Ukulele books: Digital or paper?

When buying ukulele books, do you prefer e-books or paper books?

  • I prefer digital e-books, if available.

    Votes: 13 19.4%
  • I only buy e-books.

    Votes: 1 1.5%
  • I prefer traditonal paper books, if available.

    Votes: 19 28.4%
  • I only buy paper books.

    Votes: 13 19.4%
  • I have no preference or it depends on the content/price/etc.

    Votes: 17 25.4%
  • I don't buy ukulele books at all.

    Votes: 4 6.0%

  • Total voters
    67
  • Poll closed .
Petey...

Just a FYI..Mobiie Sheets, really the best PDF music reader for Android, is on the Windows platform.

Wow. I will really go check that out. Thanks. I have a Surface Pro 4 as my main computer now (I dumped the desktop) and gone mobile. hehe I wish my bookshelf of uke books could go mobile as well. hehe

Petey
 
All our music is on paper, but we're tired of lugging all these books to jam sessions and gigs. We're preparing to enter the 21st Century with iPads and a music program that we already use in our jam session. We learned it from a guitar jam session we used to attend, and now another TBUS jam session has adopted it.
 
You can find the link here... http://www.zubersoft.com/mobilesheets/buy.html P.S. I do not work for Zubersoft or generally invest much time with Androids or Windows...so there is no kickback for the referral!

What convinced me to use an Android tablet after being an Apple FanBoy was MobileSheetsPro. I actually like it better then OnSong or ForScore. I think Mike is also planning to create an iOS version as well, but as inexpensive as a large Android tablet can be, I'm sticking with it.
 
I have a couple of dead tree books but I generally prefer electronic editions. Like others, I like to keep things organized - so I have a 'uke' folder on my laptop containing pdfs, chord sheets and a few downloaded sound and video files (plus links to many others).

To expand on the subject of books a little, I feel that, while there are definitely a few gems to be a found, a lot of ukulele method books can be somewhat underwhelming. We've talked in previous UU threads about the often predicable and uninspiring selection of public domain songs that appear time and time again. I've lately widened my interest to include guitar books, where I hope to find useful material that I can adapt to my uke playing. I'm currently reading 'Masters of Rhythm Guitar'. Also I have a copy of 'Music Theory For Dummies' that I'm slowly working my way through :)
 
An advantage of paper books that dawned on me the other day is that if placed on the desk, they are like a uke on a stand in the living room: I'm more likely to pick them up and do something with them. I do overall prefer e-books, but when it's books that I "should" read (and actually want to too), but that require a bit of effort and getting my butt up, I'm more likely to read them if they sit on the desk. Music theory books would be an example. ;)
 
I thought maybe it would be us old 'uns who stuck to hard copy - but as of this posting, 48% prefer paper - with another 22% who have no particular preference.

I think the age average here is relatively high. At now 45, I still often feel like I'm in the younger, below-average age group of regular posters on UU at present. Not complaining, it's a refreshing change from my job and my other hobby hangouts where most people I interact with are (or seem) younger! (We could make a poll for that, one that doesn't end at 35+ like so many online polls!)
 
I prefer hard copies. Presently I mainly purchase books and then choose and print the parts which interest me. I then add them to the appropriate 3 ring binder of theory or repertoire to which I feel it would serve best. I use an ipad or laptop for surfing or research. I hate being tied to the DEPLETING battery warnings and CHARGING a dependency!
I just find it fundamentally easier to just leave a book on my music stand which has no wire attached to it. Also much easier to add and remove notes to it! Yes, with a pencil!
 
I think the age average here is relatively high. At now 45, I still often feel like I'm in the younger, below-average age group of regular posters on UU at present. Not complaining, it's a refreshing change from my job and my other hobby hangouts where most people I interact with are (or seem) younger! (We could make a poll for that, one that doesn't end at 35+ like so many online polls!)
I am not young at 67, but my wife, who is by no means a youngster either, was the VP of a company that developed e-learning software until she retired a few years ago. Our kids call her up when they can't get something to work on their computers. I tend toward old school and drag my feet sometimes, but my wife pushes me to accept that technology is the future. She is the one who is encouraging me to get everything on a tablet and get rid of the three ring binders with printouts in them. She is actually trying to get me to put everything "in the cloud", so that I can share it all with my friends easier.
 
