Evernote Review: the Songwriting App To Help You Write Songs Faster

Imagine you’re getting coffee with a friend and then boom…

You get a song idea.

Maybe it’s a short melody with some super interesting lyrics. 

And you don’t want to forget any of it, but how are you going to remember it exactly?

Well…

The most organized and quick way to jot down lyrics and record your song idea is the Evernote app. 

I use it for all of my songwriting. 

It’s probably my favorite tool for writing songs.

I used to write in my notebook and record song ideas in my phone’s voice memos. But that got confusing and disorganized real quick.

That’s why I highly recommend this songwriting app.  

So here’s what I’ll cover in this Evernote review…

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What’s so Great About Evernote?

Okay, why am I loving on Evernote so much? 

Because it has features perfect for songwriters. It’s usually called a “productivity app,” but I like to think of it as a songwriting app.

I do all of my songwriting in Evernote. 

In my experience, here are some of the stand-out features AKA the pros of the Basic plan:

• Easy-to-use note-taking
• Notebooks for categorizing notes
• The ability to embed audio within notes
• Every note is dated and timestamped
• Storage space resets every month
• Share notes with friends

I’ll go into more detail on some of these in the next section. 

Any cons? Sure, everything has cons.

Here are the biggest downsides of the Basic plan:

• Can only sync across two devices
• 60 MB may not be enough storage (I usually get close to that limit each month)
• Notes not available offline

So, if you want to write songs faster, Evernote can help with that. 

If you’re like me, you can type faster than you can handwrite. 

This means you can get your lyric ideas out faster. And you can quickly record your song idea and have it sit right next to your lyrics. 

And you can use Evernote on your computer or your phone.

I like to do Stream-Of-Consciousness writing on the browser version of Evernote because I can type faster than I can tap. 

And it’s free, so that’s always a big plus. 

How You Can Use Evernote for Songwriting (How I Use It)

Now let me show you how I use Evernote for songwriting. 

Like I said, this is where I do all of my songwriting.

I do have physical notebooks for jotting down ideas and journaling (which is a great source for song ideas). 

But when it comes to actually writing a song, Evernote is where I turn. 

Here are the main features I use when songwriting…

Notebooks

I’m an organization freak. I love categorizing and scheduling things, so Evernote speaks to me. 

It lets you create Notebooks, in which you store your notes. 

I organize my notebooks by project or by things like:

• Songs in progress
• Finished songs
• Songwriting exercises

Here’s what it looks like:

Audio within notes

The main feature I’m in love with is being able to put audio files inside of your note. Like, right next to my lyrics. 

No more naming voice memos and then trying to find the ones that match the lyrics in my physical notebook. 

The lyrics, the audio, chords, and any other notes-to-self are right there, together. 

I can record and playback my ideas within Evernote, making this an all-in-one songwriting app.

Here’s what it looks like:

Date and timestamp

When you create a new note, the app timestamps it for you — even down to the minute. 

Then, every time you edit a note, the app keeps track of that and gives you a timestamp of the most recent update.

I’m not sure if this can help support your rights to the song, but I’d like to think it has some influence. 

Mainly, it’s just fun to see when you first got the idea for a song and when you finished it. 

Evernote Pricing and Plans

Evernote has two plans: Basic and Premium. 

The Basic plan offers:

• Syncing between two devices
• 60 MB of storage each month (resets monthly)
• Ability to share notes with others

And the Premium plan offers:

• Unlimited devices
• 10 GB of monthly storage
• Access notes offline
• Forward emails into Evernote
• Search in attachments

The Basic plan, as I said, is free. No strings attached.

The Premium plan is either $7.99 a month of $69.99 a year ($5.83 a month).

RELATED: How To Make A Living As A Songwriter 

My Takeaway

Every songwriter needs to at least try Evernote.

It’s fast. It’s organized. And you’ll never forget a song idea again.

Also, it’s perfect for any budget because if you have no money, no problem. Although if you do have the budget for $8 a month, you can get a bunch of extra features. 

Whatever the case, I highly recommend using Evernote for writing songs.

It’s the best songwriting app I’ve found so far.