by SHANE SINNOTT

Lurking underneath all that free music online is one obvious downside. It basically destroys your music listening habits. You used to become interested in a record, buy it and listen to it—which seemed like a fine system until MP3s arrived and made everything free and song-based. At the time of its arrival, proponents of the MP3 argued for the benefits of listening to single tracks. No longer would the consumer have to pay for the eight tracks he or she didn’t want on an album; artists would be motivated to cut down on the filler on albums. That was all well and good during the peak of the major labels’ hit-making powers and $25 CDs, but it’s starting to feel now like we accidentally wrecked something—an album is worthless these days.

I mustn’t be the only one feeling this way, as Apple introduced iTunes “LPs” last month, a bizarre attempt to recreate the LP ownership-of-object vibe in a digital form. Starting with version 9.0 of iTunes, you have the option to buy (some) albums as “LPs,” an immersive digital package that you navigate through iTunes. It’s basically like a deluxe DVD—you have a menu where you can access a bunch of additional stuff (live footage, interviews etc.) in addition to listening to the album.

It’s sad how wrongheaded this is. The problem with digital music is that there is too much distraction—you can download a new song in 30 seconds, listen to it once while you’re surfing the net and then never hear it again. The last thing we need is more things to fiddle with while we’re listening to an album. Here’s hoping that anyone truly interested in an iTunes LP will instead switch off their computer for a while, and consider visiting a Value Village and investing $20 in a record player, because real LPs still exist, despite what Apple seems to think.

Speaking of long-players, the Flaming Lips have swung for the fences with their just-released Embryonic, a 70-minute treat in an era of singles. Check out the first track, “Convinced of the Hex,” at tinyurl.com/ygwjpxr.