Gah! Ok. Rant=on!

1. Any hardware that makes listening to music in a way you would prefer MORE difficult just sucks. Sure, you should be able to easily order anything you wanna hear, anyway you want to. Done about the hw.

2. There is no question that tons of artists/producers sincerely try to make an album a cohesive unit.

3. GOOD = GOOD. I don't know who said up in the thread that they couldn't possess a single "good" track - with the rest of an album sucking. WTF is up with that? No credit where credit is due? What if a person can only write one great song in their life? That's already pretty good! If you want to deny yourself that one 3:32 or 10:23 or 1:25 piece of musical goodness because you MUST adhere to an "album" format, well [expletive deleted].

If a person making music even makes an album's worth of good material in their whole career, I SALUTE THEM, even if that material is over the span of several different records! The fact that songwriter/performers can make a entire record than anyone likes as a whole, without anything one considers a 'dud' on it is AMAZING to me. Frankly, I think a lot of people, in general, don't own that many whole records that they think truly, 100% kick ass from start to finish. Yes, you can force yourself to listen to something over and over to convince yourself you like something you really don't... but I think most of the time, you are just being stubborn. ( ok ok I admit people can change their minds, maybe it will grow on you, but I'm sure there are people who are just obstinate).

So, I say, whatever you LIKE, that is what you should go for. Whatever form that takes, you take it in. Short, long, themed, unthemed, random, what have you. This doesn't mean the "album" as an art form is more or less worthy, or that it should be forced to go away... but to dismiss single tracks because a whole album isn't good? Feh. Your loss.

Does the massive amount of Xmas music we are pelted with each year indicate that this is not the case... or that businesses and advertisers just believe that hearing these songs endlessly will brainwash us into buying buying buying in the spirit of the holidays?

Also odd; frequently I have noted when entering song contests that winners will be people who have written a new Xmas-themed song.

In 'The Entertainer' Billy Joel sayeth:

If you wanna have a hit
you gotta make it fit
so they cut it down to 3:05.

I like 3:30 as a good average length... don't get me started on preferred movie length, tho, I'm sure to start kind of flame war.

One of my fave short pop songs is still the White Stripes' "Fell In Love With a Girl", which I think is 1:50.