I find iPods and CDs are too much trouble. I have only so many hours in the day that I can listen to music, so I listen to some radio, XM satellite (where I can see who is playing) and I hit my downloads. Sometime I burn a hits CD or the last 20 random songs that I have collected and play it in the car. I also watch to see what others are downloading from me and if it is something that I like, I browse their files and pick some songs at random. If it is good, I will sometimes get the CD. (How does this differ from listening to the radio or watching MTV (well, back when MTV played music)?)
I have wasted TOO much money on CDs where there really is only one good song, so I like to check it out first by d/l'ing selections.
Also, I am not a kid, so my outlook is probably way different. I work a lot and don't have a lot of free time....