future of the acoustic piano

[Phil Bondi]

I'll chime in with my .002...

In my travels, I get asked quite a bit about Digital Pianos..I prefer to mix
facts with opinions..and I make that perfectly clear up front..here is my
stock response:

Digital Pianos will get you started. The sound coming from them is pretty
good, and the touch seems to improve all the time. Most people see Digitals
as a way to get started with minimal maintenance down the road (never needs
tuning). But there are 3 things that most Digitals can't do:

1- re-sale value..if after 3 years you want to trade up, Digitals are not a
good _investment_. They are alot like computers..and the longer you hang
onto it, the less worth(worthless) it becomes to either trade-in or
re-sale..Pianos retain their value as opposed to digitals (DEALERS, please
correct me if I am wrong..this is personal experience talking here..)..

2 - As good as the sound has become, and the fact that the touch seems to
improves over the years, it is ""my opinion"" that after awhile, the sound
gets 'boring'..i know it has lots of bells and whistles, but after awhile
you ""may"" get bored with that.

3 - no matter how good the sound gets or the touch feels, the Digital Piano
will NEVER be able to approach the 'soul' of a acoustic piano..now I know
that may sound esoterical to you, but believe it or not, as singular as the
sound is of an acoustic piano, it actually 'feels' like it changes with your
mood..digitals can not do that. _I_ own both, and I know this to be true.

believe it or not, most people understand #3..I get their attention with the
"investment" statement, and seem to cement their thoughts with #3.

I know there are digitals out there that have an real acoustic action with a
digital sound..i personally have not spent enough time with them to offer an
opinion, other than i hope that trend continues to the Grand Action...now
we're tawkin'..!!

I have not been following this thread too closely, so if this has been said,
in so many words, i am sorry to take up your valuable time with my worthless
 bandwith (sorry, couldn't resist!).

roo(k)