Please forgive me if this gets a bit long, but I have been following
this discussion avidly and feel I now must add my two cents!

First, I am not a new lover of mechanical music.  My mother loved
music boxes, and the first story about me loving one of hers dates
back to when I was two years old.  My two sisters are less enamored,
though they seem to have a fondness for music boxes as well.

I have owned my one and only nickelodeon for just over two years.
I waited years to find one I could afford, and my husband points out
that a less persistent person would have moved on to some other desire
in a much shorter amount of time!  If prices are down somewhat, I hope
it will allow others to have my good fortune, as I found the perfect
instrument for me at a price in line with the amount of money I had
saved for the purchase.

Now, I also have shelves full of other music boxes -- from ceramic
Disney ones, all with songs I like (we'll get back to that) on cheap
little 18-note movements, to several grander 72-note boxes where the
box is fine wood.  While the Nelson-Wiggen 4X is the grandest of them
all, it is not more loved than the others.  It also takes up a lot
more space, so I am not even considering the purchase of another one
(though a small monkey organ might find a home on top of it)!

At 47, I seem to be on the young side for this group.  I have
a fondness for many songs that are older than I am, due to my mom's
love of some of them and my love of movie and Broadway musicals.

For any music box, the music it plays is essential to me!  Each of
our seven nieces and nephews was given a ceramic music box at birth,
and for most of them I changed out the music movement beforehand to
something better (more appropriate to the figures on the box, usually).

When I'm looking at music rolls for the nickelodeon, songs I know are
an important point because, while I enjoy anything it plays, I enjoy
it more when I can sing along!  For the last two years, I have been
writing lists of songs to have put on rolls.  I haven't figured out
_when_ I will do this yet, but I will eventually figure that out.

One of those lists is of ten songs from the 1980s.  You see, I am
also a fan of what's called "bubble gum pop-bouncy", fun to dance to,
not the least bit serious, and some of it sounds _ideal_ for the
nickelodeon to me.  If you aren't familiar with "Wake me Up Before
You Go Go" (a jitterbug) or "Karma Chameleon" (the video features
a calliope), give them a listen and try to imagine it -- I assure you
I can!

We also have the Halloween roll from Gnaw-Vol-Ty, with "People are
Strange" by the Doors, which comes off perfectly well!  Why haven't
I had the roll made yet?  My perception is that the cost would be
prohibitive, and I assumed I was the only one who would want a copy.
Am I wrong?

As for organizations like AMICA, we are members, but not really active
ones.  I read the magazine thoroughly, but we haven't been able to make
it to a convention yet (in our two years of membership).  Even being
two adults with two jobs and no kids, keeping our house maintained and
normal life going is pretty busy.  If we had kids, all bets would be
off for anything other than that!  Once we retire, that should change,
but it's a long way off!  I suspect others our age are similarly
occupied.

Monica Jones -- who does know that at least a couple of her sister's
children appreciate music boxes now!