Not an Extraordinary Extraordinary Machine

I've become something of a fan of DVD Audio and Dual Discs primarily because I can't get enough of listening to my music in 5.1 surround sound - there's also the cool bonus features, but I won't dwell. I'm sure there are a bunch of Dual Discs out there but there are only five of them that I know of. Two of them I own. I have a Keane CD and Jen has the last Dave Matthews disc in that format as well. I've also been trying to get my hands on the two John Mayer Dual Discs but I have yet to run into those at any time I actually have the money to spend on them. The last one that I've been on the prowl for is Fiona Apple's latest offering, Extraordinary Machine.

While I was trolling through the CDs at the library the other day I came across the Dual Disc for EM and was pretty ecstatic about taking it home and giving it the ol' run through on the DVD player. If you're a fan of Fiona and you've listened to the album you'll know what I mean when I say the 5.1 mix would, by no means, have been wasted.

But when I got the darn thing home it turned out that it was only an enhanced stereo mix rather than a full surround one. Sure it sounded crisp and full and the subwoofer had a nice punch to it, but the back speakers were deader than dead.

Colour me disappointed.

On the plus side, I was going to just outright buy the thing a while ago, so I've just saved myself $20.

You always have to look at the glass as half-full, right?

Later!

mike