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A first look at the MusicReader App for the iPad

Posted: October 2nd, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: Everyday Apps | Tags: , , , | 16 Comments »


Here’s a first look at some of the features of the MusicReader app for the iPad, a new sheet music reading program for Apple’s popular new tablet computer. MusicReader for iPad enables you to read the music in both portrait and zoomed in half-page landscape modes. You can mark up the music with colored ink and highlights, and create basic playlists for multiple pieces. Pages are “turned” by tapping the screen. To give you an idea of the music reading experience on an iPad, we compare screen sizes between the iPad and a Touch Tablet PC with a 12.1 inch screen. Even though the iPad has a somewhat smaller screen, the MusicReader app does a great job of cropping the margins, and the iPad’s excellent screen resolution makes it surprisingly easy to read music. While the app itself is free, you will need the full version of MusicReader for your Mac or PC in order to be able to create MusicReader compatible files, as well as a shared WiFi network to copy those files from your computer to your iPad. You can download a free demo version of MusicReader from airturn.com AirTurn is currently developing a iPad-compatible Bluetooth version of its hands-free page turning pedal. Be sure to sign up for our newsletter to get the latest news on AirTurn developments at airturn.com

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16 Comments on “A first look at the MusicReader App for the iPad”

  1. 1 hughsung said at 6:42 am on October 2nd, 2011:

    @olekike I hear you. I’ve been a Tablet PC user myself ever since the very first models came out, so my heart was always with those devices. I still love my Lenovo X200 Tablet PC! But the iPad’s form factor and amazing battery life make for tremendous portability, so I’ve grown to really enjoy working with my iPad now.

  2. 2 olekike said at 6:53 am on October 2nd, 2011:

    @hughsung I think you are right. One can wait for a larger screen or work with the device there is. good idea to pinch and zoom. my frustration was that, there is so much going on in the tablet PC and ereader market and no ones makes an affordable 12 inch screen and satisfy the needs of the digital musician. music pad pro is no more, they couldn’t hold there one in the tablet market. so…..i’ll look for other ways….second hand tablet pc’s for example.

  3. 3 hughsung said at 7:32 am on October 2nd, 2011:

    @MissMeowsic The AirTurn BT-105 hands free page turner connects wirelessly to the iPad via Bluetooth. Please visit our website at AirTurn (dot) com for more details on our latest page turning products.

  4. 4 hughsung said at 7:57 am on October 2nd, 2011:

    @olekike Did you know that you can use two fingers to pinch and zoom the screen? That makes it much easier to draw annotations. BTW, I do agree that a larger screen would be much more helpful, but given the incredible popularity of the iPad, it may be a while before anything significantly larger comes to market…

  5. 5 olekike said at 8:48 am on October 2nd, 2011:

    I find the screen too small. Too small to read the notes and annotating is impossible. J can’t write without overwriting notes or other lines. It becomes a mess! Guys just scip the ipad and tell them to make a larger screen. Demand it! They are there for us. Not the other way around!

  6. 6 anjonjp said at 9:27 am on October 2nd, 2011:

    Why isn’t this app available in the Japanese iTunes Store? I fail to understand what reason there could be for not offering this internationally?

  7. 7 Bipek1 said at 10:10 am on October 2nd, 2011:

    @hughsung Thanks for the quick answer. :) I’m a low visioned person and I’m searching for a good solution for me to read the music in a relatively comfortable way.

  8. 8 hughsung said at 10:37 am on October 2nd, 2011:

    @Bipek1 In landscape mode, the iPad actually displays the music somewhat larger than A4 printed music, albeit half a page at a time.

  9. 9 hughsung said at 11:15 am on October 2nd, 2011:

    @MissMeowsic The original AirTurn AT-104 had a USB receiver and 2.4 ghz transmitter. Our new BT-105 is a Bluetooth model designed for computers like the iPad. Please visit AirTurn dot com for more details.

  10. 10 Bipek1 said at 11:45 am on October 2nd, 2011:

    I have got one question: iPad screen isn’t huge, if we compare normal, printed score (A4, 210x297mm) and iPad’s landscape view in MusicReader, what wil we get? Is the printed score larger than digital or just the opposite?

  11. 11 hughsung said at 11:54 am on October 2nd, 2011:

    @MissMeowsic The new AirTurn BT-105 uses Bluetooth technology to connect wirelessly to the iPad and other Bluetooth-equipped Mac and PC computers. Please visit AirTurn (dot) com for more details on the BT-105!

  12. 12 MissMeowsic said at 12:44 pm on October 2nd, 2011:

    I noticed when you showed the “Airturn” it looked to have a usb component, but the IPAD has no USB ports – how will that work?

  13. 13 lubis1991 said at 1:35 pm on October 2nd, 2011:

    I may be a little greedy here, but what I want from a dedicated sheet music app must include the following features:

    Orchestral scores with click-to-view-instrument-scores feature
    Note taking with changes/annotations in a different font colour
    Unified font and appearance across all scores from all sources
    Scanning of hardcopy scores and interpretation of scores into editable versions again with standardised fonts

    With all those features, I honestly wouldn’t mind paying higher prices!

  14. 14 ClearNotePublication said at 2:00 pm on October 2nd, 2011:

    But, have you seen the Clear Note Digital video? The clearest scores with better formatting.

  15. 15 hughsung said at 2:51 pm on October 2nd, 2011:

    @KacelaJ That’s a valid concern. I’m very grateful for the matte finish on my new Lenovo Tablet PC – worked great during a recent Korean TV show taping segment with lots of hot, bright lights, but I could see where this might post a problem with the bright and glossy iPad screen. I’ll try to test it under some stage lights at my next concert opportunity and report my findings.

  16. 16 KacelaJ said at 3:21 pm on October 2nd, 2011:

    Music Reader app looks very good on the iPad. The only thing I have reservations about is the glare… I’d need to find a screen protector that would give the screen more of a matte finish.

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