The way I decide which CDs to get physical CDs of is, I search web forums and make a list of anything that either gets lots of good reviews or that lots of people seem to like. Then, I listen to that list on Rhapsody and mark down the ones that stand out to me.
Do you guys have a process to decide which albums are worth spending money on, or do you just wait for something to catch your ear?
I rarely buy physical music, but when I do I make sure that it's something I like beforehand. I would never spend money on an album that I hadn't heard at least once all the way through. In regards to the titular question, how do I find new music, I find it either through A) this website, B) friends, C) music review sites (Stereogum, Pitchfork, etc.), and D) Metacritic.
I think it's interesting that MP3 albums are usually only a couple dollars cheaper than CDs. I guess that the actual CD and case are very cheap to produce, so a couple dollars probably covers that, but I just don't see paying about the same for an MP3 album when I could have a CD. I do buy MP3 albums on Amazon when they're really cheap--like $3 or $5.
I hear new music all the time that I think I might want to purchase, and I sample tons of stuff on iLike that I see recommended on AM. However, I generally make myself wait at least a month before plunking down $ for anything. I just keep a list of songs/albums I'm interested in, and every couple of months I'll buy 25-50% of my list. That way, I generally don't get burned by a fleeting interest in something that doesn't stand up to multiple listens (which I did quite a bit in high school, go figure ;)
