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

Nostalgia...

[Chrisq]

I remember my gran having a player piano. It was great fun (as a seven year old) working the peddles to play music at double-speed. It also seemed somehow magical seeing the keys "play" themselves.

Oh well

[MichaelSmith]

There goes my backup strategy.

Video of piano roll production at QRS Music

[Andorion]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3FTaGwfXPM

Enjoy!

huh?

[russ1337]

'We're still doing what we always did, which is to provide software for pianos that play themselves.

Piano Porn?

Player pianos used to be cool

[gzipped_tar]

Listen to Gustav Mahler playing himself. He played a part (the Death March) of his Fifth Symphony in 1905, recorded to piano rolls.

I just hope at least some of the player pianos could be preserved in a working state, although it would be getting more and more difficult as time goes by.

Technologies get replaced but the coolness remains.

Forward to 2067

[gnieboer]

"...halted support for COBOL 108 years after the language was founded. We continue to provide support for Cybernetic Linux. We're still doing what we always did, which is to provide software for machines that help humans. It's just the interface that has changed. But I would be lying to say it doesn't sadden me..."

So, any bets on whether the above statement will be a reality??

Or the alternative version in 2109...

"...halted support for Windows XP 108 years after the language was founded. We continue to provide support for Windows Vista. Windows Vista is a great enhancement to the user experience, and we really really really hope that people will get over it and stop asking for XP. Really, we mean it this time, NO MORE XP SUPPORT. No... Really..."

And thus...

[Warhawke]

The humble beginnings of the ever-turbulent fight between music publishers and end-users comes to an end. More than simply nostalgic, the piano roll was the first cheap medium for copying music, and as such it created the massive debaucle whose legacy is still carried on today by the RIAA. Prior to the hayday of the player piano, musical entertainment for home use required live performance. Sheet music publishers had a stranglehold on the industry. Enter the player piano roll, and suddenly these new device publishers could manually record, copy, and redistribute music en masse, and they did so with great frequency, never paying the sheet music publishers a dime. Even "worse", the player piano was autonomous, and so you didn't need a musician at all to enjoy the music played. Naturally, the sheet music publishers were outraged. They considered the device to be sterile and even dangerous to the artistry of music. If no one had to play piano, then no one would, and the music would simply cease to exist. They asked Congress to ban the piano roll and require that any new recording system be voted on by the sheet music publishers. Fortunately, that didn't hold, and instead a licensing system was created where player piano roll producers paid the publishers a paltry fee per roll produced.

That system has held in place until today, though you see technology (and history) repeat itself over and over. It's important not just from a DRM and YRO perspective, but also from a historical perspective. Beyond the moving-type press, this allowed for the greatest proliferation of music across America to be enjoyed cheaply by everyone. The roll single handedly changed the way America could experience music, and it completely defined the historical legislation and business practice of modern music. This is the passing of a titan, not just a kitchy thing that your great-grandparents might have owned.

Of course, now that I went to the effort to write all that, I remember Cory Doctorow mentioned the same thing in an old, well-read paper of his.

Production pauses

[yogibaer]

If you read the article carefully, it becomes clear that they will be trying to reestablish the production in a new location, but are a bit worried, that some of the ancient machinery will survive relocation. They still sell 50.000 rolls a year and have a stockpile that will last them for 1-2 years.

Player Pianos are supreme tech

[VividU]

I had the great fortune to apprentice with one of the last remaining player piano craftsman/restorers/repairmen in the west coast. A mad genius if there ever was one. (Hey Larry!).

Not many jobs gave me to opportunity to make glue from fish guts, cut leather, polish wood with graphite and tinker deep in the guts of Steinway's.

The player piano's are truly amazing technology. Ask most people how the players work and they'll draw a blank. (Hint: vacuum).

Sit next to a properly tuned (musically & mechanically) player piano, close your eyes and listen. They can be scary good.

Re:Still can be done

[Reality Master 101]

That's like saying modern digital pinball machines are better than the old electro-mechanical ones. Sure, they are technologically better in nearly every way, but there's something about mechanical devices that are intrinsically more fascinating than electronic ones. (and if I have to explain why, you'll never understand. :) )