The Album...Still Alive and Kicking

I could kick myself, I completely forgot that Pearl Jam were going to be on Later with Jools Holland last night and so of course forgot to watch it. If any kind person out there has a video tape they could lend me please let me know! What is doubly annoying is that with previous series they have repeated the programme again on the Saturday or Sunday night but for some reason they are not doing that this time, grrrr.

Hunchermuncher gave me a lead that connects my ipod to my stereo, which is great. What I have learned though is that some of the time I prefer listening to albums. When I am out and about or travelling having a whole selection of different tracks is just what I need, but often when I am at home I like to listen to a whole album. Of course it does depend largely on your mood and if I am busy cooking or cleaning out the cupboards it's great to put the ipod on shuffle so you don't know what's coming next and unlike a compilation album you know you will like all the tracks because of course you chose them! What more could you ask for.

I was quite pleased to realise that I still like albums, I was beginning to worry that the whole downloading culture was giving us all a lack of staying power. But for me that just isn't so, the downloading thing hasn't stopped me buying cds, in fact if anything it has had the opposite effect. Sometimes I listen to something I have heard of and then end up buying the cd. It has also given me reminders of lps I used to have and I have recently rebought quite a few. I don't generally buy tracks off itunes either, it's good for listening to a little bit of a track but there is just something magical about buying a real cd, something tangible that you can hold in your hand, read the cover notes, and putin nice neat piles on your cd shelf!