Comparison

Taper's Section vs DEADSHOWZ

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Taper's Section

Access a vast library of live music recordings from archive.org. Stream, save, and organize your favorite shows, build playlists, and enjoy offline listening. Features background playback and powerful search capabilities.

Highlights
  • Stream live music from archive.org
  • Save favorite bands and shows
  • Background streaming
  • Offline listening
  • Powerful search and filtering
  • Build and share playlists
  • Manage play queue
Features
Read full description

Taper's Section gives you access to the Live Music Archive from archive.org in the palm of your hand. * Stream your favorite shows from over 5,000 bands * Save your favorite bands and shows for quick access * Easily access your recently played shows * Background streaming with Bluetooth and AirPlay compatibility * Powerful search and filtering options * Build playlists and share them with your friends * Build a play queue, reorder your queue, and make it a new playlist * Offline listening - save your data plan while listening to your downloaded shows while away from WiFi.

About

DEADSHOWZ

Explore a comprehensive Grateful Dead concert database with advanced search capabilities. Find shows by venue, song, date, or guest artist, and create custom playlists. Stream concerts directly from the app.

Highlights
  • Searchable Grateful Dead concert database
  • Multi-criteria search with AND/OR/NOT qualifiers
  • Custom playlist creation
  • Track attended shows
  • Song, venue, and artist statistics
  • Direct concert streaming
Features
Read full description

DEADSHOWZ 2.0 is the most powerful Grateful Dead concert reference tool ever to fit in your pocket — more than 2,350 shows spanning 1965 to 1995, searchable from any angle! Stack any search criteria you want: song, venue, city, state or country, date or year, guest artist, setlist position, one song into another, bustouts, shows you attended, your favorites. Combine them with AND, OR and NOT. Every show at Madison Square Garden. Every one that featured Bertha. Every one on a Tuesday. Or all three at once — and the count updates as you build, before you ever run the search. Long-press any song, venue, city, state or guest artist to open its Deep Dive — total performances, first and last, peak year, most-played songs, segue partners, bustout gaps, and every song that debuted or was played for the last time there. Tap a count and you get the shows behind it, and Back brings you right back to where you were. Found something interesting? Send it into Search with its conditions already filled in and keep narrowing. Winterland in '77 becomes Winterland in '77 including Playing In The Band in two taps. Mark the shows you attended, tag your favorites, and build playlists in any order you like. Send a playlist, your Favorites, or your Attended list to a friend with one tap — no account, no server, straight from you to them. Make it yours: twelve backgrounds, six typefaces, your own text color and size, and alignment settings for nearly every list. And where a recording exists, you can stream the whole concert with a single tap — a handy bonus atop the deepest Grateful Dead reference tool in your pocket. Recordings come from public archives, are never stored on your device, and what's available varies from show to show. No subscription, no ads, no account required, nothing ever collected. Just good, clean, musical fun! Grateful Dead lyricist John Perry Barlow called DEADSHOWZ "a very worthy venture celebrating the music of our lives." We're sure you're gonna agree... ...Nothin' left to do but smile, smile, smile!

Screenshots

Taper's Section4 screens
DEADSHOWZ4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Taper's Section at Free against DEADSHOWZ's $2.99. Taper's Section also leads on iOS requirement (12.0 vs 16.0). On rating, review sentiment, ratings volume and update cadence there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Taper's Section is free to download; DEADSHOWZ costs $2.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.5 for Taper's Section against 4.4 for DEADSHOWZ. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 40 and 17 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 90% of Taper's Section's written reviews are positive against 86% of DEADSHOWZ's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Taper's Section ships an update every 3 months, DEADSHOWZ every 4 months. Both last shipped on October 24, 2026.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Taper's Section versus DEADSHOWZ: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterTaper's SectionDEADSHOWZ
PriceFree — better$2.99
Rating4.5 (40 ratings) — better4.4 (17 ratings)
Positive reviews90.0% of reviews — better85.7% of reviews
Number of ratings40 — better17
Update frequencyEvery 3 months — betterEvery 4 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree — betterPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS12.0 — better16.0
Further details — not scored
Size55 MB59 MB
Age rating12+4+
DeveloperFranklin KeslerSYKODELIC, LLC

Customer experience

Taper's Section

All ratings39 ratings
Positive87.2%
Neutral0.0%
Negative12.8%
Written reviews10 reviews
Positive90.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative10.0%

DEADSHOWZ

All ratings17 ratings
Positive82.4%
Neutral0.0%
Negative17.6%
Written reviews7 reviews
Positive85.7%
Neutral0.0%
Negative14.3%

In-app purchases

None

Taper's Section

No in-app purchases

None

DEADSHOWZ

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Taper's Section free?
Taper's Section is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is DEADSHOWZ free?
DEADSHOWZ costs $2.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Taper's Section or DEADSHOWZ?
Taper's Section is rated higher. Taper's Section averages 4.5 out of 5 from 40 ratings, while DEADSHOWZ averages 4.4 from 17 ratings.
Do Taper's Section or DEADSHOWZ have ads?
Neither Taper's Section nor DEADSHOWZ shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Taper's Section or DEADSHOWZ?
Taper's Section ships an update every 3 months, and DEADSHOWZ every 4 months. Most recently, Taper's Section was updated on October 24, 2026 and DEADSHOWZ on October 24, 2026.

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