This society was founded in 1998 as the result of the wishes of a small number of Uilleann, Union or Irish pipers who have a serious and particular interest in the history, music and technology of the Irish pipes. This was originally envisaged as a sharing of information within a small group. Eventually however, members expressed a desire to make this information more widely available. Because there were few members and no funding, CD-ROM was the chosen means of publishing a periodic Journal economically, the publication costs of which were subsidized by the purchase price of the CD-ROMs. The first two issues of the Seán Reid Society Journal (Vol. 1, March 1999; Volume II, March 2002) were initially published in this format.