Just to add a dissenting voice, my approach is a little different. What I tend to do is use my 65 a month to sample music I'm unfamiliar with - so, three or four songs from a band/album, chosen by listening, and/or by allmusic's choices for best cuts off the album, and then live with it for a month. If I'm into it at that point then I'll download the whole thing. Allows me to try fifteen or twenty new things with my monthly subscription, and then filter out the stuff that doesn;t work for me. Having said that, when the critics are all over something and it's available on emusic I will often just throw caution to the wind and download it - yes, I am that uninhibited.