+1

Gary

I have both, high end Toshiba Laptop and Motorola Xoom, but don't use either for any music applications (I use a hi-perf desktop in my 'studio'). So this only pertains to general use (probably not pertinent to this discussion, but.....). After the novelty of the tablet wore off (about a month and hundreds of mostly useless apps), I was back almost exclusively on the laptop. About the only thing I like about the tablet is the great battery life, about 10 hrs. In fact, I use a HP Touchsmart in my office and another Hi-perf desktop for video editing (3D/5.1). For what it's worth, my son is just the opposite and his tablet has essentially replaced his laptop for general use. Different strokes, I guess.

For some reason, I can remember songs from 40 years ago, lyrics, chords, and melody, but not our anniversary. Oh well.

chas

That's what I have, Motorola Xoom. It has some neat stuff, like two cameras, great Navigation app, etc. Jury is still out for music stuff though.
DonM

I know about the teleprompters, guys. But, unless we are talking about elderly stars in their twilight years, even those are few and far between. Not to mention, these are things that sit at their feet. It's is very unusual to see anyone reading from something at eye level.

C'mon! American Idol, or The Voice... you KNOW they'd get ripped a new one if they brought a laptop or iPad on stage for their act!

Dennis, I know where you're coming from, and I understand the need if you want to have such a huge repertoire at your fingertips. The thing is, that's primarily for YOUR entertainment rather than your audience's. How much of them is repeat business, and how many tend to be seeing you for the first time? You've got to have a VERY dedicated fan before you need more than a couple of hundred songs or so, often FAR fewer than that... and you know what? They are FAR more likely to keep asking you to do the same favorites of theirs over and over than they are to tell you they are getting bored of the same couple of hundred!

Nothing wrong with having a huge on demand repertoire, but it's not exactly needed. Me, I tend to think of my time onstage as THEIR time, not mine. If I get bored of the same songs all the time (and trust me, they keep asking for them!), I simply think 'I'm playing four hours for them... that leaves 20 in the day where I can play what I want to at home'!

Then we are BOTH happy.

Im playing the same songs for over 40 years....

I use a PC Desktop, but also have ASUS TF101 Tablet which I find excellent. Size as per Netbook Includes detectable keyboard & 2 USB ports. Keyboard contain Battery & Tablet also has battery, together gives upto 16 hrs usage.
I like the Android OS as it works fast and slick with thousands of free applications (programs).

I considered the iPad but the additions like USB & HDMI outputs are very costly.

Actually Diki, it is designed primarily for the audience, that it also works for me personally is a bonus. I actively encourage requests at my gigs, and at my regular haunts audiences usually trust and enjoy the selection I make for any given night. But they will also come up and ask for quite different tunes, for various reasons and you would know what they are...

My system allows me to, mostly, give them exactly what they want...unlike in the band days where I would have to B.S and say "...not tonight I am sorry , but we WILL have that one ready for you at the next gig..." knowing full well the patron probably would NOT be at the next gig...

Believe me when I say in the near two years I have been running this system, just once did someone enquire about the device I was using. The thing with the iPad is it is so unobtrusive...with the lift up screen on the PA3 (same as those using ipads with a Tyros with ITS lift up screen) hiding most of it...it REALLY is not that noticeable.

And for mine, having that ability to make a patrons night just that bit happier and enjoyable because I could play THEIR song, far FAR outweighs any possible negatives of using the iPad charts.

I also do not have my head stuck in the book, as it were, because most of the tunes on my 935 list (and growing - just about to add the Pink Floyd, Muse and My Chemical Romance songlists, oh and some Chopin nocturnes and ballads)
I have usually played at home a few times so I am familiar with them as soon as the chart pops up..I am also, if you allow me to say, very good at sight reading so even if it's a tune I have not seen, there is usually no problem.... not the classicals though - they take a bit more work!!!! (:D LOTS more)

So really, having this large rep IS all for the audience.....not that I am making any criticisms of anybody, but those who simply play the same songs over and over again are possibly either scared to try something new, too comfortable in just repeating what they did last week, or are just a bit complacent.

The need to learn hundreds of songs so completely that it requires no assistance to recall, is daunting, maybe even impossible so I understand why those who eschew using charts do stick to a small but repeatable rep....it maybe a an incorrect view, but there you have it.

It is really easy to pick performers who have played songs to death, no matter HOW hard they try to disguise it, and this also permeates to the audience I think...

And playing new stuff all the time also stops it all becoming rather just like a "job" I have ALWAYS promised myself that if one day I woke up and discovered doing gigs had turned into a "job", that would be the day I quit!!

Dennis

I say if it ain't broke don't fix it.

Whatever works, Dennis. I am lucky, I guess, in that coming originally from a classical background, the number of times I play a piece doesn't really have any effect on me. I mean, can you imagine how many times the Berlin Philharmonic has played Beethoven's Ninth, or Fifth?! I doubt you will EVER see them groan or roll their eyes or communicate anything other than reverence for the music and delight to be able to play it for their audience.

Same here. Margaritaville? No problem. It's a tune, no better or worse than any other. I tend to be simply happy if I'm playing..!

I certainly don't have anywhere NEAR the repertoire that you have on call, but what I do have doesn't require a chart. Swings and roundabouts, I suppose. My main way of increasing what I play in public is mostly to play a LOT with other people. I still prefer to work in more of the sideman or accompanist role. My voice is OK enough to do solos, but there are so many others FAR better than me! So, in the end, I end up not only having to learn MY repertoire, but that of many other people too. So I guess (I've never really bothered to count) it's reasonably up there.

But that sounds like a great act you have got going there, Dennis. I wish I could make it to Oz one day and come see it.

Just curious. How many of you can sight transpose a chart on the fly, especially an up-tempo number? Just speaking for myself, but I find it much easier to transpose a tune I already know well, in fact, I really CAN'T transpose even a chord (fakebook) sheet on the fly if it complicated and I really don't know it. I don't think so much 'transpose' as much as just playing it in a different key (same thing but not really - it's a mental thing). Of course, IF I have to play it not in the original key (I have always learned all tunes in the original key), then the new key had better be C, Eb, F, G, Bb, or their relative minors .

Most guys that play mostly jazz know most of the 100-150 most popular so-called jazz standards. In most jazz clubs, it's going to be either that or original material. Doesn't get old though, as most jazz audiences actually WANT to hear something familiar, just with a new take on it. At least that's been my experience. They are much more tolerant of an oft-played tune than a lousy performance. As for the (jazz) players, it always a pleasant challenge to see what else you can do with it (the tune). You rarely see a chart in a jazz club if the group is less than five players. Not saying it's good or bad, just the way it is.

chas