April 13, 2010

Wither iPad?

Given that in February I made some very positive comments about the iPad I thought I should explain why I won’t be jumping on the iPad bandwagon just yet. There are three main reasons, 1. To go forward with photography I need a portable computer that can develop photos in the field. One day the […]

Given that in February I made some very positive comments about the iPad I thought I should explain why I won’t be jumping on the iPad bandwagon just yet. There are three main reasons,

1. To go forward with photography I need a portable computer that can develop photos in the field. One day the iPad will be able to run something like Lightroom or Aperture to develop RAW images. But that day is not upon us yet.

2. A large part of the appeal of the iPad resides in reading news and magazine content, but current subscription proposals are costly and restrictive. In time, I believe these prices will drop and access will open up. But, for now that dampens the appeal.

3. The iPad has huge potential as a music creation and control device, but the software for doing that is still very first generation and if I’m honest, I don’t have the time right now to be testing that sort of thing out. Of course, this will change, fast.

I can imagine myself picking up an iPad in the near future – maybe towards the end of the year. But for now, it makes more sense to put some money behind a new MacBook Pro and set that up for travel photography and maybe some new music writing projects later in the year.

Tagged Apple, iPad, Music Technology

Gene 15 years ago

Those are some very good reasons to wait. As a developer of software, my purchase was primarily for testing and development. There is a lot of really cool applications and content coming online, but I do agree there needs to be a settling down off pricing models for context and in user interaction models for various applications.

We are in the process of getting our music notation software done, and hope to have something in the store soon. Maybe that will help in your decision to pick up an iPad later this year.

The new MacBook Pro models were announced today! Hopefully there is one there that will be right for your music and photography.

Steve 15 years ago

I think for your stated purposes, a MBP is the tool of choice and will be for some time to come yet. No denying the iPad’s appeal, but I’ll likely be waiting for 2nd gen, iPhone OS 4 for sure. Multitasking is a must for my use-case. Looking forward to new a new iPhone this summer, I’ll be due for a replacement in November.

Fernando Gros 15 years ago

Gene, thanks for your comment. You are right, there are some great apps coming down the line. I really look forward to seeing how your notation app works out. I’d love to see a good music sketching app for the iPad.

Hey Steve, one of the things that I would like to see at work on the iPad is Omnifocus. And, I suspect, that app would benefit a lot from multitasking. It is one of the few programmes I have on almost all the time on my Mac Pro or PowerBook.

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