G'day,
Tony's point is a good one, I'm sure we can all think of songs we didn't know we'd like until we'd heard them a few times.

The album concept doesn't have to be dead although the CD might be. The way mp3.com are marketing the music, you either get a couple of free downloads or you buy the complete album, cheap though it may be. You get no sleeve notes - it's up to the artist to provide as much info as they see fit on their own web site.

The high flyers who have the resources to make DVDs will probably make "super" albums that will exceed what we're used to in many ways.

As I suggested above, mp3.com's concept of free downloads as a "taster" will probably be a problem in future, a different way of providing tasters might be needed.

Cheers,
Alan