Bruce McKinney:

>I've often wished someone would invent a new, improved player piano,
>where you could put in a compact disc, say of Rachmanioff or Horowitz,
>and have it played "live" in your living room.

I believe something very like this has been around for at least a couple
of years, probably more.  I've seen ads for such an instrument by Yamaha:
a normal piano with an electronic attachment to play back pre-recorded
music as well.  I'm not sure what one feeds the apparatus: probably not
CDs but some other kind of specially-programmed recordings.

I'd like to see the more basic step perfected: namely, some way to
record what emanates from playing, say, LPs or CDs or even wax cylinders
(of someone like Rachmaninoff, e.g.) so it could then be played in one's
living room on such a piano.

Such an apparatus -- whose appearance is, in principle, just a matter of
time -- would obviate not just the chasm between what issues from your
speakers and what you hear, but between any reasonable recording and truly
live performances.

Bert Bailey