Hey Stuart I tend to download only entire albums solely based on what I read on-line and off-line. Very rarely do I preview tracks and even less often do I download individual songs. The only exception might be with a classical CD where I'm only interested let's say in a string quartet and want the 4 movements that comprise it and am not interested in the other tracks that make up the rest of the disc. With my subscription giving me 65 donwloads per month it doesn't make sense to pick and choose songs and I'd rather listen to the album in the way the band intended it to be heard.

I'm not sure which service your using but I find with e-music that Exclaim magazine is a really good reference point for many of the albums that I download and end up enjoying. What I'm finding these days is that my trips to Soundscapes have dwindled to maybe once every 3 or 4 months as I can get all the obscure pop/rock/electronic CDs on-line. Pretty much the only things I shop for in a brick and mortar store now are jazz and classical which to my mind are still fairly weakly represented in the on-line format.