Sasha Frere-Jones lays down the rock critic rules

"I will not write about any piece of music unless I have unlimited access to a portable version of it, renderered in either the CD, MP3 or vinyl format."

Word.

Now, this is not to say that every album must be listened to dozens of times over a period of months. Often, this isn't even possible due to late-arriving assignments and quick deadlines. There are also plenty of albums that don't deserve more than a single listen. They're worthless from start to finish, making the same mistakes in song after song, and it doesn't take long to realize that to listen through is just to catalog the same atrocities over and over again.

But especially on important, or even just Big, Sure-To-Be-Hit albums, it's necessary to preserve the opportunity of the critic to listen to the album on their own time, as background music to different situations and moods, because, as Jones says, this is how the end-listener will experience the album. More critics should take Jones' cue and refuse to participate in this sort of big-label fascism.