Music Pad Pro Deal

I think this is a great price. I'm not interested, but somebody might be.
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/stupid

DonM

That's a steal at that price. 5 years ago I paid $1150, it has paid for itself a number of times.

The same here

Just curious, what is the advantage of the Music Pad over an iPad or one of the Android O/S units like the Samsung Galaxy Tab or any number of other brands? They will display PDF's of your charts, but also do all the other fun stuff of a tablet PC.

It's a fair bit bigger, so if your eyesight ain't that great...

The MPP only displays sheet music/lead sheets, it can't do anything else.....well there is a built mp3 player, but it's pretty useless. Yes it does have a larger screen for easier viewing. The other caveat is it will not display PDF, instead you have to convert to the proprietary .fh (freehand format). It was very time consuming getting all the files converted, that was a time consuming process.

Scott or anyone,

I've been wanting a large screen tablet that will allow me to store and read my music for a while now. The price has been holding me back.

Is THIS a good deal now that the new Apples are out (and I understand there will be a lot of new tablets from other manufacturers introduced in 2011)?

How many GB does this one store?
Anything at all I should know about on this one before I make a decision?

Thanks

Mark,

The MPP has served me well and doesn't owe me a penny, when I purchased it there wasn't much in the way of comparable devices. If you've waited this long you just may want to wait a while longer and see what other tablets are released. The MPP uses a flash drive, I have a 1 gig drive and after 5 years it's just over half full.

Hi Mark. My thoughts re the MPP now are pretty in line with Stephens. A great device in its day but with all the new tablets coming out now/soon, I'd wait to see what they offer. For me, the iPad is ideal because I mainly need it for leadsheets and/or lyrics and chords only. The smaller size is also perfectlyl suited for sitting directly on the Tyros 4 LCD screen which totally eliminates the distraction a larger music viewing device (laptop, larger tablet, music stand, etc) would present. The other thing I appreciate with the ipad is its' very "outdoor viewable" bright screen and long battery life. In comparison, the MPP outdoor viewability and battery life is pretty limited.

Battery life is also a BIG issue, even with all the new alternate brand tablets being released this year.

The BEST you will get is around 6 hours, and thats in low power mode.

Somehow Apple have this battery life nailed totally.

I can confirm (from my own testing) that I can get 10 hours and 36 minutes from a full cycle charge on my iPad. That is with the display set at approx 75% brightness. To be honest, anymore than that and you would need sunnies!!! But all else is running normally.

I did not use the audio output (I, like Scott, use it only for lead sheets, cheat cards etc). So if running the audio, you would probably get a little less battery time, but as I did not test I cannot say.

But it has to be said that on the alt tablets the 6hour time would also be reduced should the user be running audio as well.

Dennis

I, too am a great fan of the MPP, but anyone selling the MPP today should make it clear there is limited tech support, so, for me, $500 is too much!

Being nervous about it's remaining life I have been researching options. I am pleased with the latest release of MusicReader; it still has some bugs but I've used it on 2 gigs without problem.

As for platform I was planning on buying the Asus EP 121, 12 inch lightweight slate, but have been resizing my music (mostly lead sheets) in Sibelius to get the best output for the iPad.

The clincher was finding the xClip iPad holder on the Air Turn site. Combined with a gooseneck and short mic stand it brings the iPad over the keyboard, some 6" closer than if you put the iPad on the keyboard music stand.

Early days with this setup, but so far so good. Out again tomorrow.

Thanks guys....I guess I did the right thing by not jumping on it.

Steve, I didn't know it doesn't do PDF's. I scanned most of my music as PDF's and they're sitting on my hard drive. I wanted to use it, not for the stage, but for memorizing songs and referring to them when I forget them...and also to keep on top of where my songs are.

Scott, I would guess that it IS outdated or it wouldn't be on sale. That's a great pitch you have for the iPad. I'm going to keep my eye on that and also sit in the corner and wait to see what comes out this year.

Dennis...I forgot about the battery factor and the lack of tech support Graham mentioned.

Thanks guys for saving me $529.99

Mark

Dennis,

You are right about the MPP battery life it's crap, much less than you think, more like less than one hour, HOWEVER when the battery goes on the IPAD try openening it up to put a new one in Ha Ha bloody Ha, not defending the MPP because I am not happy mine is at the menders.


Tony

Mind you, in the big picture, battery life isn't REALLY an issue, unless your arranger and PA are all battery powered and you play in a field..!

Err, in the field of tablets, yes it is.. a MAJOR issue!!

But on a gig, you got power. If that's what you primarily use it for (what other use has an MPP?) where's the problem?

Or did you think I was talking about the iPad or other tablets?

Diki this thread IS about tablets. What do you think the MPP is???

A plasma TV?

And with ALL tablets, battery life is probably the biggest single major issue.

You do like to get off on tangents don't you

This thread has NOTHING to do with keyboard or PA gear!!

Dennis

Though I concur that there's typically already power required for the rest of your rig at most gig venues, I really appreciate not having to drag along yet another power cord around to gigs. The iPad can run up to 10 hours on a battery charge. Without a power cord attached, the iPad can conveniently sit anywhere and be easily moved about on stage without distraction. With my Tyros 4, I leave it sitting next to me, and then quicked grab it with one hand and leaned in front of my Tyros 4 LCD screen when needed, and then just as quickly remove it, when not required. All this time, the audience doesn't notice the iPad, because its not in the audience line of sight, and partly because theres no power cord attached to it to call attention to it. The MPP, laptop, or even a netbook, don't offer this kind of on stage convenience, lighweight flexibility, device size discetion, or the level of outdoor viewability the iPad offers. JMO as I own(ed) all four.

I agree completely (mind you, OP is 'Music Pad Pro deal' and previous post only mentioned MPP, so I thought I was being clear)... however, especially for us more elderly, not so good eyesight types there are advantages to something a bit bigger than an iPad.

If your PRIMARY reason is reading charts, the power supply is a small price to pay, IMO.

Well the question was asked about the advantages of the MPP over the iPad and other devices, so I guess us "oldies with the poor eyesight" can read a bit better than you think

Battery life is certainly one advantage.....

Dennis