I had some 19-year-old (or so) kids over to my house a few months ago.
I showed them the Orchestrelle (for some reason young people are usu-
ally interested in that), and then I showed them a foot-pumped player,
then a Seeburg and a Western Electric coin piano. The Seeburg has a
keyboard, and the Western Electric doesn't.
One kid said to me, "What's the advantage of this one over the one with
the keyboard?" I said, "Well, this Western Electric is small. So
size is the advantage". He pulled his iPod out of his shirt pocket and
said, "Ummm Earl, this is small."
How do you compete? We live in a diminished age. I can imagine the
challenge groups like AMICA and the Musical Box Society International
will have in the future in trying to figure out how to get the next
generation of collectors in place, so that the interest survives into
the future.
Earl Hennagir
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