We are changing the e-mail addresses and web site address for the
MMD.  The new addresses are at the end of this article.  Please
bookmark the new addresses even if you  skip over most of the
text of this article!

When we started publishing the Mechanical Music Digest in April of 1995,
everything was done by e-mail.  Since that time a great deal has changed
on the Internet.   The MMD has gradually evolved, adding a website
with archived articles, as well as additional content such as pictures
and long tables (such as auction catalogs) that might flood user's
e-mail boxes if mailed to them.

Today, the MMD has over 1200 subscribers.  There many people providing
assistance (editing, research, articles, etc), for which I am grateful.
In addition, some of you have sent cash contributions via check or
PayPal which helps us to pay for the servers and communication (Internet
and phone) expenses associated with the publication of the Digest and
running the MMD Website.  A big "Thank You" to everyone who participates!

As time has passed, the tasks associated with publication of the MMD are
taking an ever larger amount of time.   I have been seeking ways of
making the jobs of editing and subscription list maintenance easier.
One of the big problems is that the growth of SPAM on the 'net has
hit us particularly hard.  I have been working hard to find ways of
making the publication of the MMD sustainable.

A disk crash on one of our servers during December caused the amount of
SPAM that gets through to increase to the point that we have had to make
some of these changes sooner than we intended.  We hope people will be
be patient with us as we work out the kinks.

 - -

Effective immediately, all of the old e-mail addresses for the MMD have
been disabled.  We have implemented new ones which should be reasonably
SPAM-free for a while.  Please bookmark these:

    Submit articles:        rolls-0801@mmdigest.com.geentroep [ remove .geentroep]
    Subscription Requests:  rollreq-0801@mmdigest.com.geentroep [ remove .geentroep]
	Chat with the Editor:   editor-0801@mmdigest.com.geentroep [ remove .geentroep]

The '0801' in the name is year and month.   We will change the numbers
as needed if the SPAM picks up again.  The boilerplate at the end of
Digest will always contain the correct addresses.

In the long run, we are going to transition to a web-based mechanism
for submitting articles and for handling subscription maintenance. We
think that this will make publication easier and also make it faster for
subscription requests to get processed without the chance of them
getting lost in the SPAM.  Towards that end, we have a new server:

    New MMD Website:    http://www.mmdigest.com

The software I have written for this new website has an article
submission form that bypasses the SPAM problem completely.   In
addition, you can indicate of your text is a private message to the
editor or for publication.

The link for submitting a message to us using the contact form is at
the bottom of EVERY page.  You may want to bookmark this:

	MMD Contact Form:  http://www.mmdigest.com/Contact

You are invited to test this link today.   At the bottom of the form
just click on the radio button that says "For Editor's Eyes Only" if you
are "just testing".

Finally, we are in the process of adding a number of new features to
the MMD web server.  The most obvious will be that you can manage your
own subscription.  We will be adding and announcing other features
from time to time. In order to manage your subscription and/or to access
these other features, it will be necessary to log in to the MMD website.
Our goal is for this to be EASY.  We've created accounts for all the
current subscribers on the website.   All you have to do is to ask
the website to send you the password we assigned to you.  Once you
receive the pre-assigned password you can change it if you don't like
it.  Please DO NOT use the same password that you use for online
financial activities!

Current subscribers should go to http://www.mmdigest.com/RecoverPassword
to have their pre-assigned password sent to them.  If you try to fetch
your pre-assigned password and it doesn't arrive, please use the contact
form and submit a "website problem report", or if all else fails you
can write directly to me at kravitz@mmdigest.com.geentroep [remove .geentroep]

I want to thank everyone for the support and encouragement over the
years and I hope that you will be patient with us as we try to figure
out how to handle 2008!

Jody

Jody Kravitz, Publisher
The Mechanical Music Digest
kravitz@mmdigest.com.geentroep [remove .geentroep to send e-mail]