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When I first got my iPod a few years ago, I thought it was the greatest thing ever. The ability to hear whatever song you want to hear, whenever you want to hear it.

But recently, I haven't been taking it in my car with me, instead, I'm just listening to CDs.

It's really been an enlightening experience. Being "forced" to buy an album, front to back, has some real benefits. I've found that had I had the choice 5 or 10 years ago to just buy the particular songs I wanted, not the entire album, I would have missed out on a ton of songs that I ended up really really liking. Because they are songs I didn't particularly like on a first hear. And also because they "fit" into the theme and tone of the album.

I'd probably have missed out on 80% of the songs I like if I didn't have to buy the whole album/CD, going back 20 years. Some I recently listened to front to back and rediscovered - Jackson Browne - Running on Empty, 10,000 Maniacs - Our Time in Eden, Dream Academy's self titled album (there's an oldie from the 80s), and even more recent things like Social Distortion's recent CD from a couple of years ago.

Do people still buy whole CD's anymore, or is the majority bought song by song now? Isn't this going to hurt music? Great songs that don't have instant appeal in the first 10 seconds are going to be tough to sell or package.