No Jim, I don't think he feels musicians who can read music are inferior at all. He just feels strongly that he wants his collection to remain an aural/oral one, and not written, in the spirit of traditional music. Why should that bother anyone? The tunes can be learned by ear. He provided a wonderful gift to the Irish music world by giving this collection a life as a recording with a lot of documentation.

It seems to me, if people feel he is being cheap about it, then maybe they don't understand and appreciate the mystery to learning by listening and memorizing, rather than by reading and relying on the notes in front of you. There is tons of transcribed music for musicians who wish to learn that way. I can't for the life of me understand why anyone would be so insensitive to Paddy as to begrudge him the way he wants his life's work to be shared with the world. Good for Paddy not cooperating with your friend, I say. Not everything in this life is about the money, or making things easy.