[alatona]

I have been waiting to take the plunge into the world of tablets... I am a piano teacher and accompanist, and I really want to have tablet on which I can keep my performing library so I can play weddings, funerals, and my accompanying gigs for student musicians.

I really DON'T want an Ipad because (1) the screen is too small for me to play from and (2) I do not want to sell my soul to Apple!!! The only Apple product I have is my MacBook Pro, but I do not want to buy in to the over-priced Ipod, Iphone, Ipad products. I think I want a 10-inch tablet.

I have done a lot of reading on the Music Sheets forum & website today, and I think this MobileSheets app/program is EXACTLY what I need!! (I really REALLY want to have the functionality for annotations). Now I just have to find the right tablet to purchase. I will want to use it for live performance, without audio, and I may or may not use a bluetooth device for page turning. I think I can handle touching the screen in most cases; it will need to have a battery-life of at least 2 hours for gigs. The tablet will need to stay securely on any piano's music rack and not fall down if I tap the screen! I will want to store my music on the device AND back it up on a removable storage device or card. I want to be able to use it with finger touch or stylus. I'd like to be able to use it in portrait OR landscape mode, and I'd definitely like to spend less than $500. I may also use it with my piano students for music theory apps & games, and it would be fabulous if I could put a couple of movies on it, record accompaniments for clients as MP3 files, or use it for Skype. I don't have any kind of data plan, so any internet usage would be via WiFi... not 3G/4G stuff. I have not entered the world of smart phones.

I would welcome comments from other users as to the tablets you prefer or recommend; I want to make a purchase before the end of 2012. Thanks in advance for your input, and BRAVO to Mike for developing & maintaining this app so well!! I'm looking forward to being a user!

Am&a

[gman]

Most of the current Android tablets should work fine. The Android tabs are a different shapes than the Ipad and have a shape more like HD tvs. They aren't bigger than the Ipad. I use the Asus brands that have excellent IPS screens with nice viewing angles. You would spend about $250 for an Asus 101 and over $500 for the new Infinity. I use the TF 300 for gigs and you can find one for about $350. This IMHO is the best bang for buck and will easily exceed your needs.

Many venues have wifi. The Asus tabs work with micro sd cards and with a usb adapter can connect to most devices like keyboards and hard drives. I now perform all gigs without my heavy books and stand and carry numerous pdf fakebooks.

[cdawe55]

I use an Asus TF300 and it is absolutely brilliant. I use it with wifi on and a bluetooth pedal and the battery lasts through 2 gigs a day no problem. It has a quad-core processor so it is fast and has plenty of power for gaming and enough storage for a few movies. Plus the option of up to 32Gb more on an external card.

[scoleman]

I still find tablets a bit limited for performance, at least on piano. I play a weekly church gig in a praise band and have to manage a lot of back and forth and back and forth pages (and sometimes on the fly) . I have a bluetooth foot pedal and that helps a bit (and in part I'm sure it's my lack of experience with it) but t's not very natural for me to have my foot hovering over it to make fast changes in one direction or the other.

Probably if you're not a piano player (or don't need to read multipart scores) you don't mind the small screen, but it would be great to see a 12" tablet on the market!

I do however LOVE the ability to have all my music in one place when I need it. And they're great when I'm playing uke or flute.

[brenzi]

I use the samsung galaxy tab and am quite happy with it. I've ben waiting for an A4 sized tablet for quite a while, but this does not seem to be the market demand.
If you buy a 10" tablet, make sure you have a decent screeen resolution.
Battery power was no problem so far for me. beyond 4h performance possible.

regards Alain

[bumblebee]

... but it would be great to see a 12" tablet on the market!

http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/06/h...excite-13/
this is a 13" tablet.
But personally I prefer the 4:3 proportion (iPad 1,2,3 and only a few Android tablets - and the 'deceased' HP touchpad) for music as it is in the proportion of music pages in general (unless you are making your own PDFs from Sibelius or Finale, where you can set a custom page size/proportion.)

[isoG]

I just picked up a Toshiba Excite 13 while in Canada earlier this week. At $650.00 plus $100.00 tax, this is a very expensive unit. For some reason, it is not available here in the US. (Interestingly, Amazon.ca has it online, but Amazon.com does not) The display is great with Mobile Sheets and if you format your music (I use MuseScore www.musescore.org) to legal size, it makes most use of the 16:9 screen. I also make the notes a bit larger. The Excite dwarfs my Acer 10" A500 and makes Mobile Sheets a dream to use.

Also, I noticed that an Archos 13" tablet has recently made it through FCC testing. This uses a single core processor so it may not be as nearly responsive as the Excite, but will probably be more than adequate for a music reader application. It should cost substantially less than the Excite. (Archos is known as a lox price point manufacturer) So if you can wait a few weeks, it may be worthwhile to check this unit out.

[alatona]

So... I tried to get an 8" Archos tablet 4:3, that was on sale at Staples, but they ran out. At the suggestion of the sales clerk that was helping me that day, I started shopping for an Acer Iconia A500. He suggested this one because I have no need for 3G/4G at this time, and the A500 has a full size usb port, micro hdmi out, and an SD card slot, and internet can be accessed via WiFi.

I found a used one on ebay and just got it yesterday. Mobilesheets was the first app I downloaded this morning. :-) Thanks, everyone, for your input. If I like the digital music stand experience, I might spend some more $$ on a better tablet, but for now I'm learning how to do the touch screen thing... here goes nothing!

Am&a

[bumblebee]

Helo Alatona
Thanks for reporting back to us about your purchase, I hope it works out for you. I have the related A200 which works well. I think you made a good purchase with the A500 instead of the Archos. You really do need the bigger screen - I would have thought 8" is too small for notation.

I have not got bluetooth foot pedals working on my A200. If you find it does not work on yours, you can try a USB one. Given that you are seated it probably does not matter as much (whether it is wireless or not) as you are in the one place. This is a related post:
http://zubersoft.com/mobilesheets/forum/...333#pid333

Let us know how it works out or if there are any questions.