Is the Ipod killing the 'Album'?

[Ryan Silva]

The other day at my family?s Thanksgiving Celebration everyone was doing the cell phone/ipod comparisons, and as I looked over everyone?s ipods I noticed that almost no one had a complete album on there drives. That?s all I really have on mine, I am in love with albums; most likely because I record, but its starting to get a little depressing. I wonder if the album is just going to be marginalized back to the day of the 50?s and 60?s where singles reined king.
Listening to a complete well recorded album gives me the same feeling after a full nights sleep, complete and satisfying.

Any thoughts?

[A-Barr]

Makes me wonder how the album came about in the first place, was it a case of an industry selling the public more than they needed, in order to make more money?

I'm sure a lot of folks wound up paying full album price when they only ever wanted the one song. Fortunately for classical listeners, they are often one and the same!

My feeling is that those who appreciate albums will buy albums, those who only want the hits they're already familiar with will go that route. I used to worry that the younger generation would miss out in situations like this, but somehow, completely out of character for me, I regained some faith in humanity and I think there will always be a notable percentage of people with worthwhile interests and personalities, along with a large majority of people with little desire to explore new ideas.

I love albums too.

[JGriffin]

One of my best friends only ever uses her iPod for listening to albums in their entirety, in order, if that makes you feel any better.

[MoreSpaceEcho]

from casually checking out my roommate's and my ex's ipods, there were plenty of full records in there.

[Jeff White]

The iPod is killing nothing. You can decide how to use it. Shuffle. Albums. Artists or songs or albums alphabetically, etc. By "Genre". You can load it with 64 kbps MP3s or uncompressed AIFF files. You can save a little space and use it as a hard drive. You can use it just for video or photos. It is a tool, and I have no idea why anyone has any problems with it. You can even spend cash for a dock to audio connector for some models that gives you an improved DA converter.

Pick your battles.

Jeff

[aitikin]

I wouldn't really say it's the iPod that's done it. I'd place the blame moreso on the radio and MTV and the like. When was the last time you heard about a really good album on the radio or on MTV? The way they work, you're lucky if you get two songs from the same artist in the same block. So people instead think of a band and think of a song. I do both, really.

When I think of Zeppelin, I think of Zoso/IV/Untitled/whatever you wanna call it, Live at the BBC, and all the rest. When I think of Nirvana, I think of Come as You Are, Smells like Teen Spirit, and the others. I guess this boils down to me hearing stuff as old as Zeppelin on Records/Tape/CDs, and newer stuff around the era of Nirvana on, on Radio or in Movies or in Music Videos.

Granted if I like a song from a band enough, I always find the full album, and often times I go out of my way to try and find it on Vinyl

But really, I think it kinda boils down to the fact that there's the culture of This is their hit and that's all that matters cause the radio said so (not necessarily in so many words, but by playing it over and over again), and then there's the culture of, I like this band and want to hear more from them.

I personally have 2 iPods, one full size and one nano. The full size has complete discographies on it and the nano has what I've thrown together into playlists. The nano has it's place (workout, short trip to the store) and the full size has it's place (longer trips, vacations, the like). I'm always changing what I have on my nano though so...

Just my $.02

[apropos of nothing]

Just what the world needed -- another* set of proprietary connectors. Yay.

[@?,*???&?]

Why is this in 'Recording techniques'?

[Ryan Silva]

I prefer my posts to be read and commented on, dosen't happen in the formentioned "Music Listening" catagory.

If you think that it should be moved to the "Music Listening" forum let Tony (drumsound) know.

Sorry

[JohnDavisNYC]

I think that iPods are finally liberating albums from the tyranny of the compact disc, and now people who enjoy albums can once again listen to them on vinyl, and everyone can carry their favourite singles around in a little metal and plastic brain thingy made by steve jobs.

john

[Brett Siler]

I listened to a whole album on my iPod earlier today...

In the 50's, 45 singles were more popular that albums. That didn't end up killing the full length.

[thethingwiththestuff]

the listening habits of the American public are way, way too varied to be summed up this way. relax, those people didn't stop caring about "album tracks" when the ipod came out..

[asmara]

Call me old school but I always load the full LP and almost always listen to the sequence the artist used...unless I decide to change it as with New Order's Power, Corruption, and lies...I always though Leave Me ALone should be the final track.

[Michael Winston]

I agree with the above, I don't put music on my Ipod unless it's a complete album.

I try to listen the same way. I usually listen to an entire record before I switch to something else....seems incomplete other wise.

[rwc]

Yes, the iPod killed complex music. It killed the album, it killed quality sound.

Oh, and it kills your hearing too. The Walkmans that put out 3x the power didn't do that, but the iPod earbuds do.



Why does this player always somehow become the scapegoat for all the issues in today's tunes? Sure it usually has less features than the competition for a way higher price, but that doesn't mean it's responsible for the apocalypse of modern music.