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There's nothing wrong with CD albums, but I prefer digital downloads.

Way back when, I use to buy 45 RPM singles. They were cheaper than albums, though not on a song for song basis, and they had a single song(sometimes two but, usually the flip side sucked). I bought only the songs I liked spending $1-3 per artist, rather than $9-10 for an album with only two or three songs that I liked. Obviously there were times when the album was preferred like Pink Floyd or Saturday Night Fever but, most times singles were better.

Cassette tapes came along and put a cramp in the singles market. Sure, you could get single cassettes but, they were less convenient than 45 RPMs that you could stack on the spindle and they were less and less available.

CDs came out and almost completely killed the singles concept. They were complete albums but, the album art was unappealing because of the small size. Look at a Boston LP (Thats Long Playing record for you younguns.) and the amazing artwork and then look at the same artwork in a jewel case. Eww! That sucks.

Today, with digital music, I can buy singles again for a great price, Instead of paying $17 for a CD with 2-3 good songs on it, I can spend $2-3 dollars on that artist and the remaining $14 on other singles that I like. I never have to pay for crap music and fillers again. I like that! I can easily create my own compilations of hours of my absolute favorite music in the form of playlists and such. I can access and play my music on a wide array of high fidelity devices with just a click regardless of whether I am in my living room, my office or on an airplane.

CDs still have their place as a storage medium of course and albums have their place too. But, for me there are very few album purchases in my future. I like the new Shakira Hips Don't Lie song but, I definitley don't want an entire album and would never send more than $1 her way. I might repurchase an ABBA album though. Maybe a greatest hits compilation.

Backups? Here I was, thinking that a followup to Third Stage had been released.

It's actually very well documented. Here's what it looks like

Only this time, they've decided not to label the new CD with a warning. "We can't put a sticker that says no computers were used in the making of this record," he said. "It'd really make us look like jerks, but there's not going to be any of that."

Why not? Tom Scholz of Boston has been putting the "no synthesizers or computers used" on Boston albums since Don't Look Back, their second album.

Then again, I don't know what exactly he calls his racks and racks of Rockman sound processing equipment, but they sure look like computers to me!

Only this time, they've decided not to label the new CD with a warning. "We can't put a sticker that says no computers were used in the making of this record," he said. "It'd really make us look like jerks, but there's not going to be any of that."

Why not? Tom Scholz of Boston has been putting the "no synthesizers or computers used" on Boston albums since Don't Look Back, their second album.

Then again, I don't know what exactly he calls his racks and racks of Rockman sound processing equipment, but they sure look like computers to me!

Only this time, they've decided not to label the new CD with a warning. "We can't put a sticker that says no computers were used in the making of this record," he said. "It'd really make us look like jerks, but there's not going to be any of that."

Why not? Tom Scholz of Boston has been putting the "no synthesizers or computers used" on Boston albums since Don't Look Back, their second album.

Then again, I don't know what exactly he calls his racks and racks of Rockman sound processing equipment, but they sure look like computers to me!

Only this time, they've decided not to label the new CD with a warning. "We can't put a sticker that says no computers were used in the making of this record," he said. "It'd really make us look like jerks, but there's not going to be any of that."

Why not? Tom Scholz of Boston has been putting the "no synthesizers or computers used" on Boston albums since Don't Look Back, their second album.

Then again, I don't know what exactly he calls his racks and racks of Rockman sound processing equipment, but they sure look like computers to me!

Only this time, they've decided not to label the new CD with a warning. "We can't put a sticker that says no computers were used in the making of this record," he said. "It'd really make us look like jerks, but there's not going to be any of that."

Why not? Tom Scholz of Boston has been putting the "no synthesizers or computers used" on Boston albums since Don't Look Back, their second album.

Then again, I don't know what exactly he calls his racks and racks of Rockman sound processing equipment, but they sure look like computers to me!

If you are technically skilled, you can trade your time for money and get very good sound quality in your recording. Consider Tom Scholz, who put together a recording with a small cadre of people in his basement, which became the self titled album for his band, Boston, and was the greatest selling premier album of all time. Interestingly, Tom was an engineer with a masters from MIT, developed analog technology for recording, and has been a real "perfectionist". Most of the recording was originally done in his basement, at a cost far below what the studios charged. Interestingly, he still records using analog (for sound quality reasons), and claims "Wherever there's a microprocessor, there's trouble.".

I was more unnerved by the ANTI-war songs pulled. Cat Stevens' "Peace Train" (warning: annoying popups) has no possible references to the bombing, nor does Edwin Starr's "War". They're PEACE songs. I think Clear Channel might want the US to do a little bombing.

Crazy conclusion? Maybe. But my Clear Channel station here in Phoenix was playing a version of 3 Doors Down's "Duck and Run" with a bunch of TV talking head pro-bombing-them-into-the-stone-age comments clipped from CNN and other networks. The DJs playing it got it down off Napster (I still wonder how they get license to use and rebroadcast Napstered songs, and I don't) and may not have been aware that "Duck and Run" was on the banned song list.

Or maybe the pansy pacifist (original) version of "Duck and Run" is. Personally, I think it's got some damn good lyrics for this situation.

And pity poor Neil Diamond's "America" for getting on the banned song list. I hear that song every 4th of July during fireworks. I guess the Tired and Poor aren't welcome in Clear Channel's America any more.

stupid lameness filter - ignor the following

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Tom Scholz, the guy behind the band Boston, has a master's in EE from MIT. Tom Lehrer, one of the mainstays on Dr. Demento, has a bachelor's and master's in math from Harvard. I can't recall his name (Dexter?), but the lead singer from The Offspring (yes, the same band that praised Napster and then proceeded to show Napster's hypocracy by selling Napster shirts and getting told by Napster to stop) has a biochem degree from (I think it is) Emory.

Anyone have other examples? It's not nearly as uncommon as you'd think.

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• Tom Scholz(excellent guitarist of Boston) was an engineer and certifiable geek (Mechanical Engineering, MIT) before he hit it big, and has subsequently engineered a lot of cool sounding musical gear.
• Tommy Tutone ("Jenny Jenny, etc...867-5309") is a software engineer.

I'm sure there must be others. Can anyone name some others?