something along the lines of the layout offered by sonicbids makes the most sense to me

edit: boy, that is an atrocious sentence.

I usually don't think one or two songs listened to through tinny computer speakers at low volume is enough to judge any band i'd consider buying something from anyway. If a band I've heard something good about is playing 5-10 miles away and I need something to get me off the fence about going or not going, I'll listen to samples. I'm not a song person though, I'm an album guy. I really don't have any interest in listening to a bunch of random songs on the internet and I don't sweat too much dropping $10 on an album that doesn't end up being as good as I hoped. I've been suckered more by hearing a good song and then buying a crappy album than i've been by reading descriptions or reviews that make something sound like i'd like it.

I like an official site as an extension of a band's general aesthetic.

Some bands don't have an aesthetic, though.

Where ever a band does it, they should do it in every place where they post stuff. I hate bands that don't update their websites, but update their myspace pages every 35 minutes.