I have had my Music Pad Pro for three weeks and I'm just getting to the point where I can evaluate it fairly. Here's a few of my insights:

* The first two weeks were sheer frustration - the batteries didn't work properly. Apparently the MPP's sit in a warehouse or something until shipped and the batteries go stupid. Mine would not charge properly for weeks and that affects a lot of things... files go corrupt for no reason, the touchpad calibration goes nuts occasionally, etc. and using the AC power supply doesn't help because the power is routed through the batteries so until they work right, nothing works right. I was ready to send my MPP back numerous times. FHS has some tips on their FAQ site and Kevin @ FHS gave me tips by email (like leave it charging for 48 hours without using it, WTF - I can't use my new MPP for two days?!?) but the bottom line is nothing solved the problem except weeks of charging/discharging and testing. Now my MPP is apparently working properly, but it sucks that weeks of my time was required to get the MPP operational. I wouldn't leave the MPP sitting idle for too long either or this could all happen again. Am I the only one who had to go through this?

* I got great results right away by printing fakesheets from Band In A Box to the Music Pad Manager - this is my preferred way to create leadsheets for the MPP. I also got good results scanning from my Warner Brother's "Just Standards" fakebook which is large print (I scan at 256 levels of grayscale @ 200 DPI which produces very small FH files). But those old Hal Leonard fakebooks don't work when you try to scan those tiny scores into the MPP, so I've been spending a lot of time recreating leadsheets from HL fakebooks in BIAB. This is a huge ongoing task but it's worthwhile... I now have a backup library of my stage music that can be edited and printed easily. I've need that for many years.

* You have to pay an additional $49 to get the unlock code for the "premium tools" in your MPP in addition to the purchase cost. Some of the annotation tools in the premium tools are essential, not to mention the MP3 player. Paying additional for this also goes on my "sucks" list.

* The new MP3 player in v4.0 is a Linux freeware program called "XMMS" that was stuck into the MPP almost as an afterthought and has no integration with the rest of the OS. That means you have to use one menu or playlist to call up scores and another to call up MP3 backing tracks, which is time-consuming and yes you have to use the plastic pen to do it. I suggested to Kevin that scores and MP3 files should be retrievable at the same time and he said he would pass that idea along. The audio output works fine though so now I can do some of my piano gigs with nothing but the MPP. BTW: if you buy scores from FHS/Sunhawk then they can be played back via the midi player (single channel only) in v4... again, you have to buy the unlock code for this feature.

* The documentation that comes with the MPP is poor. Combine it with FHS's FAQ's and online forums and you almost have complete documentation. FHS refers you to http://www.xmms.org/ if you want to know more about using the MP3 player you paid $49 for.

* I am using a Memorex 2GB flash memory that cost $80 at Staples and it works great! Good to see large flash memory dropping in price.

I give the Music Pad Pro a solid "C" grade... It does the job but only afer lots of patience and IMHO this product has a LONG ways to go in development to be worth the money it costs. It sure doesn't feel like a version 4. FHS is asking for trouble to allow MPP's to ship with known battery issues that require customers to survive weeks of charging/discharging to get them to work right. Perhaps that's why there are so few magazine reviews. And just for the record, prior to purchase I would call FHS to ask questions and would get a "we'll check on that and call you back in an hour" and they wouldn't call back at all. Slackers.

If there was any serious competition for the MPP I'd have sent this thing back in the first week. The eStand software is the only thing close and it's terrible (I tried the free download... yuck!). ShowPlay has a feature that allows you to display images including scanned scores and is MUCH cheaper but I like the MPP better. Looks like I'm keeping my MPP, but buyer beware.