I'm curious to know whether anyone feels that the death of the "album" would be a good or a bad thing.

When the recording industry first started, it was all about recordings of single songs (remeber 78s and 45s?). With the invention of "long-playing" record, the possibility of including 10 or 12 songs on a single record became a reality. This eventually led to the album as an artform in and of itself.

The Beatles' "Abbey Road" was probably one of the first concept albums and there have been many more since then. These are records which are a total listening experience in and of themselves. The songs all link together in a thematic way.

With MP3 and the other distribution technologies arising from digital audio, people will get to choose which songs they want to purchase from a variety of artists. They may no longer be able to (or choose to) get a collection of a particular artist's songs linked thematically. As a record producer, I find this a bit troubling probably because I've dedicated so much of my life to making "albums". The average consumer, however, would probably like to pick and choose among a wide variety of artists and songs - so for them, the new technology is a boon.

Any thoughts?

PM