Concerning Julian Dyer's comments in Digest 970814.  A roll data base
would be a great idea and lots of fun.  My question would be:  Would it
have a negative or positive effect on what is left of the industry?

I was privately e-mailed and "blasted" on my position (since I will soon
be selling rolls).   But my main product is my own music and not recuts.
I am not taking this position for personal reasons.  That being said...
After giving it some thought, A roll data base would be a wealth of
information.  You can bet I would be the first in there getting music
for my piano!

My only concern is that I don't want to see MIDI files making the paper
roll obsolete, that's all.  Because if the sales of rolls plummet too
much, we might find ourselves unable to get them ten or twenty years
hence.  I too, like many others, depend on someone else's perforator to
do my music and hope they will be around for a long, long, time.

 But who knows, such a data base might do a great deal to stimulate the
industry.

Andy Taylor

 [ Editor's note:
 [
 [ Bob and Ginny Billings have put their monstrous data base to good
 [ use by publishing the "QRS Rollography" in several volumes.  Other
 [ researchers published similar books for other brands.  I doubt that
 [ the existence of these books has a negative effect -- more likely,
 [ it encourages collectors to search for previously unknown rolls.
 [
 [ I wouldn't worry about buying music rolls 10 or 50 years from
 [ today.  The music _will_ be preserved, somehow, just as 78 rpm
 [ phono music has been preserved, and with improved fidelity, too!
 [ Someone will still have a perforator to make rolls !
 [
 [ -- Robbie