I do both. If I really want the album, I'll buy it. But if I'm unsure about it, then I'll download it and give it a test drive; if I end up liking it, then I'll buy it. Some albums are hard to find in stores. I have plenty of music on my computer that I won't find at my local store.

I'm a big fan of LastFM for that kind of thing, but it's true that my local store won't have much Blind Lemon Jefferson in it. Well, my local store is pretty eccentric, so it might!

I'm glad I grew up in a generartion that apprechiated the local music stores. Now the newer kids would rather download compared to purchasing an actual album. I still buy Lps and CDs, however, most of my music is out of print and have to resort to purchasing mp3. When I do inport my older CDs into iTunes it doesn't reconize the album and have to label tracks and find artwork myself. So rarther than doing this manually, it's less stressfull to just buy the mp3 album. One final note, not everything is available on CD nor is everything available in mp3 and then there is the mp3 album that is partcially available.

you can order it online - he didn't make that many recordings so a 2-CD set is a pretty good retrospective

I'll have a look around. Make a nice Christmas present, I think.

Unfortunately my local music store is one of a large chain of stores. I've been to some more privately owned music stores and I must say they are much cooler.

I do both, but currently I don't have much money so I can't get 10+ albums a week.

I think playing for Spotify is a good compromise.

Definitely. There is a tiny one in the town centre about ten minutes on the train from here (although "town" is not really the right word for something so ridiculously tiny), which is run by a hipster who must be at least 80, and he must be the biggest music nerd I've ever met. He's got the kind of knowledge a teenage shop assistant can't possibly match, and his store is full of old memoirs from the 60's, 70's and 80's.
I think I greatly prefer this kind of shop.

i never really got the allure of last.fm and RYM, tbh

RYM is a shlong-a-thon, but last.fm can help you find out millions of new bands and listen to them for free.