New Awesome iBook

[Thomas Chapmond]

Austin mandolin teacher Eddie Collins has spent the last year and a half developing an incredible iBook entitled "Bluegrass Mandolin in 10 Easy Steps." This is an "i" book, not just an "e" book, with the "i" standing for interactive. This is the most comprehensive instructional book I have ever seen. He starts with the basics, including information on the players. moves on to fiddle tunes, chords, 2nd/3rd/4th positions, embellished backup, Monroe techniques, cross picking, etc. etc. etc. He covers it all!

The book includes 214 pages, 40 embedded videos, 300+ sound clips, 200+ glossary entries. Available for iOS devices or Mac computers running 10.9 OX or higher. Check Eddies's website www.eddiecollins.biz for full details and/or to view a free YouTube video that demonstrates many of the highlighted features. And it is only $15.99. When Eddie showed it to me, I assumed it would be at least double that cost.

I have absolutely no financial interest in this book, but I sure wish I had it when I was starting to learn mandolin. I am getting great benefit from it now and I have been playing seriously for over 10 years.

[DroneAlone]

It should better be called "Bluegrass Mandolin for Apple Users".

I do not understand why anybody would want to limit his/her audience to Apple users only. Not only are they limiting their revenues (MacOS market share <10%, iOS market share ~30-40%), but they're also telling all other computer/tablet/smartphone users <inflammatory text removed by Moderator.>

What's so bad about PDF and MP3??

Peter

[JEStanek]

I'm not sure who is supposed to answer your question? Is the They you refer to the OP or Eddie Collins or whomever did the application development for Eddie? No matter who you expect to answer the questions, I rather doubt they would given the tone of the question.

I think small developers develop in what they know. There are many learning resources available, all the OP was doing was passing along information on one he enjoyed.

Jamie

[Ted Eschliman]

Peter, with all due respect, you'll need to tone down your rhetoric.

At the risk of coming across like a bully, I will also point out that native Apple iOS applications are their own world and offer the multiple advantages of interactivity (videos, online glossary, embedded pictures & soundclips). Far superior to stand alone PDF or MP3. It's a legitimate publishing media choice and nothing to take personal.

[Mike Stewart]

I do not understand why anybody would want to limit his/her audience to Apple users only.

Ever done much work in the Kindle format? I have. This book could never have been produced in a format a Kindle could read. You can't even use JavaScript, though the Kindle format is basically HTML.

Not only are they limiting their revenues (MacOS market share <10%, iOS market share ~30-40%),

I'll trust the author knows what they're doing, but I'll give you a hint from someone who does development work for multiple mobile and desktop platforms: Apple users spend money. Users of other platforms: meh, not so much.

What's so bad about PDF and MP3??

Now I'm starting to wonder if you're just pulling our collective legs. On the off chance you're not, a PDF isn't going to be nearly as polished a product. Not even close. What if your fave pro player took her solo break by just playing the melody? What's wrong with that? Plenty of people do it, why limit the access of the audience by getting all fancy?

This same complaint came up last time someone produced an iBooks interactive book (bah, who was that? Had cool arrangements and pics of cool instruments. Anyway, it was awesome!). All I can tell you is to vote with your dollars and don't buy it, or contact the author. While you're busy with that, I'll be over here flipping through what looks to be a decent book, on my iPad.

[Graham McDonald]

That books look exactly the sort of thing that ibooks was designed for and doesn't seem to be much taken advantage of as yet. Audio, video, being able to zoom in on images and all that is perfect for that format. A brave and notable publication and it should be applauded (and bought). As Mike says above, pdfs and mp3s just won't do the same thing.

Cheers

[DroneAlone]

Sorry if I came across too harsh. I'm sure that neither the OP nor the author of the iBook (Eddie Collins) have any bad intentions.

Let me explain why I am upset. The world wide web was created to freely share information across geographical borders and borders of operating systems. This is the idea that made the internet so successful and powerful. This is what makes it a gift to humanity. If one publishes digital information on the web in a proprietary format that excludes the majority of users from accessing it, this contradicts the spirit of free accessibility of information. Technologically, the iBook format may be a step forward, but in terms of our information society, it's a step back.

