Big tablet for sheet music

[gaptrast]

Hi mobileread community!

I am a musician, and have long been intrigued by the idea of having a tablet or an e-ink display to store my sheet music. It would have been a huge advantage since I am not a big fan of carrying tons of paper around, and I tend to lose them quite often too.

Use: I will bring the tablet when practicing or other occasions it may be in help. It should not be too bulky/ugly. And it should be able to read pdfs.

So I have finally found out (I think) that I will be getting an e-ink display and not a normal tablet. I find the jungle of e-ink tablets confusing and difficult to navigate in. 6 inch readers are by far the most popular, and there are fewer of the bigger e-readers that I will need.

I have seen some 9,7 inch tablets and that seems like a reasonable size for my needs.

So, I've come over the Onyx Boox M92 and it looks really cool! (actually I first found the icarus thing, but it is the same device?).

My question to you is if the Onyx Boox M92 a good choice for me. It costs like 279 € (link) and I don't want to use that much money if it is a waste of money. Eventually, are there any good/similar tablet that you think will fit me better?


Why I don't want a android or ios tablet: not the same to read from, i want to try e-ink, i would have started to use the android and ios tablets to other things like games..

[WT Sharpe]

I've tried using my 10" iPad Air for reading sheet music, though of course it has no eInk screen, but I find the size is a bit small. A 14" screen, I think, would be more suitable for these failing eyes, but the cost, I suppose, would be prohibitive. Not to mention, you need apps that work with the device. Music scores aren't as easily converted between formats as are eBooks. On second thought, you could to have them all in PDF format.

[Glorfindel]

weel now, 9.7 is the biggest e-ink screen as far as I know... a full color tablet (what you don't want :/ ) can be bought in 10" size for $130 on eBay...

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Glorfindel

weel now, 9.7 is the biggest e-ink screen as far as I know... a full color tablet (what you don't want :/ ) can be bought in 10" size for $130 on eBay...

There's the Sony 13.3" eInk device, but it's prohibitively expensive (around US$1000) and only available in Japan.

[Glorfindel]

wow that's big!
and a whole lota moola

[gaptrast]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

I've tried using my 10" iPad Air for reading sheet music, though of course it has no eInk screen, but I find the size is a bit small. A 14" screen, I think, would be more suitable for these failing eyes, but the cost, I suppose, would be prohibitive. Not to mention, you need apps that work with the device. Music scores aren't as easily converted between formats as are eBooks. On second thought, you could to have them all in PDF format.

Yeah, I have already thought about the size, and actually I think a 10 inch is big enough. (I have tried some sheet music reading at 7 inches before and it can work too, because you do not always need to see all details if you know the score from before).

[markom]

Originally Posted by gaptrast

Yeah, I have already thought about the size, and actually I think a 10 inch is big enough. (I have tried some sheet music reading at 7 inches before and it can work too, because you do not always need to see all details if you know the score from before).

Then you should give Kindle DX(G) a try, used one or new(200 $), after installing kindlepdfviewer thereon for much better pdf zooming capabilities and gamma correction (for better contrast(darker letters)).

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=157047

If pdf page size is very big or pdf uses some complex compression method so that it takes 3-4 seconds to turn the next page, you can use k2pdfopt app to optimize pdf for Kindle DX size or for compression removal by choosing bitmap mode(instead of native one).

http://www.willus.com/k2pdfopt/

[tomsem]

A solution for iPad is ForScore, which is basically a PDF reader and annotator with the ability to advance the music automatically when you set up timing for each page. Typically the tablet is in landscape orientation and it displays a page in two passes (top and bottom). You can also get bluetooth foot pedal to trigger when to advance. I don't know of any equivalent app on Android.

However there are some 12" Android tablets (e.g. Samsung NotePro 12.2), and that might be big enough for full page display (especially with a little cropping), and again you could get bluetooth foot pedals to control page turns.

[Jmirko]

Someone had the same idea, let's hope it comes to market!

http://the-digital-reader.com/2015/12/16/i/

[ApK]

I don't know if this exists or is just a design concept, but I like it:

http://www.eink.com/concept_showcase_MusicStand.html

[WT Sharpe]

A large front-lit e-Ink reader would be ideal for reading music. No glare, and you could see the pages in all light. A dual-13" screen such as the NotesNote Jmirko linked to above would be even idealer.

Spoiler:

"Idealer" is of my own coinage. It means "more than ideal." It's quantum mechanics meets the English language.

I wonder what the cost would be for such a specialized beast?

[ApK]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

Spoiler:

"Idealer" is of my own coinage. It means "more than ideal." It's quantum mechanics meets the English language.

Spoiler:

I assumed an idealer was Apple products vendor.

(psst: Why are we doing this in spoiler tags?)

[Phogg]

Originally Posted by ApK

Spoiler:

I assumed an idealer was Apple products vendor.

(psst: Why are we doing this in spoiler tags?)

Spoiler:

Because the authorities won't go after iUsers. They round up the iDealers.