I went 'round to the museum when I was in Paris over the weekend and it
is indeed an impressive collection -- although, as Phillipe Rouille said,
it's a little light on mechanical instruments.  When you enter the museum
you are given a set of headphones.  At this point you choose your
language and there are different headphones for English, French and
probably several other languages as well.  The headphones give a full
commentary in your chosen language on the collection as well as record-
ings of what some of the instruments sound like.  There are also a couple
of musicians demonstrating instruments.

Unfortunately the museum was very busy over the weekend.  We had to queue
for an hour and a half to get in.  The queue was remarkably slow-moving,
I think becuase of a shortage of headphones.  The visitors' book was full
of complaints.  When we arrived at the start of the tour we caught the
last few notes of a piece on what I assume was the Steck Duo-Art grand.
But this instrument is at the end of the tour and by the time we got
round to it the museum was closing.  The museum advises you to allow two
and a half hours for the tour.  I wanted at least three and a half hours,
which is not a complaint, but more a reflection of how interesting the
collection was.

A footnote to the museum of mechanical music that used to exist in
Paris: I went 'round to this museum more than five years ago.  In
addition to the player pianos there was also a large collection of
mechanical (clockwork) puppets and figures.  At the end of the tour the
woman who ran the place asked me to sign the visitors' book and pointed
out the signature of the last native English-speaker to visit the museum.
It was Steven Spielberg !

Mick Hamer -- now back in a rather damp London