There's nothing terribly wrong with an artist's refusal to sell a la carte downloads at online stores like iTunes. An artist really should be able to dictate how his/her music is sold. If songs were recorded as an album some artists feel they should be heard as an album, in their entirity, from start to finish. If that's an ideal that an artist wants, then the artist should live with that. Heck, an artist has the right to only commercially release an album on a four-part, multi-color vinyl set. It may be commercial suicide, but that's the artist's problem.

But should a holdout be based upon a hope that the album format will return to glory? In an AP article about digital holdouts, Ed "Punch" Andrews, the manager of Bob Seger and Kid Rock, said he and his artists are waiting for just that. "We've always thought certain artists put out albums that aren't meant to be compilations with 50 other artists," he said. "We're hoping at some point albums become important again like they were in the past 30 years."

Seger is considering re-releasing his 1976 classis Night Moves but wants it to be available only in album forat at online stores. "We're hoping albums work there," he said.

You know what would help digital sales of older albums? A lower price point. (Steve Jobs, though, doesn't want to stray from $9.99 for old or new titles.) Rather than being shackled with a $9.99 price, an older album should be closer to $6.99 -- maybe higher if it was just remastered and/or expanded.

Then again, with digital royalties not providing what some artists want (see Cheap Trick vs. Sony BMG) there may not be enough incentive to lower prices.

One thing is almost certain: The album format is not due for a renaissance. The younger generation has spoken. It wants single tracks, playlist and NOW compilations. The album, while still formidable, will continue to decline.