At 10:34 AM -0800 12/9/10, Eric Dannewitz wrote:
But seriously, tech support for an iPad? I mean.......really? If the orchestra's librarian is on top of it, they would have them charged and loaded with a playlist of all the songs for the concert.....
OK, maybe I've just produced too many concerts and shows, and had to learn to read between the lines to anticipate the problems that MIGHT come up or WOULD come up.
Item: Time spent "stuffing" the iPads compared with time to stuff the orchestra folders. They'd have to be done one at a time if there is no networking, and if there IS networking the number of wrong things that can be done by a non-computer expert increases.
Item: Marking parts before "stuffing" (or, I suppose, AFTER "stuffing"). Added to the time it would take to mark paper parts, unless it could be done in one swell foop through a network. (There's that networking again.)
Item: UN-marking parts before filing them away. Might actually save time if the marked parts are simply trashed and the unmarked parts saved.
Item: Creating the .pdf files (if that's what's needed) in the first place. Presumably has to be done one PAGE at a time (not one PART at a time) using a scanner and computer (which are not currently required for most of the librarian's jobs). A HUGE investment of time, using equipment that is more expensive because it has to handle oversized scores. You don't really expect Bärenreiter and Schott to start publishing their catalogs as .pdf files, do you?!!!! And any 3rd party cottage industry trying to do so would run smack up against copyright laws!
Final item: Networking itself. The normal, naive computer user (i.e. ME!!!) already can't get different components to work together, communicate with each other, and match up to work the way you need them to. Right now I have a 1.5 Tb drive that's supposed to be backing up my computer on a regular basis, and it isn't! I don't know why, and won't until my son-in-law comes for the holidays and makes it well. Competing operating systems, competing hardware, competing standards, competing proprietary schemes--you can't win if you aren't already an expert. And I'm not. Most people are not. In fact I suspect that a majority of the population over 40 don't even own a computer or have a clue how to operate one.
Yeah, you'd need tech support. Big time. John -- John R. Howell, Assoc. Prof. of Music Virginia Tech Department of Music College of Liberal Arts & Human Sciences Blacksburg, Virginia, U.S.A. 24061-0240 Vox (540) 231-8411 Fax (540) 231-5034 (mailto:john.how...@vt.edu) http://www.music.vt.edu/faculty/howell/howell.html "We never play anything the same way once." Shelly Manne's definition of jazz musicians. _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list Finale@shsu.edu http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
