You'll take it the way we give it to you, and you'll like it!

Yet one more columnist that has bought the party line from the music industry.

"Seems to me that one thing the shuffle movement does prove is the average music fan's preference for the song over its traditional home. The shuffle option is essentially killing the album, which has long been the music-industry standard for popular music releases."

First of all, there are very few artists that have delivered an entire album worth listening to in exactly the order it was delivered. And if you're talking pop, you're lucky to get more than one or two decent tracks in the whole thing. Then we get to the whole part of calling your typical pop musician an "artist".

Now I'll admit, I'm not your average music purchaser. There's no way I can put my new 60 gig iPod into shuffle mode. I have over 30 gig of music on there - almost a solid month of listening. And shuffle would produce a shocking mix of jazz, classical, bluegrass, pop and rock, even ambient and electronica. When I buy music, it's either something specific - an individual track, or an entire album of classical, which typically represents a cohesive work, like a symphony or opera. I'd buy a hell of a lot more music, but what I want isn't easily available. And no, I don't want the whole album, thank you very much.

I do have a large collection, thanks in part to a friend that has complied what the people here at work call "The history of rock" - one of the ultimate mix tapes. Of course, it's neither a mix or a tape, but you know what I mean. But think of a top 40 song from the past 50 years and more likely than not, it's on my iPod.

Which is part of the reason I've named the new iPod "LOC".

Hedwig will know what that stands for.