I listen to music at work, always have. In the before time, in the long-long-ago, I schlepped 8 CDs back and forth to work every day: a different set every day. But pretty much as soon as I got my first iPod, back in 2003, I stopped listening to albums all the way through. I just put the thing on shuffle and let it run.
Recently I've noticed that, if I have two or more albums from a band which I purchased at the same time or nearly the same time, I can't say which album a song came from. It's just from 'the album I bought last week' or whatever. In my head, an album is starting to be more like a container which I buy and then upend in order to dump a new batch of songs into the iPods' mix; it's no longer something that I think about as its own entity.
But I don't like that; I like the idea that an album is intended to be listened to as a whole. And so I've started listening to albums again. And that's nice.
What about you? Still on albums? Or shuffle? Or playlists?
When I switched computers last year (maybe 2 years now?) I mostly stopped listening to my digital music library in favor of CDs and records.
Albums.
I use shuffle to jog my memory or explore what kind of album I’m in the mood for. I want to be immersed in your musical aesthetic and think about that. Not have a 3 minute chat about weather.
Shuffle when running, albums the rest of the time. Mostly.
Shuffle mostly when at work or moving about on the bus or train, Albums in the car because I am some sort of Luddite with my old fashioned CD player and no digital hookups. And now that I think about it, if I listen to music while surfing at night before bed I listen to a whole album instead of shuffle.