Hello all!  The subject of whirlpool rotation certainly was off-topic
but, boy, did it start a discussion!  (I almost could see plugs being
pulled and hear toilets being flushed worldwide!)

Now for the future of mechanical music.  Yes, there are still player
pianos being thrown out (or thrown out again?) but I feel that the
remaining few will be properly cared for.  Never before has the subject
of mechanical music been so well documented as it is now, and never
before has it been so simple to search for (and find) information on
mechanical music (thanks to the Internet, of course).

What for the museum scene?  To take but one modest example, today you
can compare Siegfried Wendel's Mechanical Music Cabinet (which not only
houses some magnificently restored instruments but also exact replicas
of the Weber Maesto and Phonoliszt Violina) with the memory of how
Mekanisk Musik Museum in Copenhagen looked and sounded like in the
1970s.  (Remember the un-tuned Encore banjo, the silent Chrysoglott,
and other unrestored beauties?)

Things have grown better, haven't they?

Best regards
Christofer Noering
Stockholm