So many theories and opinions on the future of mechanical music, and
all with some merit.  But mechanical music constantly changes forms!

What we are having to deal with now is not new, just different.  Go
back to the 1890's and the source of mechanical music was the music
box, both cylinder and disc, for home use and coin-operated commercial
use.  This was replaced by the player piano, in simple form for the
home and more complex instruments for public places.  Next came
recorded music on cylinder and disc records, also in residential models
and coin-operated units.

Our mechanical music entertainment just keeps changing forms.  What
will be next will be frequently even more changing and, as in the
past, keeping up with the developments in technology.  Even the player
piano has changed from pneumatic paper-roll operation to electronic,
playing tapes, floppy discs and CD disc MIDI systems.

We collectors are the diehards and hopefully will manage to preserve
some fine examples of our favorite instruments playing our favorite
kind of music.  But these are our personal likes, interests, and loves.
One thing for certain is that only the private collector will manage to
guarantee the survival of these wonderful instruments, because the
public collections will be no more and the museums only accept them to
re-sell for cash because they don't have room or funds to deal with the
required maintenance.  Just because it is something we treasure and
enjoy and would like to share with others is no guarantee that it will
be accepted by others.  It is the odd person who is really taken by the
machine that can make music.  When they are fascinated, it is because
of the machine, not the music.  So the idea of trying to have the
public accept our instruments by having these vintage pieces perform
what passes to-day for music is false hope.

Many years ago QRS  player rolls offered all the current hit music,
popular, country, and show tunes.  It did not save the player piano or
keep QRS in the roll making business.

The big corporations saw this coming years ago.  Amusement parks gave
up on band organs.  Disneyland got rid of most of their instruments.
Why?  Because through their studies of the public, they found that
these things were no longer of interest. Countless public collections
of coin pianos closed their doors for the same reasons.  Two of the
major coin piano makers (and others) moved into the jukebox business.
Where once you found a nickelodeon piano by Wurlitzer, Seeburg, or
others, you now found an electric phonograph for a nickel a play.
These record-playing machines morphed from 78 rpm to 45 rpm and then to
CD recordings and even no recording, with the music now all by Internet
feed online.  The main manufacturers of paper roll music stopped
production.  Parts suppliers went out of business, including those that
offered replacements parts for the jukeboxes.

Today it is rare to even find any commercial location where you
can drop a coin in a machine and be entertained with mechanical music.
Can you remember when you last saw a mechanical music device in a
restaurant or bar?  You can't force the public to like pneumatic paper-
roll-operated instruments, when the preferred way to be entertained
today is to stick "buds" into your ears and listen to noise from
cyberspace.

I hate to address the value of these things today, but it would be fair
to say that their real value is only to us who are proud to own these
treasures of the past.  The more instruments available on the open
market, the lower the price will be.  It is our hobby and these are our
toys.  For resale, face facts: who wants to buy a big, heavy, hard-to-
move old piano that requires expensive care and regular tuning.  Parts
are now hard to find, with the loss of people like Bob Streicher and
Durrell Armstrong, just to mention a couple.  If you can't do your own
maintenance work, service and repair people are getting to be few and
far between and very costly.

Now at seventy-four years of age, I can remember when you wanted to get
rid of the family piano or player piano, you donated it to your church,
school, or community center, or you put it up for auction.  Some were
even left in the house for the new owners.  Now all those solutions are
gone.  People just don't want your old piano even as a gift.  If you
did find a buyer, you were lucky to get a hundred dollars.  Today you
have to pay to have it removed and even pay to have it disposed of in
the landfill.

While the standard player piano has slim hope of being saved in
great numbers, reproducing players have a better chance of finding a
home.  Anything that is an original coin-operated instrument in decent
condition is sure to find a home, but none will ever see a big price
tag again.  They will be saved for love, not for money.  If you want
one, now is the time to adopt one for your own personal pleasure, but
don't expect your friends and neighbors to like it just because you do.
If not for contacts through MBSI, AMICA, the MMD and other similar
groups, it can be a lonely hobby that you find enjoying by yourself.

I'm happy to still have a house filled with six pianos and loads of
music boxes, jukeboxes, and phonographs, which I treasure and play all
the time, and I say sorry in advance to the poor soul who will have to
clear this old house out when I am no longer here.  Until then, this
collection has great personal value to me and when it does get disposed
of, I won't be here to worry about the cash value!

Ken Vinen
Aylmer, Ontario, Canada