Here is my advice to anyone in whose face whom any sort of modern
device is flaunted, when he is trying to convey the history of our
mechanical music instruments.  Instead of getting instantly depressed
and feeling challenged by this new-tech show-off, immediately pick up
the conversation from there with: "Exactly, and this machine is the
predecessor of your modern device."

In the particular iPod situation Earl Hennagir mentioned in the 071002
MMD, one even could have countered with: "Well, exactly!  What you are
holding in your hand is the result of several generations of evolution
in trying to get things more compact and smaller.  What I have here is
the iPod of its day!"

I have to echo the ideas that have already been posted: one of the main
reasons -- aside from the cost of membership dues -- why I have stayed
away from all the major mechanical music associations is the stiffness
and elitism, as well as staleness, of some members.  It doesn't take
many bad seeds to divert any club from its majority-supported status
into something that appeals only to a core group which may happen to be
more active then the rest.  There usually isn't much drive from that
core group to grow the organization by keeping things fresh, trendy,
and modern.

I think that feeding free MP-3s of a wide variety of mechanical music
instruments to major Internet outlets, where people go to fill unused
space on their iPods, would have a surprising effect on the mechanical
music field.  Imagine one of those recordings landing on the Internet
Hit Chart!

There is a tendency for the mechanical music field to split into narrow
specialties, such as music boxes, player pianos, band organs, etc.
This fragments the field and dissipates the energies of the
enthusiasts.  With so many smaller groups within the larger field of
mechanical music, it is not too surprising that our youth could get
lost in the mix and there not be enough young enthusiasts to go around.

Our hobby hasn't disappeared for the past hundred years.  There is no
reason to believe it won't be enjoyed for the next hundred!  Sure, more
instruments will be lost, due to fire, bad maintenance/storage, or just
because they went to the landfill.  It will be harder and harder to
find those elusive rolls and music media.  The enthusiasts, however,
will not die out nor become extinct.  As long as there are working
instruments left somewhere in a museum or collection, someone will be
intrigued and fascinated by them.

I. Krause
Burnaby, B.C., Canada
www.vilm.ca