Right, there's less unnecessary dressing of an "album" of filler. But I don't think that's a meaningful change. Singles drove the market then and they do now. Albums were still produced then and still are now.

Right but the approach is different. Now the idea is as soon as you have a song, you record and release it. You don't wait until you have 45 minutes or 12 tracks or whatever. The album comes out later, but it's just a collection of songs (and that arguably isn't really new either).

On one hand this pretty much destroys thematic albums (like classical music, prog rock, Tool or for example, something like Alice in Chains' Dirt), but on the other few could pull it off and those who can are still doing it (ex: the latest Opeth album). So maybe discovering new music is hurt, because itunes and spotify look like crowded ERs, but there's just as much good music out there - regardless of your tastes.

It doesn't kill it as songs can be remixed for the album version.