Of course. Why stick to a rigid formula?

If an album is mixed where the tracks bleed into another then it doesn't work but if each track is independent then why not?

It's always a nice surprise to re-evaluate a track that you always skip if it is heard in a different running order.

I don't always do it but shuffle CAN be your friend sometimes.

"I would never do this. It's the equivalent of playing God. And I only play God in the bedroom..."

~ The twelve year-old in my head.

Yeah, but I'd never do this, at least not off the bat. I examine an artist's statement as they intended me to first and foremost. I suppose one day in the past I MIGHT have done something like this, but I really have no recollection.

I am very surprised by this thread.

I would never had thought that pressing shuffle would become so taboo.

I'll press shuffle on my whole library or on playlists I've made but I don't really see the point of doing it within a single album. Generally I like listening to albums in order because after listening to one track I'm aching to hear the one that comes next. If I don't feel like listening to the whole thing in its intended order it's always a case of me just wanting to skip to specific songs rather than wanting all the tracks in a different order.

Yeah...

Although, I don't see why people are worried about messing with the artist's "intentions" with the album by moving around tracks since I'd think that their main intention would be for you to listen to it. Or at least buy it. >.>

Not that I'd want to slaughter an album by moving around songs that segue, but there are plenty that don't.

A lot of albums are made to be heard from front-to-back. Hence why the artist has ordered them in a certain way. Because they intend for it to be heard in that light. Sure, they want you to buy it, but they understand their craft well enough to know how to get the most out of it.

I only shuffle when I have company. I don't really enjoy music on shuffle anymore, though it used to be the main manner in which I listened.

Shuffle works with certain artists and albums. I tend to shuffle The Clash's London Calling, or The Misfits' Static Age, but that's because they are two to three minute tracks that go by fast in no order. I would never shuffle Pink Floyd for example, since the album in order sounds so fantastic. I do tend to shuffle my library though. It may seem pointless to get such a variety of music (A Smiths track followed by a Death track may be weird).

Well when it comes to albums of Pink Floyd, Radiohead or any other group that produces concept albums, shuffling is a disaster. And even in the non-concept albums, i think the order of the songs are pretty important, as musicians spent lots of effort in the indexing of the songs.

I don't permanently alter them, but I do like occasionally mixing the tracks up. I've been known to, especially with concept albums, try to mix the tracks up to change the entire story around. Just for fun.

I prefer listening to the album in its intended form, but it is interesting from time to time to mess around with it - see if there's another possible way tracks could have been arranged or songs which complement each other better than observed with the initial order of songs.