Still can’t get over end-of-year reports about how the recording industry is hurting. Album sales reports from the recording industry portray a gloom and doom scenario, with the headline – “Album sales hit nine-year low in 2005.” How about this info: “U.S. music album sales last year slid to their lowest level since 1996, squelching any hopes that the recording industry's long downward spiral may have bottomed out.” Remember the words "album sales" (as in CD).

Hello! Let's make the numbers say what they want ... How about Nielsen SoundScan reports that overall music sales, which include albums, singles, music videos and digital tracks, jumped 22.7% to more than 1 billion units last year.

What do you think everyone is doing with those iPods?  Maybe it’s not \$12 for a CD at the "brick and mortar" retailer, but at 99 cents a song, the ka-ching can get pretty loud!