Dear MMDers,  There are claims in recent MMDigests which are far more
nonsense than the notions of mine that they decried as nonsense!
The first suggests that because there exist paper rolls that are
100 years old and can still be played, then there is no need for
preservation of the music in digital form.  Does anyone seriously
believe that those same rolls might still be good in another 100
years, particularly, if they are played regularly?  Just ask any
preservationist in a library what time does to paper.  Huge numbers
of paper rolls have already been lost.  Once digitised, the music
is there forever.

The second claim suggested that technology will change and there
will be nothing available to utilise the digitised music, giving as
an example the demise of 5.25- and 3.5-inch floppy disks.  The point
lost here is that once in digital form, it is only the medium that
will change with technology changes.

This is the beauty of digital information -- it's only 1s and 0s,
nothing else to interpret.  The information will simply be
transferred to a new medium.  I personally have not lost a single
byte of valued information as a result of no longer being able to
use floppy disks.

There is always a transition to new media.  Even your old VHS video
tapes are able to be easily transferred by any non-technical person to
digital DVDs, and now digital Blu-Ray disks, before the analogue VHS
technology finally disappears.  I'm sure Bob Hunt and his successors
will come up with whatever equipment is required in the future, if
MIDI files cease to be a format for digitized music.

As for pedaling or motorising, I just want to be able to listen to my
pianola music without being tied to the instrument.  Disabled people
might also agree with me.  I can listen to 30 or so rolls play on a
real piano while I work in my office in another room.  I don't want to
perform at Carnegie Hall.

I'm interested in more comments on the music in the video I posted on
YouTube, check it out if you missed it --

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJr7eI1yf0k 

Don't lament the lack of newbies, embrace their technology.

Regards,
Geoff Ward
Sydney