What is the difference between a digital piano and a player piano?

Answer 1

A player piano usually refers to a regular piano can be "played" by running a paper or metal strip wound around a spool through a mechanism that activates the keys and pedals based on holes punched in the strip. The piano operates like a wind up music box and will play whatever notes have been punched into the paper or metal strips. To play a different song a different spool with different holes would have to loaded onto the piano.

A digital piano usually refers to a piano that produces sound electronically rather than by having a hammer hit a wire. A modern digital piano will have digital recordings of all the keys on the piano keyboard. When an electronic piano key is pressed a sensor detects how hard they the key was struck and a computer will play back the appropriate digitized note at a volume determined by how hard the key was pressed.

An electric piano, like an Electric Guitar, has a vibrating wire but the sound is amplified by a magnetic pickup that feeds an electronic sound amplifier. A regular "acoustic" piano or guitar relies on a sounding board to amplify the sound mechanically.