Your media player.

So, what's the point of having album covers if, after clicking on an artist, you only see a maximum of 15, or even just 1-2 albums?

They only provide aesthetic pleasure; it's nice to look at, especially on an iPod.

I've tried it, tested it, and working with album covers in iTunes turns out to be a bit faster. I'm already used to navigating by them. But in general, it's mostly about aesthetics; it's pleasing to the eye. :)

I don't particularly like the way iTunes sorts by artist; I'm more used to finding the album directly. In rare cases, I create playlists, but I don't really use them much.

Also, iTunes offers more than just album cover display; it also has a list view, which is quite convenient and, of course, works faster.

P.S. iTunes is not suitable as a compact player (it's completely inferior to Winamp in this regard); I don't think there should be any doubt about that, but just in case...:)