Comparison

Tunebook vs Score Reader Lite

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

Head to head
About

Tunebook

This app is a viewer for music written in the ABC format, a text-based notation popular for folk music. It allows users to import tunes from the web, organize them into collections, search by title, key, or time signature, and view them in musical notation. Users can also play the tunes with various voices.

Highlights
  • ABC music format viewer
  • Import tunes from websites
  • Search tunes by title, key, time signature
  • Display musical notation
  • Play tunes with various voices
  • Organize tunes into tunebooks
Features
Read full description

Tunebook is now identical to the Tunebook for iPad application - don't buy both! I keep both on the App Store because it's not possible to provide an upgrade path to a single app without forcing some users to pay twice. Tunebook is a viewer for music expressed in the ABC format. ABC is a simple text-based notation for music and many thousands of tunes are freely available in this format on the Web. ABC is also supported by many music applications. See http://abc.sourceforge.net/ for more details on the ABC format. The format is primarily geared towards traditional folk music where tunes fit on a single page. Tunebook allows you to import files in the ABC format from websites into its database. You can then list the tunes, search for tunes by words in the title, by key and by time signature. Selecting a tune will display it in musical notation and allow you to play it in a variety of voices. You can also create tunebooks to organize your tune collection. Tunebook is based on the well-known abc2ps and abc2midi applications, and licensed under the GPL. The source code is available from http://www.jhlabs.com/tunebook.

About

Score Reader Lite

Features
Read full description

Reading orchestral or band scores to an advanced level takes years to master. With so many instruments and their specific clefs and transpositions, it’s not straightforward to identify what the notes actually are! This app is a handy tool for checking how written notes translate to sounding notes. - Intended for music students, conductors, composers and anybody who wants to get quicker at sight reading scores - Choose from over 50 instruments to explore - many with configurable transposition options - Includes guidance on the fundamentals of reading transposing instruments - Supports dark and light themes If you find this app useful and want to take your transposing skills to the next level, please check out Score Reader Pro! - Test yourself by transposing randomly generated notes - Unlocks over 50 extra instruments - Supports 4 clefs, double flats/sharps, and key signatures with up to 7 flats/sharps - Includes options to set instrument ranges, and the training session length - See how much you’ve improved on the detailed session history page - Completely ad free!

Screenshots

Tunebook3 screens
Score Reader Lite4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Score Reader Lite at fortnightly against Tunebook's every 2 months. Tunebook's advantage is iOS requirement (9.0 vs 16.3). On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support 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

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Tunebook ships an update every 2 months, Score Reader Lite fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on July 8, 2026 and September 22, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Tunebook versus Score Reader Lite: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterTunebookScore Reader Lite
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.0 (6 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews75.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings6 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsFortnightly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaid—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS9.0 — better16.3
Further details — not scored
Size32 MB2 MB
Age rating17+4+
DeveloperJH LabsMatt Welch

In-app purchases

None

Tunebook

No in-app purchases

None

Score Reader Lite

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Tunebook free?
Tunebook is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Score Reader Lite free?
Score Reader Lite is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Tunebook or Score Reader Lite have ads?
Neither Tunebook nor Score Reader Lite shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Tunebook or Score Reader Lite?
Tunebook ships an update every 2 months, and Score Reader Lite fortnightly. Most recently, Tunebook was updated on July 8, 2026 and Score Reader Lite on September 22, 2026.

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