In the not-too-distant past, there was virtually no way you could preview an album except by listening to snippets in a store on one of those listening devices with headphones or by finding a friend who had already bought the album.
Nowadays, the Internet has changed all of that. You can even preview an entire album in some places online. While it is pretty easy to find what you want illegally, that is unsavory and requires potentially dangerous file sharing. Some people have even been sued in court for copyright violations by sharing music on peer-to-peer networks.
But some record labels actually contract to have the entire album of some of their artists legally streamed over the Internet for free. This makes it a win-win situation for you, the websites offering the streaming, the record companies and the artist. The companies won’t do this for every album, and indie labels are more likely to use this marketing feature to get the word out on their new albums.
Two such places to legally access and preview entire albums and CDs include NPR First Listen and AOL Music’s Full CD Listening Party. Yes, it is limited to a certain number of new albums, and the albums are placed out of the rotation as new albums are released. But it is legal and far better than nothing.
So the next time you are thinking about dropping a few bucks for a new album or single, check out the NPR First Listen or AOL Music’s Full CD Listening Party to see if the new music is available there for free streaming previews.