i agree sound is really really vital but..... the technology today is so accurate that you would have to have ears like "Lassie" to discern the real instrumnet from an electrically sampled and tweaked one. Especially in the mix of a full backing track/autoaccompaniment/orchestra. Pretty soon the human ear simply will not be able to tell the difference between a sampled and teaked steinway and the real thing.

But many of us will still want to buy the latest board ....Simply because its the latest, newest fastest. Look how many people own the lastest, fastest computer .......to process their home accounts on, or to send emails to a couple of friends !!!

I have decided the next board that i but has to be a step change to the one i have.

Posted by DonM

I feel that traditional pianos will virtually cease to exist before too many more years.
Sure, a few elite will still want one to put in their entertainment rooms but as digital and electronic pianos continue to improve, there will be no real reason to spend all that money on a traditional piano, and then have to maintain it properly.
Scott, you can keep yours and maybe buy a harpsichord to go with it!
DonM
P.S. That should liven things up a little.
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Don I have to agree with you. Most homes that I know that own a piano have purchased a digital rather than an acoustic. It's the size, weight, sound, features, and NO TUNING that really attracts buyers now. One of the administraters I know at my college just dumped a Baldwin Acoustic for a Roland Digital. He hasn't regretted the change since. Your statement got me thinking to an episode of Star Trek I saw several years ago. The Captain was playing a digital piano of (their) time. It was a completely flat keybed. Totally smooth and the keys did not move. He just touched the keys and they sounded and even lit under his fingers.

Squeak