Thinking about buying a Tablet for my drum books pdfs. Any suggestions?

KARLSBALLS

KARLSBALLS

Member
I am slowly re-buying all my books in pdf for so I can box the old and frail copies I have in storage.

I'd like to get a decent (not high end) tablet big enough so I can read charts for practice.

Any suggestions?

I'm guessing ipad? (time to eat oatmeal and water again...)
 
If you want something with a 10" screen, your options are essentially a 10" Android Tablet (the new Galaxy Nexus), a Microsoft Surface (more expensive) or an iPad.

To be honest, given those options I would go for an iPad. The price difference between Android tablets and the iPad is non-existent, with base models of both the iPad (iPad 2) and Galaxy Nexus 10 being around £300 (insert currency of your choice). The new model of iPad is more expensive, starting at around £400. I prefer the build, fit and finish of the iPad personally and I think the applications available are generally of higher quality than the equivalent Android applications.

I say this having owned an Android phone for two years and having daily access to an older iPad. I don't own an iOS device personally (I have a Windows Phone) but whilst I think Android has developed in leaps and bounds in the last year, I would still get the iPad.
 
This can rapidly degenerate into an Apple vs. Android morass as most supporters of each are pretty rabid and really hate on the other side.

I will say that I bought an iPad II awhile back as I already had a bunch of music in iTunes (and had bought an iPhone for the same reason as music and basic functionality is all that's important to me) and wanted a larger format reader. I mostly use it for reading and internet stuff like scanning forums and facebook. With occasional Google searches or other site searches at home with a wi-fi connection.

I recently got a weekly guitar gig playing jazz and have found the iRealB application invaluable since it is basically all the existing Real Book standards charts and lots of pop tunes together. It also transposes the chart with a couple swipes and can even play the song for you to jam over. Fairly easy to throw together a quick fake chart from scratch as well.

I think the Apple/Android debate kind of comes down to folks who like things simple vs. folks who like to play around with their toys. Mostly I see the Android advocates as erstwhile hackers that want to customize their toy. Apple people just want something that is easy to understand and does what they expect.
 
I've got both an Android and an Apple.

If I am making a call based on type of usage. Music, Design, Business...I would go Apple.
If it's personal pleasure like games, apps and such...I'd go Android.

So in your case, I'd probably go with an iPad.

Really you can't go wrong with either one though. Even some of the outdated tablets will handle what you want to do pretty easily.
 
I'm an android user (Asus Transformer tablet and HTC Legend phone) and I use those for practice, but I would recommend you and iPad.
The hardware quality does not differ a lot between apple and hi-level android tablets, but the software available on iOS focused on musicians (pe Musician's practice journal) is bigger than Android.

If I had to buy a tablet today, I'll go for an iPad2, or if you have the money, the new iPad. And if you finally go for an Android tablet, be sure you buy one with a 4:3 or similar screen aspect ratio, since most tablets use 16:9, wich is not the best ratio to use with pdf and books.
 
Cheaper than a tablet might be to print 'em out? Also (dare I say it) hard-copy is better than a screen based view?

I have charts for all my bands songs (100+) in individual clear plastic pockets in one ring binder. OK, I need a fairly hefty music stand but its worth it for the convenience of having all the charts available. I scan all my charts to pdf as masters / archive versions and a while ago I looked into using a tablet or similar, thinking it would be a better way to work. But after looking at these devices I changed my mind because:

They have small screen sizes (c/w A4 page)
Boy are they fragile compared to the ring binder!
They have high valuable and are very portable! Can't leave 'em on the stand between sets.

But being backlit was an advantage. So I bought a bigger light for my music stand and have stuck with paper ever since!

Best wishes,

Richard
 
As of now, I'm still writing things out the old way...still feels nice to transcribe and write down ideas.

I'm also making copies of stuff I don't want to write in the magazines, such as my transcription of a dennis chambers tune.

I'll hang around best buy and keep my eye on things to see if i can get a good price on things, if not, i'll have to make copies at good ole' staples or at my jobs copy machine.

Thanks for the input so far!

K
 
KarlPalma said:
I am slowly re-buying all my books in pdf for so I can box the old and frail copies I have in storage.

I'd like to get a decent (not high end) tablet big enough so I can read charts for practice.

Any suggestions?

I'm guessing ipad? (time to eat oatmeal and water again...)
Click to expand...

If it is PDF, the Kindle and Nook read them both. I have started scanning my drum lesson notes into and keep them in Dropbox. Its really cool to pull sheet music up where ever I am. I use an iPad and am very happy with it.

J
 
resakosix said:
I'm an android user (Asus Transformer tablet and HTC Legend phone) and I use those for practice, but I would recommend you and iPad.
The hardware quality does not differ a lot between apple and hi-level android tablets, but the software available on iOS focused on musicians (pe Musician's practice journal) is bigger than Android.

If I had to buy a tablet today, I'll go for an iPad2, or if you have the money, the new iPad. And if you finally go for an Android tablet, be sure you buy one with a 4:3 or similar screen aspect ratio, since most tablets use 16:9, wich is not the best ratio to use with pdf and books.
Click to expand...

Hmmm, second it. And if i really go for a tablet, iPad2 is the best choice.
 
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