A Christmas Wish List for the Mark IV
2005-11-19 by Tom Wheeler
It has now been one year since Yamaha released the Mark IV disklavier, and the last software update for the Mark IV was in March of this year. There are a number of critical software features missing from the Mark IV that I would very much like to see included in the next software upgrade for the Mark IV whenever that might be (hopefully sooner rather than an indefinite later). These features are so important that I feel that anyone considering purchasing a Mark IV should be aware that they are not presently on the Mark IV. So, here is my wish list (that I have made known 10 months ago to Yamaha). 1. Enable the Mark IV to be added into my home wireless network. This would allow the transfer of files directly to the HD of the Mark IV without having to crawl under the Media Center and plug in a USB flash drive. 2. Enable connection to the Internet via the tablet (TRC-100) remote. The advantages of this are enormous and would include allowing one to download midi files directly from the Internet to the Mark IV, allow one to participate in online instructional videos in which the video appears on the screen of the TRC-100 while the midi audio is played back via the Mark IV's acoustic piano, etc. It is ironic that the Mark IV in the U.S. is supplied with a tablet remote that is a full-fledged tablet PC made by Hitachi and yet is so crippled by the software running the TRC-100 that the TRC-100 can do less than the supplied pocket remote the PRC-100. Why did Yamaha even supply the TRC-100 is it is not going to be put to good use? 3. Enable a Search Function. I have thousands of songs stored on my Mark IV. Currently there is no way to find anything other than going through the contents of each album which can take hours. Search functions have been a part of computer software as far back as I can remember and it is astounding that the Mark IV is missing such an essential feature. 4. Provide an indicator on the remote that shows the available free space on the 80 GB HD of the Mark IV. Currently I have no way to determine how much free space I have on the 80 GB HD of the Mark IV. While it is true that the capacity of this drive is sufficient to store a huge number of midi files, 80 GB is not so large when it comes to storing the CD's (640 MB each) that are required for Yamaha PianosoftPlus Audio and Yamaha SmartPiano software. I don't want to have to go find these CD's each time I access this type of software and so I store the CD on the Mark IV HD and allow it to synchronize with the floppy disk that is also stored on the HD. An indicator of available free space can simply not be that hard to add to the Mark IV's operating system and again I am amazed that this has not been done. 5. Provide a means of backing up the HD of the Mark IV. I have spent many many hours placing the huge amount of software that I have on the Mark IV and creating play lists for this software. All HD's crash. It is not a matter of if the disk will crash, but a matter of when. Should that happen now, I and every other Mark IV owner whose HD crashes would have to manually restore all of their data to their HD when it was replaced. I realize that Yamaha is rightfully concerned about illegal distribution of copies of their software, but a backup could be created that would have a cpu identifier key that would permit restoration only the Mark IV having that identifier key. 6. Enable the USB ports on the Media Center and I/O centers to accept and utilize external USB 2.0 drives as a means of extending the capacity of the Mark IV. Perhaps others have found some external USB 2.0 HD's that will work with the Mark IV. If so, I would appreciate it if they would post that information. I am not talking now about USB Flash Media drives which will work with the Media Center USB port on the Mark IV but are of relatively low capacity, but rather about USB 2.0 external drives that can be purchased in large capacity quite inexpensively and would provide a great means of expanding the storage capacity of the Mark IV. While the Windows operating system allows plug-in-play of USB 2.0 external drives, the proprietary Linux OS of the Mark IV does not and hence as far as I know you cannot just hook up any external USB 2.0 drive to the Mark IV. If I am mistaken and Yamaha has successfully hooked up some external USB 2.0 drives to the Mark IV, I would like to know the make and model number of those USB 2.0 drives. I would be interested in hearing from other Mark IV owners as to whether they feel these items are important to them and also if they have additional software items that they would include on the list. Maybe someone in Japan reads our postings and is listening. The Mark IV is a wonderful musical instrument with a huge unrealized potential. It is also a very very expensive piano and should not be without the essential features listed above. Current Mark IV owners should not have to wait for the release of a Mark V at some future date to benefit from these features, which are software only and do not require Yamaha's engineers to develop new hardware for the Mark IV. Tom Wheeler DC3M4t Owner