Digital sheet music

Journal Record, The (Oklahoma City), Jan 20, 2003

ANAHEIM, Calif. (JR) -- Freehand Systems, a privately held company with the mission of reinventing how musicians read and perform music, will release the MusicPad Pro, the world's first digital sheet music computer tablet, on Jan. 31.

The MusicPad Pro solves the age-old problem of turning music pages by enabling musicians to simply touch the screen. It creates a paperless environment by providing storage capacity for an entire music library of more than 5,000 pages of sheet music. Freehand's proprietary annotation technology enables musicians to mark up and compose new music while saving the original score.

"The MusicPad Pro is the ultimate dream machine for musicians," said Kim Lorz, Freehand Systems' chief executive. "Musicians with a passion for technology and a vision for how computers can change their world, conceived, designed and built it. That's why serious musicians who spend just a few minutes using the MusicPad Pro find it indispensable. There's nothing quite like it in the world today."

The tablet computer is housed in a charcoal grey ABS polymer enclosure not much larger than a sheet of paper. Weighing under five pounds, it is lightweight and easy to carry, although the MusicPad Pro Plus, which comes with a rechargeable battery, weighs a little more. Suggested retail price for the MusicPad Pro is just $999. The MusicPad Pro Plus, with a battery life of three hours on a single charge, is $1,199.

As part of the Freehand Music Management System, Freehand's Web site (www.freehandsystems.com) provides more than 17,000 music compositions and digital files. Customer support and access to an online store to buy Freehand products are also on the site.