Dutton?

Here you are, Dundonnell. Oliver at Dutton, first - responding to my initial complaint; then my response to that, to which I have not yet received an answer.

Hello,

Thank you for your e-mail. However, the bonus track (no. 19) on the Ina Boyle disc is clearly billed as an "SACD bonus track," which indicates that that is exactly what it is - a bonus track that will play only on SACD (as opposed to standard) CD players.

The maximum running time of a standard (PCM) CD is 79m 57, whereas on an SACD it's up to 110 minutes - hence the inclusion in this case of the extra track on the SACD layer, which otherwise wouldn't have appeared had this been a standard PCM CD.

While we very much appreciate your support of and interest in our releases, we had hoped that you would have welcomed the inclusion of additional SACD material (at no extra cost) rather than bemoaning the fact that it can't be played on a standard CD player, despite its "SACD bonus track" billing.

Kind regards,

Oliver.
Vocalion Ltd/Dutton Epoch Retail & Export Team

Dear Oliver,

Thank you for your response. You suggest that I should be grateful for the, for me, unplayable bonus track and not "bemoan" its inclusion. Relatively few listeners have SACD players - none of my acquaintance - so there is no advantage to us at all in having a track which we can't play! Nor in knowing that there is an additional work by this interesting and neglected composer on the CD which we can't hear! It is of no consequence that it is "at no extra cost" since it is something I cannot enjoy, without purchasing an SACD player, so I wouldn't expect to be charged for it.

Had you provided a link from which the track could have been downloaded in, say, MP3 format, that would, indeed, have been a valuable bonus, for which I would have been extremely grateful.

Your response does nothing to mitigate my pique, and I sincerely hope Dutton will discontinue this practice in future - unless, as I suggest above, a link to an MP3 download is provided for those of us who cannot play SACD tracks.

Yours sorrowfully,

Gareth Vaughan

I know Lewis Foreman slightly - and he knows me as someone who has programmed works by unsung British composers in concerts I have organised. Please give him my best wishes.