Mr. Tuttle made the suggestion of a creation of a MMD archive CD ROM,
available for sale.

Although I will be the first to point out that Robbie and Jody's efforts
are  seriously underpaid,  The CD ROM could open up  legal implications
for the foxtail group.  For example, if someone downloaded the
information from the archives for free, there is no valid issue.  But
if the information is charged for, and damage to a device ensues by the
information, it is quite possible that Foxtail and the author (s)could
be held responsible. Since there are so many conflicting points of view
therein, the information as a whole may prove rather confusing. It also
has retro-active implications and issues for any author who has posted
here.

That is why I have advocated that any time you suggest charging for
information, you are  going way out on a limb.  It destroys the open
dialogue that is shared between rebuilders here, and the concept
certainly doesn't make friends. Freely sharing information has always
been to me, the spirit and soul of MMD. Robbie and Jody has always
freely shared the archive information, and included a handy search
feature, and has never denied any request to repost information to
anyone.

I wonder if authors would be a little hesitant to post under this
situation? I would.

There are some things that you should not commercialize! and in my
opinion, MMD is one of them. I do not think I am alone in this.

Andrew T Taylor
Tempola Music Rolls.

 [ We've been debating for some time the legal technicalities
 [ of doing the CD-ROM.  There are probably two.  1) Design a
 [ "User Agreement" that allows us to publish a hard-copy, and
 [ 2) figure out how to deal with former subscribers and
 [ one-time posters.  Given that the expectation is that
 [ submissions to this forum are public, I'm not sure that
 [ anyone would have any valid gripe if we made money selling
 [ the bits on a piece of plastic .vs. selling the bits
 [ over a wire.  The real differences are that over the wire
 [ (Internet) you can get the bits for free, and, perhaps
 [ more subtle, we have, on RARE occasion, retracted an
 [ article to protect someone's privacy.  These cannot
 [ be "fixed" in the bits delivered on plastic.
 [
 [ There are some technical difficulties to be solved, too.
 [ As the editor, Robbie needs a copy of the Archives on his
 [ computer, and we've found that the common CD mastering
 [ software doesn't handle the MMD Archives correctly.  We're
 [ still reviewing the problem and probably don't need advice
 [ (yet) on this aspect.
 [
 [ I would be interested to hear from subscribers who feel
 [ they are well enough versed on law to comment on the legal
 [ issues.  We'll collect those replies and print them or
 [ process them privately depending on the appropriateness
 [ and volume of replies.
 [
 [ I certainly hope that writers would not be put off by their comments
 [ being immortalized on a CD-ROM.  The 'Net has a memory -- its almost
 [ impossible to make stupid things you said on the 'Net go away  --
 [ anyone who has "flamed" on a USENET Newsgroup probably knows this.
 [
 [ One last thing -- The idea of a CD-ROM intrigues me for another
 [ reason --  There are LOTS of things we could do on a CD-ROM
 [ or CD-ROM set (DVD ?) that you simply can't do over the
 [ Internet yet because of bandwidth considerations.  I'd really
 [ like to have more photos, music, interviews, etc.
 [
 [ Jody