This article was published in Sunday's Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. The crux of the article is this:
For baby boomers, the record album is a cherished icon. Burrowing inside the grooves of "Blonde on Blonde" by Bob Dylan, "Born to Run" by Bruce Springsteen or "London Calling" by the Clash was akin to hearing a novel. But the ascent of iTunes, which allows users to cherry-pick individual songs from most artist's albums, has threatened the integrity of the record-album format.
Being a baby-boomer, I must admit that I don't own an iPod and have never downloaded a song. And if full-length albums eventually go away, I will miss the thrill and satisfaction of sitting down with a brand new album, listening to it repeatedly beginning to end, and finding those personal gems.
Here's a link to the full article:
Broken record: Does cherry-picking songs take them out of context? by William Loeffler
What say you all?
KarenZ