Umphrey’s McGee manager Kevin Browning has written a blog post responding to a Wall Street Journal article that bashes the band’s Headphones and Snowcones program.

In a January 8 article titled “Sounds Isolated,” WSJ’s Eric Felten argues that the Headphones and Snowcones—which gives concertgoers the opportunity to listen to the select Umphrey’s shows in perfect audio via a pair of headphones—further isolates people in an already isolated world. Felten goes on to compare the program to wearing headphones in a public space, adding, “Portable music players have succeeded because they isolate. Headphones create a magic aural shell in uncomfortably close quarters, and are invaluable in such places as the airport, where we are surrounded by people with whom we share nothing other than perhaps a desire to avoid the middle seat.”

Needless to say, Browning disagrees. The longtime member of Umphrey’s McGee’s management team—who is the brains behind many of the band’s creative offerings—responded yesterday with a blog post that outlines just how different the Headphones and Snowcones experience is from listening to an iPod at the airport. Browning noted that, “Comparing someone that tunes out their day to day environment by isolating himself inside a pair of headphones to a music fan that relishes a deeper connection to the nuance and artistry being performed live is missing the point. They are different animals; one is an escape, the other an immersion.”