How to Listen to a CD Before Buying It

CDs are going the way of records, and pretty soon only die-hards will trek out to a store to buy a new album. Nothing is worse, though, than buying a CD and finding out only a few of the songs are good. The following are tips of how to avoid this by listening to a CD before you buy it.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Ears
• Internet
• Patience

1. Check Itunes. This is probably the easiest way, but it has it's problems. Since Itunes only let you listen to the first 30 seconds of a song, it can be hard to tell if you like a song or not. These 30 second samples work best with melody-based music. Bands that write catchy songs that reveal themselves to you in less than 30 seconds. For more experimental or complicated music this would not work.
2. Check out MySpace. Oftentimes artists have websites on MySpace with three or four songs you can listen to in their entirety. This is a good way to get a feel for a new artist. However, if you want to hear a particular song, you might have to look elsewhere.
3. Research an artist website. In addition to MySpace, many artists have their own website and these sites often have songs that are different from MySpace.
4. Look at YouTube. Featuring countless live performances, you'll find almost any song your looking for. These videos come from amateurs and the sound and video can be quite awful. Try to find a video where someone has used sound from a record to replace the concert sound.
5. Go to the store. Many record stores like Borders and Virgin Megastore will let you listen to an entire album. Usually you can choose from 20 or more recent releases. If you're into buying CDs when they come out, this could work out nicely for you. When you find what you like, you're already at the record store.