I can't say enough good about Moleskine products in general and this notebook in particular. Here's what you need to know before buying:
- The spacing between the staves is optimal! The staves are spaced far enough apart to: 1) allow for lyrics to be written beneath the staves; 2) accommodate the writing of contrapuntal lines. There's plenty of space between the staves, but not so much space as to preclude the grouping of two or more staves with a bracket. Moleskine nailed the spacing!
- Open the book to any page, and you'll find that the left-hand page is blank, while the right-hand page is staved (see pictures at the top of the page). Fortunately, the notebook is a decent size, so that a good amount of music can be written on a single staved page. And if it irks you that every other page is blank, Moleskine includes a staved bookmark of sorts that you can use to draw your own staves on the blank pages. (I haven't tried this; I didn't want to make a mess of things.)
- The pages are a soft off-white, not the garish white of many staff paper notebooks. The pages are sturdy and opaque--no worries about bleed-through, even when using a stout pen.
- As with all Moleskine products, the binding is nice and tight. Treat it right, and this notebook will last you a lifetime.
So what's the hold-up? Just buy it already.
(BTW, if you're wondering what kind of pen to use with use this or any other Moleskine product, I recommend you go with the Sakura Pigma Micron Pen Set, 3-Pack, Black Ink. It seems like a lot of reviewers praise the Pilot Precise V5 in their reviews, but the Sakura pens blow the Pilot line out of the water. The Sakura brand is finer than the Pilot brand, and there is much less bleed-through when writing on thin paper. Also, with the Sakura the ink doesn't splay or spread out on the page like the Pilot pens tend to do. The Sakura brand is especially useful when making marginal notes in a book or article. Because the pen writes so cleanly, it's perfect for cramming a lot of text into a tiny space.)