Is there a utility to index PDF Real Book files on Android tablet?

**woland** · 10-31-2015, 12:02 PM

I have collection of Real Book + Aebersold PDFs.
Is there any utility to scan them and create clickable index?
Running under Android - if possible.

**55bar** · 10-31-2015, 12:41 PM

Originally Posted by woland

I have collection of Real Book + Aebersold PDFs.
Is there any utility to scan them and create clickable index?
Running under Android - if possible.

Igigbook

**woland** · 10-31-2015, 07:45 PM

Originally Posted by 55bar

Igigbook

Thanks for the reply - this is one of the worst apps I have ever seen.
It was around since 2010 and it BARELY works.
After I renamed file to conform to the app demand it just crashed and stopped working.

**55bar** · 10-31-2015, 07:51 PM

Aw I'm sorry to hear that, just trying to help

**woland** · 10-31-2015, 08:14 PM

Originally Posted by 55bar

Aw I'm sorry to hear that, just trying to help

Not your fault - thank you pointing me in that direction. But as I said - to have 5yo app that crashed LITERALLY 6 times in a matter of 5 minutes is a bit embarrassing. And then ask $15 for it. If I can't find anything I may decide to roll my own.

**mincheol.seo** · 10-31-2015, 11:23 PM

In normal circumstances, PDFs do not allow you to edit the data.
Annotating functions and such are just temporary, do not affect on its own. Like adding an extra layer.
You can buy Acrobat Pro to edit your PDF files, but I have never tried and I do not know whether it works or not.
And also it is freakishly expensive.

Another option is OCR scan your Real Books and Aebersold.
OCR recognise letters on the paper, so you can search songs by title.
But again, it is very time-consuming and good OCR scan software is normally pricey.

Or simply you can buy Kindle version of the Real Book.
I use my Kindle DXG as a Real Book reader.

**woland** · 11-01-2015, 12:45 AM

Originally Posted by mincheol.seo

In normal circumstances, PDFs do not allow you to edit the data.
Annotating functions and such are just temporary, do not affect on its own. Like adding an extra layer.
You can buy Acrobat Pro to edit your PDF files, but I have never tried and I do not know whether it works or not.
And also it is freakishly expensive.

Another option is OCR scan your Real Books and Aebersold.
OCR recognise letters on the paper, so you can search songs by title.
But again, it is very time-consuming and good OCR scan software is normally pricey.

Or simply you can buy Kindle version of the Real Book.
I use my Kindle DXG as a Real Book reader.

All the sound ideas but I do have decent (and expanding collection of PDFs) - and I would also like to have quick access to Aebersold's PDFs. I found that simple indexing app called Fakebook - it actually comes with set of progressions (no melody) on its own but that was long time made obsolete by iRealb. You can create a text index file for each PDF file and import them into Fakebook that way (search for PDFB script on Skrivarna website). PDFB can be easily created from table of content in each PDF file (or master index PDF file) with maybe few lines of Perl. The advantage is flexibility - and it is cheap too. I would curious why there is no way to simply invoke PDF viewer on tablet with command line attribute. That would be by far the simplest way.

**amyFB** · 11-01-2015, 10:25 AM

I bought the App for my iPad - iRealBook - love it - maybe it was $20 or maybe it was $40 , no i forget but the full featured version has great options and It makes for a lot of fun as a backing track to practice songs or just exercises. Do not know if it available as an Android app.

**woland** · 11-01-2015, 11:14 AM

Originally Posted by amyFB

I bought the App for my iPad - iRealBook - love it - maybe it was $20 or maybe it was $40 , no i forget but the full featured version has great options and It makes for a lot of fun as a backing track to practice songs or just exercises. Do not know if it available as an Android app.

Do you mean iRealPro ? That is indeed grat amp but it only gives you progression - no melody.

**iGigBook** · 11-24-2015, 12:38 AM

Originally Posted by woland

Thanks for the reply - this is one of the worst apps I have ever seen.
It was around since 2010 and it BARELY works.
After I renamed file to conform to the app demand it just crashed and stopped working.

Are you using iGigBook with an iPad or and Android tablet? The Android version was released in December of 2014 and I would disagree about it barely working. If you can give us more information about your problem we can look into it. If an app has problems and you don't tell the developers, that doesn't enable them to fix the problem and make the app better. We do a fair amount of testing but there's always someone with a unique set of circumstances. Help us help you.

