How do you listen, individual cut, full album?

After reading a few recent threads concerning ipod vs vinyl I noticed differences in people's listening habits. Many of those who are listening to vinyl describe the act of preparing an lp and then listening to it in its entirety while those who have burned their collections to various digital medium listen in a random select mode. This is a generalization but it got me wondering.
I began serious listening back in the day of vinyl listening to albums from start to finish. This habit has continued with cds. I can tell you my kids listen to cuts instead of full albums as their music is on ipods or hard drives. Is this a generational thing? How do you listen and how did this come about for you?