Just to clarify - it's not really the karaoke approach that bothered me. Of course I'd prefer live music, but if they can't afford a capable band or pianist, I'm not going to fault them for that.

What bothered me was how much this prefab approach handed over all creative control to the kit maker. Because the recording is a continous piece of music, the choir and choir director had essentially no freedom to decide what songs to sing, in what order, in what key, how many verses etc...   Why would musical and creative people (which I assume they must be, since they chose to volunteer to participate in the choir) accept this?

Marion