I am not a piano player and not musically inclined, however it seems as thought my 5 year old daughter may be. She has been taking piano lessons for the last few months at a neighbor's house and now it is time to rent or buy one for our home. I would like to get her a good piano that will last her at least 7-10 years. If it turns out she really plays well and enjoys playing, than I will upgrade to whatever is necessary.

I have been looking at digital pianos, and Rolands in particulars. The digitals interest me because it seems to me that kids would like the technology which may keep her interested. I like the ability to hook up a laptop and utilize some of the teaching materials available, although she will still take lessons from a human.

The quote I am getting for the HP2 is $2500 (and I now see from the e-mails that the rolands do not come with a bench). To my pathetic ear, the Rolands seem to have a sound very close to acoustic and I like the idea of little to no maintenance. I went to the Music123 site and I see they have a roland model MP60 that looks exactly the same and has the same features (progressive hammer action keyboard, 64 voice polyphony, etc). The price is $1400. Does anyone know if there are any differences between these two models. Are these pianos hard to assemble? Is there some reason that I should buy from a piano store rather than music123 (as I am a piano novice).

Should I be looking for a good used vertical? The used verticals in this piano store started at 3500K and the new were more expensive than that. Will my daughter be kept out of Julliard because she learned on a digital

Have you looked into renting a piano until you find out for sure if this is something that your daughter is going to continue to pursue?

Yes. I am currently thinking about this as well. The local music store which sells Rolands has a program that allows for a rental (of an HP1) for up to 6 months with the rental price going towards the purchase of a piano. After the 6 months, no additional rental fees would apply to purchase. This seems like a good way to go unless the pianos are truly overpriced. Their rental terms are about $75 per month. Is that reasonable?

Most digitals from piano stores are overpriced.

Roland, like Yamaha and others, sells a "home" line of digital pianos through piano stores and a "pro" line through general music stores like guitar center, music123.com and many others. You will almost never find a price on the internet for the home line, and dealers will try to get whatever they can get away with. Prices for the pro line are readily available on the internet, or posted in catalogs or on the pianos themselves in the stores, and are almost always within $100 of each other for a given model no matter where you look.

There is real price competition in the pro lines, not much in the home lines.

Is there any real difference between the home lines and the professional lines, or do they just make the same piano and put different model numbers on them.

Not sure with the rolands, but with the Yamahas, I have heard on this board or harmony-central.com that the ydp series by yamaha (sold online, general purpose music stores) are nearly identical to some of the clavinovas (sold only at piano stores), but the clavinovas cost more.

But I do know that many people on this board and others love the roland pianos which are not sold in piano stores. Haven't heard much about the mp60, but have heard raves about the rd700, fp3 and fp5 stage pianos.

They couldn't make the pianos sold at piano stores exactly the same as the others, or it would be too easy to price compare and it would put their piano store line out of business. Also, they modify the bells and whistles depending on the market that they sell to. For example, yamaha makes two nearly identical pianos, the p250 for the pro market and the pf500 for the home market. The only difference that I could find was that the pf500 has a metronome, includes a stand and 3 pedals, and is more "stylish". They probably figure that the gigging musician doesn't care about the styling as much (it's not a piece of furniture for him), doesn't need the metronome because he is not taking piano lessons, and already has an old stand from another keyboard.

btw, pf500 is heavy also, perhaps heavier than p250 which you probably could take on road. but pf500 does feel great to play on.

FYI, The HP series does include the bench. As far as Yamaha YDP vs. CLP, the YDP series doesn't have MIDI capability or external outputs. That is one major difference. There's also a huge distinction in warranty and warranty service.

Question? Was the $2500 for the mahogany or ebony finish?

From Yamaha's web page on the ydp223:


http://www.yamaha.com/yamahavgn/CDA/Cont...TRIBUTE,00.html

Jacks/Connectors MIDI (In/Out/Thru), TO HOST, HEADPHONES x 2, AUX IN, AUX OUT (L/L+R, R), AUX OUT (LEVEL FIXED) (L,R)

That jargon means that the ydp223 does have midi functions and external outputs.

I haven't done an exhaustive comparison between the ydp's and the comparable clavinova clp's but anyone who does will likely find that the only significant difference is price. Piano dealers don't want you to know this because they can make a very hefty profit on the clavinovas by selling them to people who are ignorant of the other choices out there.

It's true that the warranty coverage is better on the clavinova, but is it worth $500 or even $1000 to go from 1 year to 5 year warranty?

Sorry, it was the previous generation that didn't have them. I hadn't realized they'd been added.

The $2500 was for the mahogony finish. I believe they told me that the ebony finish was more expensive.

After reading all your comments and spending the last week looking at used accoustic pianos and speaking with my daughter's piano teacher, I have decided to go with a digital, and with the Roland.

My daughter's teacher has convinced me that young children learning to play the piano often stay with piano longer because of some of the features built into a digital. She likes the software that is available and she thinks some of the bells and whistles will keep my little one engaged a bit longer. She also seems convinced that learning on a digital that has a progressive weighted keyboard and pedals will not hinder my daughter from playing an accoustic piano when the time is right.

Thank you for all your help.