**woland** · 11-24-2015, 02:01 AM

Originally Posted by iGigBook

Are you using iGigBook with an iPad or and Android tablet? The Android version was released in December of 2014 and I would disagree about it barely working. If you can give us more information about your problem we can look into it. If an app has problems and you don't tell the developers, that doesn't enable them to fix the problem and make the app better. We do a fair amount of testing but there's always someone with a unique set of circumstances. Help us help you.

Thank you for writing. I am not trying to diss your app - I have seen people using it (on iPad) at the jam. However - I followed your tutorial to the T and I never got anywhere with it. I doubt that I have any unique set of circumstances (except perhaps for not a lot of storage space left on my SD card). Tutorial is way too short and it assumes best case scenario and does not offer any explanation about what to do when your steps do not work. I write software too - and every now and then I write tools for my team and provide them with documentation. So I would say you seriously could put more effort in your tutorial. After I hit dead end I had no information about how to handle it. The app would simply hang up on me. At one point I decided to minimize damages and return it for refund.

**iGigBook** · 11-24-2015, 11:41 AM

Originally Posted by woland

Thank you for writing. I am not trying to diss your app - I have seen people using it (on iPad) at the jam. However - I followed your tutorial to the T and I never got anywhere with it. I doubt that I have any unique set of circumstances (except perhaps for not a lot of storage space left on my SD card). Tutorial is way too short and it assumes best case scenario and does not offer any explanation about what to do when your steps do not work. I write software too - and every now and then I write tools for my team and provide them with documentation. So I would say you seriously could put more effort in your tutorial. After I hit dead end I had no information about how to handle it. The app would simply hang up on me. At one point I decided to minimize damages and return it for refund.

You may have felt that you hit a dead end but we do have a forum dedicated to the support of the app and also respond to email. If you write software you are aware that no matter how much time you put into a tutorial or documentation someone always has a question that your tutorial or documentation didn't cover. The tutorial in question is very basic and designed to get the user to recognize certain things that are being displayed to them. The hardest part of the tutorial is renaming a file. I'm sorry that you gave up in frustration, we would have helped you if you had brought this to our attention.

**RyanM** · 11-24-2015, 08:59 PM

The Fake Book Index

**Rachel** · 08-22-2016, 04:41 PM

The Fakebook Pro app seems to fit your description: Fakebook Song Links ~ Skrivarna Software

**lawson-stone** · 08-22-2016, 05:09 PM

I use iGigBook all the time and love it. It is a bit challenging to get up and running, but their support is good and I currently have a ton of fake books all indexed and available on iGigBook on my iPad. I've thought about scanning all my Aebersold books as well and creating an index for them, but haven't gotten around to it.

Maybe give them another chance, you know? They actually come on this forum and express "live" a desire to help, that's a strong plus in my book.

**Rachel** · 08-30-2016, 02:16 AM

Originally Posted by lawson-stone

I use iGigBook all the time and love it. It is a bit challenging to get up and running, but their support is good and I currently have a ton of fake books all indexed and available on iGigBook on my iPad. I've thought about scanning all my Aebersold books as well and creating an index for them, but haven't gotten around to it.
Maybe give them another chance, you know? They actually come on this forum and express "live" a desire to help, that's a strong plus in my book.

I was also an iGigBook user but gave up due to the frustrating process of getting the PDFs imported correctly -- this is just soooo much simpler in FakebookPro. (And, IMHO, Fakebook looks better and is easier to use. Guessing this might be an Android/iPhone thing?)

But I agree that iGig support (in forums) were quick and they have some odd gems indexed.

Anyway the apps are not expensive, so get both and try them out. The big investment is your time, scanning/finding, importing and indexing the books, so get it right from the start.

**Little Jay** · 08-30-2016, 04:12 AM

I am with Lawson-Stone: I am a happy iGig-book user! It's really not thát difficult!
(And the manual is inside iGig-book itself)

**JazzNote** · 08-30-2016, 08:20 AM

I have bought Igigbook for my iPadPro in spring this year (2016). It took me a lot of time and diligence to set it up but now that it works i find it a great app. Jt requires a lot of patience until it is running, but it is certainly worth the effort!