Hi - a friend of mine, the one with the Yamaha CVP-609 piano, just bought a new Dell XPS-18 tablet, and when I saw it I thought, "this is the iPad that I wished Appled would have made"! I might have to get one. It's an 18" tablet, basically like a huge iPad. He's running MusicReader on it. I put my iPad next to it and took this picture (I am running unrealBook app). Two pages of music side-by-side ... I wonder if this is the 'ultimate' table for musicians? I only wish it ran iOS (since my favoriate music reader app, unrealBook, is on iOS). I hope this picture comes thru; not sure how to 'attach' a photo.

http://i302.photobucket.com/albums/nn83/jimlaing/XPS-18-and-iPad-on-Piano.jpg

That's really quite nice, and if it never left the house it might be better than an iPad for music display. The thought of transporting it to/from gigs makes me paranoid though.

To display music sheet, reading books, listening music and watching pictures or movies the tablet with the best price/performance ratio right now is the new Kindle Fire HDX 8.9 sold by Amazon.
I am waiting till the Christmas frenzy will be over and then will most likely buy one.
The only clear advantage of the iPad is the number of apps it can run, but for basic tasks like reading music or books this to me is a more sensible choice.

Kindle Fire HDX 8.9

But that's kind of the whole point, isn't it? If you are blowing $500 or so, shouldn't you go with something that can do more than reading books and displaying music?

An iPad can be a book reader or sheet music display, sure, but it can also be a complete recording studio, or even a full Fairlight synthesizer, a vocal harmonizer, and a myriad other things.

Losing out on all this just to save a bit under $200 seems a bit short sighted. It IS a 'clear advantage'..!

The iPad is simply too small for me to use for sheet music. My vision is too bad to read the tiny dots! The Dell XPS-18 is an excellent idea but I am still waiting for something around 13 inches. Hopefully someone will produce something about that size. I don't see a way to use the XPS-18 on a music rest while connected to external power. Looks like battery operation is the only option in that configuration. I still use the MusicPad Pro and it does the job I need for now. I have no need nor do I want to carry around a tablet for Internet use.

Bob have you ever worked on memorizing songs in your repertoire that will make it much easier also.

FYI, the XPS-18 can be powered while on a music rack. The power input is a small connector on the left side; no problem for the tablet to be flat against a music rack, with power running to it ...

Yeah, a ~13" iPad would be great!

Re: memorizing ... I have almost 1100 songs in my repertoire now; I can play maybe ~200 of these from memory, but there's no way my brain could "assimilate" all 1100 into memory! :-) Alot of times, I'm not so much "sight-reading" as using the display as a "reminder" of an arrangement, or the chords/notes to parts of songs that I only partially have 'in memory' ... I'd love to be able to do all 1100 from memory but I don't think my brain (or my free time to work on such a memorizing task) would allow! :-)

Jim

Donny, there are many songs that I play from memory and some seem to just happen without thought. But, like Jim, I often need a lead sheet "refresher" if I have not played a song for a while. I play hundreds of songs and at my age recall doesn't always come easy.

Thanks for the info on external power, Jim.

So it has come to this: we pay less than $1000 for the keyboard, and OVER $1000 for a device to read the lyrics from ?!?!?

For music, lyric sheets and lead sheets, I wish they would make a E-ink unit that was built for the musician and not for the book reading community. Hal Leonard should do something with a direct link so you could even buy the music at the gig.

This is close...
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002GYWHSQ/ref=fs_dx

Only 9.? inches... 13" would be primo!

OR... a display for the musician and a wireless, bigger display for sing alongs or to advertise who you are in a high tech way. Once OLED tech gets better and cheaper it may be possible to do what I want. 10 - 15 years down the road... maybe?!?