Here's how album reviews work here.

Have you ever fallen in love with a song or an album at first listen and bought it, only to discover a week later that it wasn't that great? Or perhaps you started off not paying particular attention to a certain song, but find that it grows on you after repeated listens?

Yeah, it happens to us too. So here's the deal. For every album we review, we'll review it twice. Once when we first get it, and once more after we've heard it for a week. So you'll know which albums you should only get at discounted prices, and which ones truly stand the test of time and deserve the (limited) space on your CD rack and in your iPod.

We use a simple system to rate albums - 5 iPods means it's great, and 1 iPod means keep the money for something better.

Like so:

 = An outstanding album on every front!






= Some minor quibbles, but still a great album.






= Equal parts satisfaction and disappointment.






= Not the strongest contender for your hard-earned cash.






= Use the money for another higher-rated album!




Half iPods don't work in real-life. But here, they help us distinguish between good and great albums. So yes, we feature 0.5 iPods for our rating system. Just don't do the same to your own one.