Rick, I DO agree with you that the more music, the better the CD - depending on the quality of the music, of course (also, I don't have kids ...). I have been annoyed time and again by LP reissues on CD which were the length of LPs but the price of CDs. I've got two under forty minutes, which isn't much even by LP standards. I do feel it is fairer to put on bonus tracks. The Battlefield Band found a very elegant solution when they added a 4-cut-demo they'd made around the time to the reissue of 'Standing Easy'. Others, like the Ian Campbell Folk Group, have managed to squeeze two LPs onto one CD.
I doubt it's got to do with attention span - just profiteering. - Susanne