At 04:03 PM 10/2/02 -0800, Mark D. Lew wrote: >The real leader in this field is >FreeHand Systems. It's still in the early stages, but they have actual >products along the lines of what you describe.
Hasn't this been in the "early stages" for, like, years? :) Seriously, I seem to recall an ad with this on a wooden music stand several years ago... might be another product. But this one is still way too small, way too heavy, and way too expensive -- equipping at 60-piece orchestra, not including maintenance, is nearly $80,000 -- and it's 5 extra very delicate pounds to lug around. And it's very basic. I just re-checked the FAQ, and there's lots of road to travel before this is featured enough to compete with paper. The FAQ doesn't talk about networking (one player being able to change all scores, and the conductor being able to make quick changes from that master score), the editing capabilities appear to be dependent on the software the original score is in (imagine the librarian making a cut from within Finale in the full score, and hoping the parts follow that change!), there's no mention of flashpix-style pullout memory, the interface system for annotation isn't described, etc. I'm not being negative -- it's very much headed in the right direction, but technology itself makes it not ready for general use yet. When it costs the same as a good music stand, *then* it will be ready! With the advent of 'digital paper', I think we'll actually be on the way there in a few years. I'm looking forward to it! Dennis _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
