Hey, kids! You might not know it, but 2005 saw the worst slump in music sales since 1996! The labels, of course, are blaming it on that crazy bastard illegal downloading as well as those evil video games. But I blame it on lack of artists worth hearing in the long run. But hey, this is a new age, indeed, and perhaps the “album” format is quickly dying faster than we thought. After all, I personally listen to my mp3 player, my satellite radio, or mix CDs I have made. It’s rare anymore that I actually cruise to a whole album by one artist. Indeed, my CD player in the living room that is currently stocked with 200 discs is collecting dust. But I damn sure enjoy having a big music collection so I can slap all those songs on my mp3 player or on mix discs. Our attention spans have been chopped in bite-size pieces. Just gimme a song, any song. Then hit shuffle, then play. All is well.