Would you think, if you had a good connection ,that you would get a realistic tone quality to send a sound sample of pipes down the phone.
Its common to see requests for sound samples by someone buying second hand pipes ,could this be the answer ?
RORY
it makes you sound like Ennis - honestly!
Telephone systems are designed for 300-3k hz response, so the sound would be so limited that you can’t really have much quality to the sound.
IMHO, it sounds like a no-go to me.
I’ve heard of people learning tunes over the phone.
You could try that internet thing everybody’s talking about.
I hear they have the Internet on computers now.
I’m using the steam powered version.
When I bought my Colin Goldie low d whistle a few months ago he had a batch of 5 available and he played all 5 down the phone for both me and my wife to listen to. Although I couldn’t get a perfect rendition I came to a decision based on what I heard (both Becca and I liked the same one) and when the whistle arrived it was as I had remembered it over the phone. It is a great whistle and I am glad to have had the oppertunity to hear it before I bought it.
Tim
Seth Gallagher played his B and C pipes down the phone to me–I wouldn’t say it gave a real rendition of tone or many important elements of playability, but it gave a rough idea of tuning and showed that at least the maker was able to get the pipes fired up and playing very nice tunes without any noticeable setup/maintenance prep time. It was helpful as a first step but wouldn’t be a good sole basis for a purchase decision. I’m sure it’s just as helpful or unhelpful as net-based sound samples.
J
I expect its your brain your refering too.
Not everyone has access to digital recording equipment to send samples over the internet ,and my thoughts were, that the phone ,although far from ideal is better than nothing.
RORY
If your computer doesn’t have a built-in mic, you can buy one for very cheap (mine cost $25). As for recording software, Audacity is free, easy to use and of sufficient quality for messing around on the internet.
Of course, if you’re prepared to spend money, you could set up a small but respectable home studio for less than $500 (provided you already have a computer).
Seems like alot of money to spend just to sell a chanter
RORY
Then there’s the $25 mic/Audacity option. Anyway, you can do more than just sell a chanter. You can record and upload clips so we can all hear how good a piper you are!!! 
Well thanks for answering a question nobody asked.
RORY
In fairness, it was a fairly silly question - “realistic tone quality” over the phone … 
I know, I hate the way I can never tell one person’s voice from another when they call, or anything about how they’re feeling. I rely on email for that.
Phone systems and even VOIP systems like Skype use audio encoders/decoders that are optimized for the frequency range of voice. I highly suggest exchange of audio files, ideally uncompressed via email.
Aye, Mr. Spock–I’m just taking the piss out of the kneejerk reaction in favor of net-based audio technologies and the net in general. I maintain that a phone call can tell you just as much–or as little–about whether you want to own or play a set of pipes as a CD or any other kind of recording. Which is to say not very much.