All of us are concerned about sustaining the hobby of mechanical music.
The general public has a lack of awareness that these music machines
even exist.  The MMD web site is a wonderful way for people interested
in mechanical music to gain knowledge, but why would they search for
the MMD web site if they don't know such machines ever existed?

We need some low cost, minimal effort ways to reach new people with
high quality information about the hobby - the people, the machines,
the music and the fun!

How about the idea of using old MBSI and AMICA magazines for outreach?
Mine are not doing us any good sitting in the closet or going to the
landfill.  There has to be something better than throwing them away.

Here is the question for MMD: How many things can we think of to do
with old "Mechanical Music" magazines (MBSI) and old "AMICA Bulletins"
to increase awareness of mechanical music?  Here are two thoughts to
get us going:

Idea #1 -- Leave them in a waiting room.  Remove the address labels
and put them in the car.  The next time you are some place with reading
material, make a "secret contribution"!  Take one inside with you, leaf
through it and then leave there.  Maybe somebody else will read it and
learn about mechanical music.  If each of us left last month's magazine
someplace we could reach hundreds of new people at no cost and without
a lot of time expended.  Here are some potential places to leave them:

  the dentist's office
  the barber shop
  the auto repair waiting room
  the doctor's office

Idea #2 -- Mail them to a university's robotic club.  Some robotic
professors and researchers visited my home collection a year ago and
they loved the music machines.  They immediately understood that these
machines were early robots and were very appreciative of their workings
and mechanisms.  They understand pneumatic controls and MIDI.  I
believe robot enthusiasts are an untapped source of interested people
and potential MMD hobbyists.

Okay, those are my ideas; what does the rest of MMD think?  Is this
worthwhile?  What else can we do with the old magazines to spread the
word?

Wayne Finger