Ever since I was a kid I've always been interested in technology,
from video games to cars to records to computers.  I was born in the
'90s and my brothers and I grew up around ever-changing technologies.
Our bible was "The Way Things Work", which described in some detail
simple physics and how various household objects worked, a gift from
our late grandmother.  I used to make simple versions of record
players, windmills, elevators, and catapults out of Legos using the
information I found in the book.  (The record player chewed up a few
"Frankie Goes To Hollywood" 45s, but oh well...!  :P).

I have been playing the piano since I was seven, and by age ten I was
something of a prodigy, playing bits and pieces of Mozart, Joplin, and
Bach in addition to playing video game tunes and pop songs by ear.

The first time I saw a player piano at a Costco store (a Disklavier)
when I was ten, I was intrigued.  We had a digital piano at home and
I enjoyed messing around with the various sounds on it and all that,
but I thought it was kinda dull after a while.  Unfortunately, the
price tag was too high for my parents' taste, and they thought the
digital was just fine at the time (it bit the dust last year, and good
riddance to it :P).

I had known what a player piano was -- an old friend of mine had a
battered whitewashed upright Knabe ex-player, and we had a piano roll
that belonged to one of my great-grandparents as a decorative piece in
the basement (an Elektra 88 note roll of "American Patrol").  Sadly,
I've never found anything to play it on.

As a pianist, player-piano technology still interests me from musical,
technological, and historical aspects.  I've often toyed with getting
a MIDI system installed into my new Kawai upright, but most systems
I've seen are either just meant for boring middle-aged rich people
to have Michael Bublé or George Michael (ugh!) "sing along" through
mediocre speakers with their boring baby grand plinking along, or
over-the-top expensive systems that come in extremely expensive pianos,
probably bought by even richer and even more boring middle-aged people.

I just want to be able to record my playing, save it, and play it back
for close study, as well as play MIDI files from the Internet.

John Belmont

 [ John, welcome to the MMD.
 [
 [ I hope people will comment on the state of aftermarket keyboard
 [ recording adapters as well as playback devices.  Some of the 
 [ aftermarket solenoid playback systems do not (at this time) have
 [ direct MIDI wireline inputs, making them clubmsy or useless for
 [ multi-instrument pre-recorded playback or multi-instrument
 [ live stage use.   I hope people will discuss this issue too, as
 [ it's a frustration point for me with some of the aftermarket
 [ vendors' otherwise attractive products.         --Jody