When did the music business change?

Why is it so hard to buy a cd of music anymore? When did that all change? It's tough to find a place to just search for music. The joy of combing through the racks. Searching for that long ago album that you really want. It used to be going to the record store was akin to a treasure hunt. Now the hunt is finding the store and then it's probably no treasure. 

I wanted to get the new "Counting Crows" after I heard them on Palladium (HD on Comcast).  I had to settle for a "Barnes and Noble" and then I got the last disk...there was only one. I also wanted to pick up Darius Rucker...of "Hootie and the Blowfish" fame. He'd done a country cd...of course it was mis filed...and of course there was only one. -- Lisa threw in the new Springsteen for good measure.

While I was one of the last people to get an iPod, I have not bought any music from the iTunes store. I don't buy a song at a time. If I like an artist, I want to go deep in their catelog and find some gems. That's increasingly hard to do. -- I don't want to search for music at Amazon either. I want to go to a store, spend some time, find what I want and leave. Pop the cd in on the ride home and enjoy my new music!! -- I think only buying "a" song...popular or not, is not what the artist or the record company intended. 

I have also converted a lot of my cd collection to my iPod...song for song...not just some. I want the entire album on my iPod not just the hits...I also don't let my iPod delete the duplicate songs, I want the albums as the artist intended. Who cares if I have 5 versions of "yellow" from Cold Play?

Call me old fashioned, but storage is cheap and people are missing some great music if they only buy a song at a time or don't capture the entirety of the album.

Bring back my "Tower Records" or Rocky Mountain Records or "-----" insert your favorite here!