Help with Music on a Tablet

Jerryc41

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A couple of people in my groups have music on their iPads - large and small. They use forScore and something else. I have a lot of music from each group, and the amount of paper is getting to be overwhelming. I'd like to go electronic.

I have an old, slow, iPad 2 and a smaller Kindle. I don't want to spend $600 - $1,000 for a new iPad, so I'm wondering what software is available for a kindle (They make one a little over 10") or a Samsung tablet.

As for the software, what words would I enter to search for that kind of software?
 
For a Samsung, you don't need any software. I have an Insignia 10" Tablet and have probably 1,000 songs on a microSD card, just view with free adobe pdf viewer.
 
For a Samsung, you don't need any software. I have an Insignia 10" Tablet and have probably 1,000 songs on a microSD card, just view with free adobe pdf viewer.

Thanks. I was thinking of something like Mobilesheets, which is like forScore. It would let me put the music into books and sort it.
 
For the Kindle I use MobileSheets Pro. It works well for me and it isn't expensive, $12.99. The music needs to be in a PDF format to work best. Also the free MobileSheets does not even come close to letting you see and use the features of the pro, so don't try the free download and think that is doesn't have much to it. Get a cheap page turner and you're in business. I use mine a lot. Another thing that I have on my Kindle is the Ultimateguitar app. It is very user friendly and it is pretty cheap. Most songs have a ukulele chord adaptation and once you put them in favorites I believe you can access them without a connection. It also allows you to transpose to a different key with a click of the mouse.
 
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I have an Apple Ipad that I use now instead of carrying around volumes of sheet music. I had to figure out how to transfer the songs which were on my PC laptop.
First, I had to put all the songs into PDF format.
Second, I had to download Apple ITunes to my laptop. Now the magic begins....

Connecting my IPad to the PC laptop then opening the Apple ITunes I get a screen that shows multiple options but I click on AudioBooks, which leads to more options and I click on Books. Once at this point, in the upper left hand corner I click on add a new file. This opens my PC word processor to all my songs in a PDF format. Click on the song and drag it to Ipad list. It automatically transfers over but I have to first close my word document file first before it's moved.

I am computer challenged but this seemed to work for me. There is most likely other ways to accomplish this task as well.
I love the mobility now of not having to carry all those 4" binders.
Best wishes on your transferring documents,

Aloha, Reno Dave
 
I use MobileSheets on my laptop. It is very good--at least the equal of ForScore, and in some ways better. I thought about getting a 10-inch Kindle and using it on that too, but instead replaced my aging iPad with another one. The non Pro version was as low as $250 on Black Friday, and that's what I got--half what I paid for my original Air. I think the Kindle could work and would like to hear your experience if you go that route. Several people in my group got iPad Pros last year, but, for myself, I can't justify over $1K for something with a useful life of perhaps 3 to 5 years. That's basically disposable. A $1,000 uke would last the rest of my life and beyond. I wish someone were developing a large and affordable e-ink screen. That would be ideal.
 
For the Kindle I use MobileSheets Pro. It works well for me and it isn't expensive, $12.99. The music needs to be in a PDF format to work best. Also the free MobileSheets does not even come close to letting you see and use the features of the pro, so don't try the free download and think that is doesn't have much to it. Get a cheap page turner and you're in business. I use mine a lot. Another thing that I have on my Kindle is the Ultimateguitar app. It is very user friendly and it is pretty cheap. Most songs have a ukulele chord adaptation and once you put them in favorites I believe you can access them without a connection. It also allows you to transpose to a different key with a click of the mouse.

Which model Kindle do you have? I wonder how that would compare with then Samsung tablet, which is Android.
 
Which model Kindle do you have? I wonder how that would compare with then Samsung tablet, which is Android.
Kindle fire 8. My wife has a Samsung. I suggest that you just go to whatever app store is on your tablet and see if you can get it. It is not Android specific, you can put it on a lot of platforms. My Kindle Fire 8 does not have a big screen but I like it because it fits in the back pocket of my jeans. It is big enough for me, I mean, nothing is perfect. I use my Kindle all the time when I'm busking. I have my uke, my Kindle, and I'm in business. The Kindle 8 has and 8" screen. What size screen does the Samsung have?
 
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I ordered a Kindle Fire HD 10" just now - $142. I understand I'll have to get all the music into PDF format, so if anyone has any ideas about how to do that quickly, I'd be glad to hear them.

What I've been doing is opening a book of PDF music, copying a page and then saving it in a separate folder. I wonder if Mobilesheets could deal with the entire book (over 400 pgs) in PDF.
 
A couple of people in my groups have music on their iPads - large and small. They use forScore and something else. I have a lot of music from each group, and the amount of paper is getting to be overwhelming. I'd like to go electronic.

I have an old, slow, iPad 2 and a smaller Kindle. I don't want to spend $600 - $1,000 for a new iPad, so I'm wondering what software is available for a kindle (They make one a little over 10") or a Samsung tablet.

As for the software, what words would I enter to search for that kind of software?

There have been a previous few threads that have gone into this topic pretty deeply.

I found them by simply searching UU for 'tablet'.

