For the past year or so I've been poor as shit and can't really afford to buy albums, so all I do is use soulseek...I think the last albums I bought were, Arcade Fire, and Shake the Streets, so I must catch up on my album purchases, perhaps with tax return money.

Does everyone else buy albums all the time, or are there more music crooks out there like myself.

I was a music crook for pretty much all of 2004 but I'm making up for it in 2005. I think I've already bought as many cd/dvd's in 2 months this year as I did all of last year.

purchasing

I'm shamed to say that I plunder a lot of the music I listen to. I profess to buy what I can, but I can't remember the last album I bought (edit: Boris' devastating "ABSOLUTEGO: Special Low Frequency Version", in December). I simply can't afford it. I've been trying to buy the Joanna Newsom and Six Organs LPs from Drag City, but they never have it in stock. Nice on ya, DC.

If its an artist i am already familiar with, i will go out and buy...

if its an aritst i have only read about or heard via word of mouth, i will sample via soulseek , then decide whether to buy or not....i dont keep or burn mp3's for two long...

im a purist and want the real thing.

i still buy albums, but i cant afford to do it at the pace i was going at, which was two or three a week. now its more like two or three a month. i download a hell of a lot of stuff though, mostly through bittorrent, soulseek, and of late the obner dc server. id love to start buying more again, but that isnt gonna happen until i get through school and get a full time job.

I purchase because:

1) I have a decent amount of disposable income
2) I enjoy the superior sound quality
3) I like supporting my favorite artists, even if they only get $.00001 cents

I want the real thing, for a number of reasons. I have no problems with downloading to screen things or carry me over until I have the cash on hand though.

Purchase. I have a few downloads that are artist-site freebies, but I never go out to d/l an album as such.

I've never downloaded anything. Not a single song. But I do CDR swaps like a sumbitch and mostly buy albums from the used bins.

I buy almost everything, but have no issue with those who choose to download. Its more of a collecting thing for me.

I'd like to be a purist, but sipmly can't afford it right now. When they start paying entry level graphic artists the big bucks I'll be all about purchasing.

I'm a mix of both. I download a lot, as some of you who've shared with me can attest to. But I also buy at least a couple cd's a week. My appetite for music is voracious, and thanks to the internet I can preview many albums and choose which ones are worth buying.

what he said.

i didn't really d/l albums until recently since lately it's been hard for me because i'm really into other genres as well so it drives me crazy trying to keep up.

if i really dig the album, i'll buy it.

and there are certain artists i will go out and buy of course.

purchase only.

Both, although I gravitate to more towards purchasing the one's I enjoy.

I used to download quite a bit, but after the RIAA lawsuits started and following several "discussions" with my wife the only downloading I do now is at work where I can claim it's station-based.

Don't have a "fair amount of disposable income" as wages in northern Maine are a bit lower than many other places and much of my money goes to various bills. I use Launchcast and a number of online stations as ways to find out about new music and purchase whenever I can.

Used to get oodles of station comps that were non-format related, so I wound up keeping them, but that's happening less and less now. Labels don't send out unlimited freebies like they used to.

im a mutt....

i buy new
i buy used
i buy d/l's (i-tunes)
i d/l from torrents, dcc, soulseek....

personally i own over 1500 legit new (when they were purchased) cd's......and im a completest for the artists i love......

I mostly purchase, but I do download specific kinds of songs.

Covers (such as the Pixies great cover of "I Can't Forget"), live songs, b-sides that are hard to get collectively (Radiohead, looking at you here).

Of course, my lack of downloading may be a result of my stone age computer (7 gig hard drive, only 1 gig free!).

if i dig it after i download it, i purchase it.

and damn i dig a lot.

I do as much of both as possible.

I don't download much because I can't use Soulseek on my Mac (haven't had the time to mess with DC++ yet), and I make it a point to own a legitimate copy of at least one album by every artist I like. I've been against hearing advance/ leaked mp3s of albums by artists I know I like, but with each passing year, I kinda lose my resolve.

I generally just get mp3s of new stuff I want to check out and of OOP or just really hard to find stuff. I've always got a long list of stuff I want to buy, and I go record shopping and order online pretty often.

I have really only been downloading for the past month or so, and damn I've been downloading like a motherfucker. It's great because I really hate it when I buy an album that ends up sucking. Indeed, I have downloaded a fair amount of stuff which I'm glad I was able to preview first.

On the other hand, if I download an album I end up liking, it's hard for me to purchase that album, because when I am at the record store I'm like "I could buy this album that I already have on mp3, or this other album that I don't have." I think the solution (for now) is to purchase other albums by that artist. I'm still a collector though, and plan on purchasing all albums that I think are really quality.

One thing that I need to stop doing is getting leaked albums. It's a disappointing way to hear new music by artists I like. I'm saying this as I contemplate whether to listen to the 13 & God I downloaded today, or wait until it comes out...

I used to be against downloading music, but I have discovered that it's almost impossible to keep up without downloading. Plus, I spend so much money on music already, and am not susbstituting spending money on cds with downloading.

and sometimes I buy blind simply because of who it is, but not very often

step one - download album.
step two - listen to album.
step three - form opinion regarding album.
step four - if deemed worthy, purchase album.

this has been the case for as long as i've been downloading.

np: Depeche Mode - "Judas"