Easy Listening

This was briefly touch on in the Death of High Fidelity thread and the Devin's Advocate on new media, but it got me thinking...

Music can reach people almost immediately thanks to the internet. And even those that don't download digital music, probably find their music in another form thanks to the internet by way of music blogs, iTunes, media sites like Pitchfork, etc. Some would speculate this immediate accessibility dampens our attention span, taking into consideration the rise of singles, and the fall of albums. More and more bands are releasing their singles entirely separate from their full LPs, as was the trend in the 50s and 60s. Example: George Martin pulled "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "Penny Lane" off of Sgt. Pepper at the request of the label, optioning them as standalones. So it's not an entirely new concept, and a lot of pop bands do it today.

(Slowly rambling to my point) Lotsa people don't buy full albums anymore. I'm in a minority that not only still buys CDs with reckless abandon, but still hunts down vinyl new and old. Just recently got a mint Bridge Over Trouble Water by S&G and Sound of Silver by LCD Soundsystem. I still listen to Blonde on Blonde on my turntable in my room, and the clarity is astounding. But... who else does?

My question is this: how do you folks listen to albums, if at all? I have friends who never listen to music unless they're driving or reading. But I still pop on the headphones and listen to records. I've got a very solid home theater system in my room and it's probably my second favorite medium. I do the iPod thing too, but that's mostly reserved for the gym or long trips. I really like to sit and listen, sometimes doing nothing but. Anyone else?

It's funny, because even though records sound so much richer to me, it's commonly accepted that the human ear can't tell the difference between the low-frequency sounds on CD or vinyl. CD's have the edge in that they're less susceptible to scratches or shit on the surface so they don't snap, crackle, and pop when you play them - they just skip or freeze.

I still try to listen to full albums (on any form) at once, at least the first time around. During which I usually draw or write.

CDs are fucking expensive sometimes. I usually buy something the first week or not at all; Best Buy or Circuit City usually will have a new release priced between $8-10. Or I wait for a sale if I miss something. I buy on InSound or EIL occasionally but I still like going to the store.

When I rip, I usually do it at 128kbps. I may be a hypocrite considering I was complaining about the quality only a few posts ago, but the iPod's usually for when I'm doing more than one thing at once anyway, so I don't care as much. Plus I have ~11,000 songs on my laptop at the moment. I don't have the kind of space to make them all sound good.