John's comment about finding files on digital storage devices is very true. The same could be said of finding tunes in the books in a library. I cannot see the benefit of spending money to circulate more tunes which most people will not play.
The situation has changed massively in the last fifty fifty years and, quite frankly, we now have more tunes than we know what to do with. I think it is very important that the contents of manuscripts and books from former times are preserved and made easily available to those who would see after them. Rather than sending a few researchers off into the dusty recesses of libraries and storage vaults to return with gems (or perhaps the baubles which catch their eye) we should be encouraging all pipers to look outside the preselected menu provided by piping books and look to the wider world for inspiration as our forebears did.
And when a piper finds a gem, they should play it until they can show its brilliance to others. When we hear their playing we too may understand the wonder in the tune and perhaps we will want to play it too. Written music has its place, and without the books and manuscripts of the past we would would be far poorer, but the tradition to be passed on really resides in the playing of a musical community.
Barry
(...... leaves soapbox to do something more useful)