Player Piano Roll Production Ceases

boustrophedon writes "The Buffalo News reports that QRS Music Technologies halted production of player piano rolls 108 years after the company was founded in Chicago. QRS continues to make digitized and computerized player-piano technology that runs on CDs. 'We're still doing what we always did, which is to provide software for pianos that play themselves. It's just the technology that has changed. But I would be lying to say [the halting of production] doesn't sadden me,' said Bob Berkman, the company's music director. Piano rolls can last for decades, but not forever. Volunteers at the International Association of Mechanical Music Preservationists build piano-roll scanners to scan rolls optically and convert them to MIDI files. The IAMMP archive and others contain thousands of scanned rolls."

Comments

Remember, remember the 5th of January (2009)...*

[denzacar]

...Next time someone mentions a technology that is outdated. Like say... floppies.

 
*5th of January 2009 is today, when you read the news about the last mass produced player piano roll going out the door.

player piano rolls

[Anonymous Coward]

At least they outlasted VHS tapes.