I'm an albums guy, not a singles guy, so I always look for music collections to come together as a cohesive whole. Album length is a part of that. Aside from "as long as it needs to be" (duh!), what is your preferred length when it comes to albums?

About 45 - 50 minutes. Never outstay your welcome. But don't take the piss on the value for money thing, either.

7 1/2 inches.

Oh, wait...what were we talking about?

I like double albums myself.....because I am greedy!

I agree with the philosophy. I used to get kind of miffed at shorter albums. I wanted a ton of stuff for my money, right? But now I feel like they're a bit cumbersome when they crack the hour mark. Just because you CAN get 70 something minutes on a CD doesn't mean you SHOULD.

These days I'm liking shorter albums more and more. The 35-40-minute mark seems short, but listens pretty damn well. Maybe hit 40-45 so you don't feel too short-changed for your money, but longer than that and I'm starting to feel as if they're going on too long.

When Weezer's third record didn't even touch the 30-minute mark, some people howled. Thing is, it works perfectly at that length. Gets in there, BAMN, hits you with some crunchy pop, and gets out before the formula wears thing. Pretty sure the previous album, Pinkerton, came in at around 41 minutes, which is ideal. Feels like a very epic album, yet it's cozy and approachable and short enough to listen to in a brief blast.

So I'm saying 37-43 minutes. Which doesn't fit my poll options, I know.

15 years ago, I cursed 47 minute albums, because they didn't fit on a side of a C90 cassette.

Then C100s came out, and I started cursing 52 minute albums.

Well, I know what we're NOT talkin' about, Tiny.....

I've spent five years of my life trying to invent an anal bum cover!

I have no problem with the idea of an album that's more in keeping with the old 12" vinyl restrictions, in the 40-45 minute range, but if you have "bonus" material, for goodness sake, fill up the f%&#er! If you want to protect the concept of the album, put in a 10-15 second pause after the album and before the bonus stuff, but I like my CDs as full as possible. There are always options for bonus tracks...single edits, extended remixes, edits for naughty f%&#ing words, live versions, demo versions (my least favorite!) and more, so put it all on there! If the people in this theoretically creative industry were ever really creative about how they did this stuff, I'd be amazed. The thought processes that go into these releases always seem so pedestrian to me.

I want a 45-50 minute album and then another 10-15 minutes that is somehow not intended to be part of the collection, kind of an LP and an EP on one CD. That way the collection is cohesive and listenable, but you get the full value for your money. And yes, I know that doesn't make a lot of sense: how is the EP not part of the LP? But it's the best solution I kow about.

I don't think length matters so much as how its used. It can be long or short or somewhere in between, but what matters is the quality of the material.

It depends on the CD. New music I'd like to have about an hour of music per disc.

On the albums originally released on vinyl, that's usually the way I want to hear them - without any bonus material. When I listen to Who's Next, I want it to end on Won't Get Fooled Again, not on another version of Behind Blue Eyes.

After a quick check on some of my favourite albums, I would say 45 - 55 minutes. As such, I voted for 50 - 60.

All of the CD's I purchase anymore have the words: Greatest Hits or some variation in the title. Therefore, I'm leaning for an hour or more.

I make my own CDs, and they are always maxxed out.

I agree. Much as I love "John, I'm Only Dancing" and "Velvet Goldmine", they don't belong on The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spider's From Mars.

True, on so many levels.

My vote: 47 minutes.

The album should be as long as it takes for all the good music the band wrote in the time period they recorded the album to finish. For Weezer, that's usually a half hour. For the last Chili Peppers record, it was 2 and a half hours.

45 minutes with the possibility of a double album.

Far too many albums since the ability to go from 44 minutes to 80 have have bloated and twisted innards. Besides, with the length between releases for many bands, a shorter span could mean more albums in less time.

I like to listen to music in the car. It takes a very long trip to listen to a whole hour. For some reason 45 minutes or so is just about right, side one there and side two back.

79 minutes...32 seconds...

Around 50 to 60 minutes works for me, especially since I listen to my music in the truck on long trips and the less I have to change out CD's the better.