Derek Lee: ok Derrick yeah I’m understanding the tag organization feature now. This could work really well. For me I will see myself probably creating a list of all my tags on a separate document to keep track but this will allow us to at least organize by categories so it’s easier to search. A folder system in the future I think would still be ideal potentially but the tag feature will definitely get the job done and be a legit method to organizing beats for now. I see myself creating countless beat files in the future for social media (especially Tik Tok) and not having a means to organize will be a major issue at some point. But yeah the tag method actually looks pretty darn cool so I’m very pleased and can’t wait for the new update!

Jesse Rolland: Thanks Jesse! I took a lot of time to dig into both folders and tags as ways to organize information, and while I understand folders may be a common approach to organizing data in general, when it comes to organizing beats I kept coming across examples where a single beat would fall under multiple categories. I should share more details about the research I did here at some point to pull the curtain back and give you more insights into what went into it.

It may not be a typical approach that many apps are taking, but I really want to stress that not only with tags, but all features in BN, are just where that feature is at that point in time as part of an iterative process. Let's start with tags and see how your organization goes - then, you can share more feedback with me about how it's going and what your pain points are.

It's probably not worth diving into at this point, but based on your response I wonder:

There's only so much we can get into over written medium, so if and when you have the time, I'd prefer to chat 1:1 so I can better understand what it is you want to do and I can leverage that feedback into further improvements. (And that offer is available for anyone reading this!)

Please share your TikTok with me as well so I can follow you and support you on there too! 👍🏻

Derek Lee: Hey you what? I’m actually realizing now that the tag system could actually be a superior organization method over standard folders. Like you were saying it’s just not what we are used to traditionally speaking. As far as making a separate document to keep track of tags, honestly I drank a ton of coffee earlier so my brain is a little disoriented this evening and totally forgot that your screenshots show that tags are listed in BN so yeah I definitely would not need to create a separate document. That really is not ideal as you really want to be able to rely on the app itself. The idea of creating multiple tags for beats is really intriguing the more I think about it now. Creating a folder system for yourself definitely requires more pre-meditation in terms of preferences. With tags I see how you would not have to think so hard about organizing. Instead I would be able to create lots of tags for a single beat and search for beats probably in a more intuitive way. Again, as you said this isn’t the traditional approach but it actually might be a superior approach the more I think about it. I simply won’t have to plan out a folder system for scaling up when my beats library really builds up. Now that I am understanding the benefits of the tag method this really growing on me and a folder feature is becoming way less desirable now and probably not even needed! Thanks for clarifying this feature!

Jesse Rolland: Thanks for sharing your thought process on this! And more importantly, thanks for being open to trying it and thinking through how you might be able to use it. 👍🏻

At least right now, this is all theoretical - so I'll wrap up the last of the dev on this and get the feature out to you ASAP so you can start to play with it. As you use it, continue to share your feedback about what's working (no need to fix it if it's not broken) and what you're still struggling with. Then we can explore different options, pros/cons/tradeoffs, iterate a bit, see if it gets better or worse, rinse and repeat. Onwards and upwards! 🤘🏻

Derek Lee: hey yeah also I would actually really like to chat with you more about your 1:1. I have major plans with your app over the coming months. I am going to build a web store and sell the beats I create on your app and like I said build a huge social media following. I was actually play drums professionally and a very unique way and I am able to sustain myself financially for sure over the next 3.5 months so I am using this time to focus on this project with all the free time I have. I can give a lot more details in private conversation. Can you email me privately so we can arrange a time to chat? How would you want to do it? Video chat? I’m fine with whatever… Let me know! Thanks!

Jesse Rolland: Looks like you're smelling what I'm cooking! Phase two for Beat Note is a web store allowing people such as yourself to self-publish and sell your content. I already have an initial group of content creators I'm working with to prepare the release of the store later this year. Maybe you'd be interested to also be a part of the inaugural group?

I'll send you an email (check your spam in case it ends up there). You can also contact me anytime right from within the app under the settings screen > "Email Derek" and you can also see my online schedule for 1:1 meetings and schedule something there as well. The next few weeks are uncertain for me (traveling to attend conferences to promote BN), but I'm sure we can find a time. 👍🏻

Select tags to be associated to a beat on the "Manage Tags" screen. Selected tags are shown on the edit beat and practice beat screens:

The main "My Beats" screen will by default show "All Beats" as it does currently.

From here, you can navigate back to a new screen to select which beats you want to view: all beats, recent beats by timeframe (including counts), or beats with a specific tag (including counts).

Since beats can be associated with multiple tags, the same beat could be found under different tags.

Of course, as with all features in BN, this is just the first iteration for this feature. By sharing your feedback, we will continue to work together to get it dialed in perfectly. Thanks for supporting Beat Note!

Anita Hoogewoonink: Thanks for your feedback, Anita! I will make a note of this request to sort beats by name. That would be helpful, indeed! 👍🏻

I just created a new feature request to track this: https://roadmap.beat-note.app/feature-requests/p/on-the-my-beats-screen-i-want-to-sort-beats-by-name-so-they-are-easier-to-find

Thanks Anita! 🎉

Gilles Mercier: Thanks for the kind comment Gilles! I spoke with several users via user interviews, and the question of folders vs. tags came up quite a bit.

Another user also requested folders, and you can read my response here: https://roadmap.beat-note.app/feature-requests/p/folders-organisation

Long story short, I've concluded that tags would be more useful and versatile as a single beat could be categorized under multiple categories, which would be more useful than just a single folder. Some programs (like Evernote, for example) support both, but I think having both would negatively impact the intuitiveness and simplicity of the app.

If you are interested, I'd be happy to share the mockups for the tags implementation with you to get your feedback before development is complete. 👍🏻