A band mate who has been incredibly helpful and knowledgeable about iPad functions turned me on to ForScore. I had been using iBooks as a repository of PDF versions of a variety of tune books I'd found online. I had even put together one with the whole repertoire of the contra dance band we're both in. Another person had done extensive bit of work, purring in links on his PDF version, but I found it impractical and annoying because he'd put in multiple test versions of sets along with the one we'd settled on & mixed in other sections alphabetically ... All of which took away from the usability factor.
I have also been using an ABC file app called "the Craic" for obtaining, learning and sharing tunes for about a year. Spent hours transcribing tunes from hard to read hand notations.

My personal lyric/chord fakebook (8th edition) with 250+ songs went in iBooks. Having the fakebook and band music on iPad was gloriously liberating....but ...couldn't highlight or make notes on how I need to play a tune, change chords, edit words. ForScore seems to solve this problem- highlighting, annotating, even erasing the PDFs entered is possible. Nancy, who got me started with this app, was able to send me a file with a all the work she'd done in creating bookmarks (to get to a particular tune) for one of the books we use.

The advantages of this app are just starting to sink in, particularly for use in a band situation. Creating a set list for a dance or concert, so you needn't look up each piece each time, can be done in advance AND shared among the band, so yer literally on the same page. I am still a beginner with this app, and am far from tapping most of the other cool functions. I would love to hear from others who've been using ForScore or otherwise using an iPad instead of hauling big binders when you play.

Joanne in Cleveland