<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> <html> <head> <meta content="text/html;charset=ISO-8859-1" http-equiv="Content-Type"> <title></title> </head> <body bgcolor="#ffffff" text="#000000"> Hey there Don, I'll agree that there has been a hefty portion of this, that, and the other marketing technique through time.  But then one can hardly single out Steinway for this. Yamaha has been virtually giving their CF 111 away for years in similar fashion in attempts to win over.  This kind of thing probably goes on in just about any branch in one way or the other. My point is that none of these kinds of reasons can explain the market share Steinway has had through the years.  At least I cant see that they do.  We are talking about a 95 % market share of the concert venue sustained for over 100 years.  You could take the next 10 best companies of any branch in the entire history of mankind and add them together and still not find anything to compare with this. For me... this can only be explained in one way... despite all the interference from marketing, mystic, and mellodrama.  The Steinway sound and performance has set the standard... won the hearts of that huge majority... hit on the sound that seems to stir the best... whatever.  The sheer numbers of their dominant position dictate that the darned thing is a pretty fine product, despite all the criticisms justified or not that are levied against them. Sure... it takes a knockout punch in the 5th round to beat the champ once and for all.  But nobody's done that yet... and hey... a champ doesnt get there in the first place unless he's pretty darned good to begin with. Cheers RicB <blockquote> Hi Ric, I've been told that Steinway offered to provide a piano where ever the performer was playing. In return the artist was to demand a Steinway piano and nothing else would be "good enough". I believe this created for the man in the street the same sort of myth that Stradavarius violins are "the best ever". It does not matter whether it is true or not. Myths are hard to kill. Even for international companies with deep pockets. It would seem to me that Steinways recent attempts at inovation have been flawed by lack of testing and have largely blown up in their face. It would be interesting to ask ten local musicians to name the piano brand they would recommend buying--and which brand (price no object) they would prefer to own.</blockquote> </body> </html>