The hand wringing over Herbie Hancock's album of the year win seems to be overlooking a key fact here: He did not disrupt Amy Winehouse's sweep so much as he contributed to a blooming symmetry among those  nominated multiple times.
This was an "everyone wins" year, the start of the Recording Academy treating the Grammys like contests at summer camp, a move that only upsets pontificators who feel Hancock's album is not as good as "Maiden Voyage" or the first Headhunters album. Or even the third best album of Kanye West's young career.
Sorry but this was the Grammys saying everyone shall get to participate and everyone will get a blue ribbon. Sorry, it's a lot more fun when nominees get shut out.
Consider: All eight artists with four or more nominations walked away with at least one win. That just does not happen. Call India.Arie - who was shut out the year she had seven noms - and rub that in her face.
No matter who won album of the year, all the contenders were winners in their respective genres:
Rock: Foo Fighters' "Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace" 
Country: Vince Gill's  "These Days"
Contemporary Jazz: Hancock's "River: The Joni Letters"
Rap: Kanye West's  "Graduation"
Pop: Winehouse's  "Back To Black"

That sort of symmetry seems mighty dangerous should the awards panel decide to play cute in hopes of duplicating the 50th edition of the awards. The Grammy procedure calls for the general membership to vote on album contenders on the early ballot. A panel then takes the top 20 and reduces the list to the five nominees. Everyone then gets a vote.
It's pretty rare that the album contenders come from five different genres. And it sort of carried over in the record category. Beyonce won last year for "B'day," which means everyone up for record of the year has a trophy.
As far as song of the year is concerned, there would have been litany of reasons to complain if  "Hey There Delilah" or "Like A Star" were victorious. Fortunately, we don't have to listen to those "Grammys are out of touch" arguments.
Next on Grammy watch: Can "River" become the first Grammy winner to double its total sales in the weeks after the awards. Its current cume is a meager 52,000.