting me know about the iPad Pro tip. I also have an iPad 2nd Gen and an iPad Pro. I can't get anything on the older one but the songs are still there on the Pro and both have been updated to the new iOS. That's strange!

I guess I know what I'm going to be doing today LOL!

Rick D.

[Alfred59]

Glad iPad pro is working for you as well. Alfred

[Audrey Turner]

Take a look at the CAMBRON POWER MUSIC website:  cambronsoftware.co.uk

This company has introduced a very efficient way of getting all your sheet music on to your PC/iPad by using a portable scanner which, when not in use, folds up for transporting.  It comes with explanatory Manual, Software on a USB stick and a Non Stick Black Mat which enables you to adjust your music anyway you like, without it moving all over the place, but the best thing is, the software enables you to add or delete notes, colour-code favourite pieces, make alterations and move to anywhere you want. 

I have been using it for over a year now and can thoroughly recommend it.

Audrey Turner

[Rick D.]

Alfred,

I got my email to sign up for a free years subscription to PASS today.

It is just for sheet musicat half price, it's nothing like Notestar. They do have another app called Play Along, that is more like Notestar though.

Rick D.

[Alfred59]

Hi Rick D
Thanks for the update. Likewise, I received an email from sheet music pass today offering me a years purchases at half price.And thanks for the play along app info. I'll have a look.
I still feel cheated  by Yamaha/Apple having spent over £300 on Notestar music to  find it wiped out. 
Alfred

[Rick D.]

Alfred

I hear you, they should have left the app operational, with no way to purchase new music.

Not much we can do.

Rick D.

[Bobjmanchester]

I'm not surprised that so many are angry at the scrapping of the NoteStar App.
I was very disappointed and that is putting it politely!
I too had invested quite a lot of money in the player.
My NoteStar app is still working.
If you are thinking of getting a new iPad it might be worth doing it now and disabling updates on the current one to carry on using it!

Things have not turned out quite as badly as I feared.

I play mainly from lead sheets.
After logging in with my free pass I type in "Lead sheet/fake book".
This gives me access to 11060 scores in this format.
If I find a score I like I press the small green and white icon at the top right of the screen.
This opens an info page where I press the "add to wish list" box.
I can now access all these tunes from my account page and use the built in player.
I also found I can search a particular tune and add "Lead sheet/fake book" in the same search.
It's "kind of ok" for lead sheets but it's not as good as NoteStar.

I also found the Play along app a waste of time.
I couldn't even link it to my account.
There is another SheetMusicDirect App but I can only use it for music I have purchased.

Final verdict is it's not NoteStar but it "ok".