The goal with reeDminder is to make every day reed management a breeze, while providing all the tools needed to manage your inventory and track performance over time.
When I was a kid (before the Internet!), I managed my reeds in paper notebooks. In the modern age, I still use paper notebooks. I’ve tried spreadsheets, I’ve tried specialized apps, I’ve tried database apps… nothing is very well-suited for this specific task.
It’s true that there are a few reed management apps available. Emphasis on “few.” I was surprised to find out how thin the choices are. That, in and of itself is not a bad thing, as long as one choice is a good solution. None were. Not for me anyway – a normal person who likes to play but is not a professional musician.
The apps we found had one of two problems, they were either too complicated for a “normal” user, or they were too simple and lacked features. The one example I found of the latter is Android-only, and doesn’t do much more than let you tell the app that you have reeds. Not very useful. Of the former, there were several examples, but the audience for those apps is either professional musicians or double-reed instruments. The features of those apps are related to shaping your reeds and other topics that are significantly more complicated than most amateurs are willing to learn. And why should they?!
A reed tracking app should be easy to use every day. Period. We have put a lot of emphasis on separating administration tasks from day-to-day functions and streamlining the interface so that you can get in and out with little thought or effort.
We fully acknowledge that the initial iteration of reeDminder has been developed in a “bubble” to meet our own personal needs. We believe that the features we need from such an app are pretty common, but we want to hear from real users.
Please tell us what features you need from an app that you would want to use every day for tracking and managing your reeds. Connect with us using any of our social media links. We would LOVE to get your feedback!