“Thanks to fan blogs, artist Web sites and legal (and not so legal) downloadable music that’s often peer-reviewed, a music fan can get instant information – and opinion – about an artist without ever turning to the pages of Rolling Stone. Or a fan’s daily newspaper, for that matter… With so many new outlets for music fans to connect with artists and vice versa, and with the days of hanging with the band on the tour bus for a week more often than not replaced with a 15-minute phone interview of say-nothing sound bites, has the pop music critic become as outdated as an eight-track tape?”