Album only vs Song only

I have to admit I took part over the weekend in boosting the revenue of “Sex In The City”; however, I spent the rest of my weekend self-loathing on whether I should purchase the soundtrack. I only wanted one song and it’s only available in iTunes as “Album Only”. Damn it!

There are albums that need to be purchased in it’s entirety for it’s artistic value such in my opinion albums like “Kamakiriad” by Donald Fagen (I will only mention one example for I know there are many more) this album tells of stories inter-connected into eight songs thus deserves an “album only” purchase standing. What if I had a penchant for 80’s music and I really like the song “Right Here Waiting for You” by Richard Marks and it’s only available as “album only” do I really want to drop the dough to the entire album that might make me want to commit suicide under the right condition.

Don’t we have a choice as consumers in this battle of album only vs. song only? I don’t think this is an iTunes issue but more of a record company contractual obligation to its artist and/or their willingness to sell the record DRM free (Digital Rights Management) or break up the songs separately. What happen to my birth right of “personal preference”?