The subject has been properly flagellated, but perhaps a few "summary" observations would not be out of order.

Always keep an archive of clean "originals" in a safe place. No matter how you carry them around, they will wear out, someone will spill beer (or worse) on them, they'll fall on the floor next to the leaky oil can in the back seat - or something. Make it easy to replace your portabe book.

The point should be emphasised, for those who use 3-rings, that "D" Ring binders are much easier on the holes than the standard round rings. They cost marginally more, and may be a little more difficult to find, but round rings are IMHO useless over 1-inch.

If you use any "Xerographic" print method, like laser or copy machine, always put a blank sheet with no printing front and back in the notebook, since the printed type otherwise will "grow itself" onto the front/back covers. Cardstock sheets used here also will help keep the adjacent sheets from hanging up in the ring mounts.

If you use plastic sleeves, consider them a "laminate" for the same reason. Anything left in a sleeve for more than a brief time will probably "self destruct" if you try to remove it.

Plastic sleeves come in two main types. The most common are a sleeve you can fit the page into, with holes on a separate "margin" strip. This has the advantage that you don't need holes in the printed sheet; but the edges are usually more flexible than the rest of the sheet, which lets the pages "sag." They also require a "wider" binder. You can also get the type that are "page size" with slots that line up with the holes punched in the paper itself. Suit yourself.

Hole reinforcements have been mentioned. The common kind are "lick-and-stick" and will fall off in fairly short order. You can also get them with "pressure sensitive adhesive" (sometimes called "self-sticking,") which will last a little longer, but will eventually fall of when the adhesive starts to shrink - or will stick to the adjacent page when they get "gummy."

Alternate bindings are something you have to plan ahead for, and you have to make decisions about what to bind, and such. If you can do that much planning, you can probably figure out a way to carry a much smaller portion of your library around. A "permanent" binding on your "archive" generally will make it much more difficult to make working copies when you need them.

Computer methods are becoming more common, but the tendency is to "take everything," just because you can. Give some thought to whether energy used making the "best possible notebook" is detracting from the energy you could use to make music.

John