I have a mixed set of feelings on this subject, and, hence, I was trying to stay quiet. However, after reading two pages of postings, I feel compelled to put in my two cents' worth.

I own a Roland G1000, which came with a ZIP disk with some 400 styles in addition to the 128 in the ROM of the keyboard. Although most are regurgitated styles from older Roland instruments, some are quite useful. When Roland had sold me the instrument, it has also implicitely granted me the right to use their styles.

Like most people in this forum, I am always interested in hearing and trying other styles. However, at the end of the day, there is only 4 or 5 non-roland styles which I use in my preformances (call me unimaginative). Although I happened to obtain these from friends, I would be happy to pay a reasonable amount to their creator. While I can see the rationale for paying for the styles used in paid performances, it is important to me to be able to try styles (not just listen to them) before deciding to use them in performances or not.

I would have no problem purchasing useful styles from Yamaha or anyone else, provided I could try them before buying. What bother me more is the possibility of music publishers coming after all of us who perform (for money) for a piece of it.

Regards