Although I've only been buying rolls since November of last year (when 
I got my first player working), I have looked through perhaps 400 used
rolls, and bought about 50 of them.  Not playing any instruments myself,
and not having any friends or neighbors with player pianos, I didn't know
what a one-step sounded like or a two-step or a fox-trot (labels on some
rolls).

The first batch I looked at was around 300 rolls, most were
teens-twenties ones whose songs I was not familiar with.  Not wanting
to buy the whole lot (hey, I don't know where to store the 50 I have!), 
I had to do *something* to weed out the ones I didn't want...  so I
started to unroll the first few feet and take a look at the perforated
notes of interesting-titled rolls.

Doing this, not only can I examine the condition of the paper, but from
the roll patterns, I can see if it looks "interesting" or well-arranged.
You can easily see if it is a simple or slow tune, or a waltz; being
still- amazed at the capabilities of what a player piano can do, I'm
partial to livelier music and arranged music (I like to cook dinner on 
the piano :-) ), so I would put back rolls that appeared hymn-like.

One of my favorite finds by doing this was an old cut by QRS of the
General Pershing March.  It goes through 3 verses on the roll, each
played differently, the first time through it is played "straight", 
the second has lots of midrange trilling (sounds like an organ), and 
the third has lots of staggered-note-start chords and sounds like a harp.
At times, there are 18 notes played at once, and it's got the WW1-era
patriotic words that go along with it.

Another favorite roll is called "It's Winter Again", a Leo Feist
copyrighted tune from the 1920s on the Imperial roll label.  I don't
understand why this song isn't a modern day Christmas classic (perhaps
it's gotten "lost"); it's wonderful.

Having a low price on an unknown roll can help to overcome other
reservations.  I will take a chance on a $2-3 roll, if the title or
perforating looks interesting.  I figure that I could always break even
by selling it again if it's not to my taste.

What I really find useful is when I get a glowing recommendation of a
roll, like Andy Taylor's MIDI arrangements on his site, as mentioned in
the MMD.   I recently went to his site, and I want to be put at the head
of the list to get a paper roll of his Waitin' for the Robert E. Lee!

Rick Inzero
rdi@cci.com