You can see them here:

From 2016: https://forum.ukuleleunderground.com/showthread.php?118958-Tablet-for-Sheet-Music

From 2018: https://forum.ukuleleunderground.com/showthread.php?131456-My-journey-through-the-world-of-tablets
 
I've been through the ringer with tablets, if you have to go with an Android or Windows, use MobileSheets Pro, on an iPad, forScore which records directly in the app, I use that all the time during rehearsals. When I first started using a tablet for my music, I didn't want to spend the money for an iPad Pro, but after about three years of going round and round, I tried one at the Apple Store and it runs rings around any other make of tablet. I did save a few bucks buying a refurb directly from Apple online. I also got the Pencil, which works better than any other stylus, makes it very easy to do on the fly changes to my music sheets.


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• Donate to The Ukulele Kids Club, they provide ukuleles to children's hospital music therapy programs. www.theukc.org
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I ordered a Kindle Fire HD 10" just now - $142. I understand I'll have to get all the music into PDF format, so if anyone has any ideas about how to do that quickly, I'd be glad to hear them.

What I've been doing is opening a book of PDF music, copying a page and then saving it in a separate folder. I wonder if Mobilesheets could deal with the entire book (over 400 pgs) in PDF.
Just go to the drop down and save it as a PDF instead of a Doc. I have downloaded entire books in PDF format on to my MobileSheets. I have several of them.
 
I do love MobileSheets - wonderful app, very inexpensive. But it drives me crazy that you can no longer use a TV as a display with a recent Kindle. I used to have that capability with an older 10" I had, but it's been gone for a while. That would give my poor old eyes a break on reading song sheets instead of an 8" screen.
 
I do love MobileSheets - wonderful app, very inexpensive. But it drives me crazy that you can no longer use a TV as a display with a recent Kindle. I used to have that capability with an older 10" I had, but it's been gone for a while. That would give my poor old eyes a break on reading song sheets instead of an 8" screen.

If you want to send to TV, maybe use a Chromecast stick? I have a old phone that doesn't screen mirror, but I can cast everything on a stick.
 
I use three apps to manage music on an 8" Fire tablet:

MobileSheets Pro -- Individual songs in PDF files.

Kindle Books (or any PDF reader) -- Multi-page PDF books. I could load these into MobileSheets if I wanted, but I usually don't bother.

GuitarTapp -- Searches the internet for lyrics and chords, saves favorites. Great to have when Wi-Fi is available and somebody mentions a song I don't have... yet!

I don't know of an automated way to extract individual songs from a multi-song PDF book. If I need to pull a song out of a book, I'll open the file in Adobe Reader on my PC and print the page(s) to a PDF converter like PrimoPDF, DoPDF or CutePDF Writer. (If none of that made sense, Google is your friend)

A couple hints:

Install Amazon's "Send to Kindle" software on your PC.

You can use the tablet's camera to snap a photo of sheet music, and load that into MobileSheets (it takes JPG as well as PDF files).
 
I have both Android tablet with MobileSheets and iPad with ForScore. They both work well. I wish that they would work cross platform but they don't and probably never will. The Ipad is one of those 12.9 inch monsters. I don't need to wear my reading glasses with it :). They don't make big Android tablets. I think Windows Surface could be used but don't know what software would work with that.
 
I have both Android tablet with MobileSheets and iPad with ForScore. They both work well. I wish that they would work cross platform but they don't and probably never will. The Ipad is one of those 12.9 inch monsters. I don't need to wear my reading glasses with it :). They don't make big Android tablets. I think Windows Surface could be used but don't know what software would work with that.
The Windows version of MobileSheets is what works with that.
 
Jerry,

The only thing that makes me wonder about this thread is knowing your nature to acquire good things, particularly ukuleles. It seems odd that you wouldn’t want the same for technology. I get that other people want to avoid Apple or the cost of buying an iPad Pro.

As KohanMike put it, the iPad Pro, the 12.9” version, is the way to go. If you don’t need the latest model, look for a used 1st generation 12.9” iPad Pro. You won’t need more than the standard 32GB model for music reading. The best app is forScore, an Apple Pencil is great, and I’d recommend the Otter Box case, the PageFlip Dragonfly pedal, and the GoStand and Manos Mount from AirTurn.

One other hint: books can be sent to 1 Dollar Scan, which will take your book and scan it, sending you a PDF in the process. I need to actually have that done with a couple more books. It’s 100 pages for $1, which is a huge time saver (plus the cost of shipping to California).

And yes, tablets can handle PDFs of hundreds of pages.
 
Besides a bigger screen, and a much bigger price, I don't see what the Pro of either generation brings to the table that the current 9.7 inch doesn't have. At least in terms of what is needed to read a PDF file--which is not much. ForScore runs well even on older models. The ability to annotate with the Apple Pencil is very nice--and shared by both the Pro and current 9.7 inch.

Just over a year ago a 9.7 inch iPad was the ultimate sheet music machine and it's still great. I think most people would be happy with either. I realize everyone prioritizes different things, and for some a large, (some would say unwieldy) screen, is, actually, essential, even given the price. I'd just say look at your actual needs if you have a budget, or if you'd rather buy a new ukulele than a piece of shiny new tech that will be obsolete in a very few years.

Thank you for the information about 1 Dollar Scan, Chris! I have so many books I've wanted to scan. I'm excited!
 
I use a Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10" tablet,and have all my songsheets in jpg format.Using a free app called 'Quick Pic' it stacks the sheets alphabetically and its easy to scroll through to the relevant title. My friends in our group either have a generic android tablet or iPad,and they either do the same as me, or have the sheets in pdf format and use the free pdf reader app. I used to do the same thing on my older Hudl 7" tablet,but the 10" is kinder on my aged eyes!
 
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