I prefer an Album...

So I recently had a discussion with an old friend...Mike. A very knowledgeable fellow that happens to work at my local Barnes and Noble. Anyhow...We had the dreaded discussion about where the music industry is heading...I am sure we covered all the general bases of this...downloading...What to charge if anything...etc...but the thing that was interesting to chat about was how the artist seems to be leaving the album format behind...even the EP...I think the Smashing Pumpkins seem to have a good idea about how to feed the new and old generation listeners...have a huge bulk of work and release it in small increments for free until it is out....at which point a special physical product is put out...something for the "Everything is Free People" and something for the die-hard fans to get their hands on...I like a collection of songs...I too have been toying with things...releasing one song at a time....giving some away...seems to promote the already out there retail products...Mindlikewater for example...we are a band again...getting new music together to feed the content needy world...we have 5 songs in the can and this should be able to spread out for a while...releasing videos, making status updates..etc...the music will be released slow and a show will happen at the end...marked with a limited local cd release and followed by a digital release...we are still not totally catering to the album listener...if you are still out there...I have talked to many music fans recently on this subject and I feel that people still want something of importance...feeling...real content...not...imaginary farming...lol