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I think the age average here is relatively high. At now 45, I still often feel like I'm in the younger, below-average age group of regular posters on UU at present. ......... (We could make a poll for that, one that doesn't end at 35+ like so many online polls!)

You could give it a try, but the ladies here may not be forthcoming about their real ages. ;)
 
But technology still has miles to go before it beats paper for either music books or lead sheets, and I don't trust it at all for performance.

This is where I have to step in and say that while I honor your choice to stay with paper resources, from my own experiences and day-to-day use, technology is at a place where it offers benefits beyond paper and I continue to use my set-up for daily rehearsals and performances without a problem.

At a jam yesterday, I watched the person next to me struggle with the Daily 365 on a travel stand, turn pages, and the book went flying as the stand tipped over. That is just one example of the inefficiencies of paper that I witnessed yesterday.

I accept your desire to use paper. That said, please don't say that the technology isn't here or isn't reliable, because that isn't a fact and should not be presented as such. It is an opinion...which is welcome to be shared; but that said, there are members of UU who can afford and would benefit from a digital set-up who might be frightened away from such strong statements.
 
I prefer ebooks for reading, in general, (though some books are still better in hard copy), but don't buy many ukulele books at this point. When I do, I often buy the ebook version, and then just print anything that I've decided to work on. (Doing a trial run of it before wasting paper and ink.) I probably just don't have the right set-up for using the digital format for reading music/tabs, but I find it awkward, for whatever reason.

One advantage of ebooks is that I can bring it with me where ever I go. If I have a few spare minutes at any time, I can always spend it with an ebook.

Any format of book might get lost in some way. Having had the house flood, (I'm now a fan of FEMA), I know that any physical item I own might meet with disaster. For digital format, I keep a back-up at home, as well as a back-up at another location, so at least I can recover what I need, most likely, if disaster or mishap of any sort strikes. I'm not a cloud user, but that might be another option to help preserve things in a digital format.

I have dogs who like to munch on books, (one dog was particular, and mostly chewed on dog training books, LOL), but they fortunately have always left my electronic devices alone. It's just not the same as ripping paper, I guess.

Pros and cons of each, so I voted in the "it depends" category, since I might buy either format.
 
You could give it a try, but the ladies here may not be forthcoming about their real ages. ;)

I've always found that whole age-shame thing to be ridiculous. Heck, here in La La Land, even men lie. Personally I am proud of every single one of my fifty-two years.

It might be surprising since I'm both old *and* female :) but I actually work in technology (databases! metadata! digital preservation!). One of the reasons I picked up playing music again was because I wanted to do something non-digital. Outside of UU, I've pretty much kept it that way.
 
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I buy books where available. I have a iPad but I never used it.
I use a music stand and a little led light attached to it so playing with books is much more enjoyable. I also write a lot on the music.
 
I've always found that whole age-shame thing to be ridiculous. Heck, here in La La Land, even men lie.

I'm just a couple of weeks away from turning 50 - but I think I might stick at '49' (when asked) for a while :p


Edit: I forgot to add... :eek:ld:
 
Yeah, Ubu, as I was reading through I assumed you meant performance and edited. I was actually trying to fix a problem without becoming a jerk about it and became one in the process. I wasn't trying to change your meaning or intent. I applogize.

I still disagree with you, particularly as I use and recommend the PDF format and for those files to be stored in more than one place. Preferably three: on media (disk of some sort), on the device, and in the cloud (e.g. Dropbox or Google Drive).

I would love to end on a humorous note...but the topic is too serious at this point, so I will move on and keep quiet on this matter.
 
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