The comments are interesting here. I’m one of those that usually listens to the entire album, one side after the other in a sitting. With digital on my server run by JRiver, I typically pick and choose songs through the app unless I like the whole album. Like others, I’ll load the whole thing and listen to it.
With albums I too usually don’t buy it unless I love the album and like most of what’s on it. For instance I love Supertramp’s “Crime..” and “Crisis..” but really only liked about 4 songs off “Breakfast”. So for a long time I haven’t bothered purchasing the album because there’s a couple songs that are so-so and a couple I really can’t stand sitting through. With digital I can just pick what I wanted.
Although I was recently offered a perfect 1st release copy at a record store for $15 at a record show that I couldn’t resist.