Many orchestra and band musicians, particularly in the Silicon Valley, have envisioned an electronic sheet music display system, preferably networked to the conductor and other members of your section. It would allow you to easily share annotations, bowings, fingerings, changes, and even keep time, if that is necessary! Well, many have talked about it, some may have even sketched it out on napkins, but Harry Connick Jr, went ahead and implemented it. He even patented it. US Patent 6,348,648 covers “A system and method for coordinated music composition and display among musicians.” His system uses G3 Power Macs and had the help of his neighbor, David Pogue. His patent also covers the handwriting recognition aspect of his system where the score can be edited and quickly shared with the other players. Connick has a big advantage over other performance groups since he is writing his scores himself on Finale. Transferring the classical orchestral repertoire to electronic form is very possible, but a daunting task when you consider all the different versions, markings, and copyright issues involved. Hopefully Connick will be lenient with his licensing fees for the good of cash-poor orchestras everywhere. (from NY Times Patents column)