Pete,
Don't get me wrong - the U2000 is the best all-purpose atlas out there AFAIK. That's the one I keep in my observatory (along with the two Sky Cats and a Burnham's). The downside to the MSA: it's so freaking big!

One time Sky Pub sent around a questionnaire asking if anyone would be interested in a version of the MSA with black sky and color-coded stars. I responded that I would have been, before I coughed up the price of the original! That was the only time I ever heard anything about it.