It's not about bashing Apple. In fact, I think they're making great products (my wife has a Mac and iPhone, too). I'm also not complaining that I can't access this single publication. But I'm worried where these proprietary formats will lead to. Will we, in the future, only be able to access half the digital information available? Or will we have to own several brands of computers/tablets/phones?

Well, that's my opinion... the OP is very enthusiastic about iBooks, and I am not.

Eddie Collins is, of course, free to publish in whichever format he whishes. And if you like this (or any other) iBook, enjoy!

Peter

[Thomas Chapmond]

I understand that folks were unable to order "Bluegrass Mandolin in 10 Easy Steps" the last couple of weeks. Eddie tells me that Apple had some issue with use of the word "iBook", so he had to revise the book to be an "interactive book". All the same material, just a slight change in nomenclature. At any rate, if any of you were unable to download the "interactive book", it is once again available at Eddie's website: www.eddiecollins.biz

[mandobassman]

If one publishes digital information on the web in a proprietary format that excludes the majority of users from accessing it, this contradicts the spirit of free accessibility of information...

As a long time Mac user, I totally understand your feelings. Keep in mind that it wasn't all that long ago that we Mac users were frustrated with the fact that very few programs were formatted for Mac. I very much remember seeing new programs come out that were only available in PC format. Times have changed and most things are available in both platforms now. But I still see the same thing going on today with makers of different tablets. I see things all the time that are available for Kindle but not for iPad. I think there's always going to be that competition between makers.

[RedLion]

I have a question on learning Bluegrass mandolin generally.

I currently only read standard music notation, but I see that the iBook only teaches TAB. Is TAB the best way to learn Bluegrass mandolin?

Perhaps the main advantage is that you can more quickly learn how to play up the neck with TAB than with having to learn position playing (3rd position, 5th position, etc...) as one would with reading standard notation.

Thoughts?

[Eddie Collins]

First off, thanks to Thomas and everyone for chiming in on this. Being the author of Bluegrass Mandolin in 10 Easy Steps, I hope you will appreciate the insights I provide as to why I chose the Apple format and other questions that came up.

As some of the replies alluded to, I specifically wanted to created an interactive book that included tab, pop-up photos, music sound files, video clips, pop-up interactive glossary items, etc. From the research I did, this simply could only be done on the Apple platform. I was using version 1.0 of the authoring tool Apple provided when I began this project. I agree that it would be nice to have this available on all platforms. My hope is that someone comes up with a third-party android emulation program to make this run on other devices, as of now, I don't know of any such application.

Secondly, having previously been a magazine editor, I wanted the page layout to look sharp and be easy to read. I wasn't going to get that if I tried to cram both musical notation and tab onto the same page and expect someone to be able to read it on their phone. I chose tab, because that seems to be fairly universal among the "Bluegrass" community.

So I made both of the above decisions consciously knowing I would lose a portion of the potential market. Best of all for anyone considering getting the book, you can view a free tour of it at this youtube link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lAFX1rhRIA

You can also chose to download a "free sample" at the Apple iTunes Bookstore, which gives you 15 interactive pages to play around with. So you can clearly see if you feel like it would be right for you before buying. If the book were offered in hard copy, it would be 214 pages without the interactive features and require four CDs and a DVD to deliver all the content. Then I would have to charge nearly $70 and shipping overseas would be about $40. As it is, it's available on the Apple iTunes Bookstore for $15.99 anywhere in the world.

Please feel free to contact me directly if you have any other questions or comments pertaining to this, and thanks again to everyone for your interest.

[John MacPhee]

Hi Eddie
I just had a look on Ibooks and I am thinking that the sample is very good and worth the $24.99AU if it was in notation. Sorry old school.
Are you thinking of bringing another version out?
Regards and Thanks
John

[RedLion]

Well, I probably need to learn how to read TAB as well.

[bbaker2050]

I wish I could get this.....no Apple though

[John MacPhee]

Hey Eddie, I bought it and I love it. Now just have to take a second to learn tab.
Thanks Again
John

[johnmarkva]

Kudos on a very well done iBook.