IMHO, yes they are. When vinyl was the primary format on which bands could peddle their wares, practical limitations meant that most albums would run to about 40 45 minutes. With the 74 minute CD however, most artists seem to feel obliged to fill up as much as possible - they probably don't want the fans to feel short changed at all. I think this is lamentable. For starters, this means quite a few albums with more than their fair share of filler. Better to pick the best tracks and keep it brief. Even if that's not fair, I mostly find that after about 50 minutes of listening to a single artist/album I'm about ready for a change of musical message. This is nothing to do with getting bored, it's just that I find I enjoy the listening better with variety. I will quite often follow one album with something else from a completely different genre. What do you think?