Raising eyebrows is obvious when Pianos seem to go digital. A Yamaha grand measuring 5 feet, 3 inches long is available in longer versions as well as there are models costing up to $150,000. The Disklavier Mark IV is the world’s first piano with an integrated Internet connection. On lines of preceding cohorts of Yamaha’s self-playing pianos, the Mark IV is the latest entrant offering a luminous, elegant, splendid presence in your living room. The only signal by which one can capture about something going bizarre is the power and Ethernet cords niggling out from beneath and a 2-inch-tall control panel peeking out from underneath the lower-left skirt of the device.
I am sure by now you must have witnessed digital player pianos in a hotel lobby or mall, singing holiday tunes all by themselves with keys and pedals frantically going up and down. Some important specks: History reveals that the established owners of these Disklavier pianos bought numerous floppy disks or CDs with recorded recitals by renowned pianists. Each album is priced at $30-$35 and a new twist is added via its feature of Internet connectivity. It lets you subscribe to live piano “radio stations.” At a mere drop of $20 a month ($200 a year), you can jingle into conduits like Classical, Broadway or Rock.
The Yamaha store is not less than the iTunes store, equipped with a 30-second foretaste of each song with only difference that an individual plays the songs live.
Via NYT
