Hi SemiLive,

The music device I use is called the : MusicPadPro+ from FreehandSystems: http://freehandsystems.com/products.html

You're able to easily name, organize & sort songs in any number of categories (folders) you create, and the same song(s) can appear in different folders as well,if you wish. The MusicPad comes with 32MB internal memory & a 64MB USB memory stick, but also supports multiple USB Flash Pen Drives. I got three 256MB Memory sticks, each of which will hold up to 2,000 songs, so song capacity limitation should NEVER become an issue.

In addition, you can create custom playlists to categorize your songs. I organize my leadsheet song library (600+ songs so far) alpahbetically in folders . This allows me to select any song off the top of my head quickly by tapping the screen with my finger. You could then create 9 custom playlists in the categories you outlined and link associated songs to these. Then all the songs which meet your criteria (mood/temp, etc) will come up to choose from when the playlist is called up.

Since my keyboard (Yamaha Tyros) already includes a terrific song organization tool (MusicFinder) which allows me to categorize, organize, & search my song repetoire library (600+ song record listing of all my songsheets stored on the MusicPad Pro+), I'm able to create similar playlist categories to yours in the MusicFinder, and then quickly call up corresponding leadsheet via alphabetically organized folers on the MusicPad if required. I try to keep my leadsheets limited to one page, to avoid having to turn pages, but it's still very convenient to turn the page with a light tap on the the (right/left) portion of touchscreen (page forward/back) or even hands free via footpedals (2).

I'm finding the viewability (brightness & sharpness) of the screen very good to excellent and (believe it or not) easier to read than paper sheet music now. Because the screen is backlighted, you eliminate the glare of a light shined on top of traditional paper. Indoors and in medium brightness outdoors, the MusicPad Pro's viewability is terrific, but in bright direct sunlight, the viewability is not good. Viewing from a slight angle poses no problem, but as typical of even the best LCD screens, visiability drops the further off angle you are. I would think that if the room (stage) is indoors and your partner is seated in fairly close proximity to the MusicPad (even off angle) that he should be able to see the music fine (if not better) than he could the paper sheets you're using now. Having the music backlight (bright) actually makes it easier to see.

I really enjoy and appreciate the convenience of the MusicPadPro+ but here a few negatives to consider. Song selection via bare finger touch is a little tricky, especially with large fingers. On the plus side, is that a new OS update (downloadable) will include improved finger selection. In addition, the new OS will include more music sheet editing capabilities. In addition to notation editing (already included), it will allow you to add/edit chord symbols, lyrics via keyboard popup entry.

Ok, hope this provides answers to your questions. If you're a musician with a large repetoire (or one with cash to burn, it's $1,200 ), and have always dreamed of having ALL your music stored & available in ONE place (from studio rehearsal to stage) then the MusicPad Pro+ is well worth your time and investment. I like to markup my music , so for a specific song, I might possibly even add additional pages (alternate chord voicings, different renditions, keys, etc) to the song record file, keeping everything organized & stored together. Of course there is the initial conversion work from paper to digital (.fh) format work to consider, but now that I finally have my core song library converted, I feel it was well worth the time & effort of never having to deal with xeroxing leadsheets, marking up, erasing,having then become wrinkled and torn, and getting lost again. It's cool to have my entire song library taking up less than 50Mb of memory, and all backed up on CD. My music has finally entered the digital age.

Scott