Admittedly, this is something of a minority appeal product, but it is a great example of how useful technology can be in the most unlikely of situations. The MusicPad Pro Plus, from California-based FreeHand Systems, is a flat panel touchscreen PC designed with the sole purpose of displaying sheet music.
From the musician's point of view, FreeHand has some obvious appeals. The player gets to turn the pages with either the touch screen or an optional footpad with forward and backward pedals. They can also zoom in or out, highlight, add or erase notes to a page without altering the original file.
The system can store about 5,000 pages of sheet music on its 64MB of flash memory, and this can be increased with extra memory modules. It can display files in JPEG, PDF or Digital Sheet Music formats, which can be widely downloaded or bought on the Web or Freehand's own home page.
FreeHand's Web site boasts 15,000 pieces of sheet music, ranging from Aaliyah to ZZTop, with quite a lot of classical tunes in between.
The system connects to a desktop with USB and is compatible with Windows 98, ME, 2000 or XP and any Mac OS above 8.6. It measures 9.9' x 13.3', sports a 12.1' colour TFT display and claims a three hour battery life, which should be adequate for most events.
The Music Pad Pro Plus is now available in the United States for US$1,199, while the Music Pad Pro (with no rechargeable battery) is US$999 and the foot pedal costs another US$99. Prices for Hong Kong are not yet available, though the manufacturers tell us it will be available by the summer. However, if the Music Pad strikes the right note with you, it may be worth waiting a little longer. Future upgrades promised by the company include 802.11b and Bluetooth wireless networking and audio features.