I read a lot of music reviews from various music mags, such as Downbeat, Blues Review, Gramophone, TAS, Stereophile, TSS, etc. Then I usually go to a couple of Internet sites to see if I can find clips of the music to listen to. Tower Records often has sound clips for albums that it is selling -- they are only 30 second clips of various tracks, but they still give you a decent idea of the material and the performances.
Downbeat mag recently started a subscription service ($18.75 for 3 months) that allows you to access a number of recordings of all types: rock, jazz, blues, country, hiphop, folk, New Age, reggae, gospel and soul, etc., and then listen to and download entire songs. If the Downbeat site interests you, I made a post about it several weeks ago which contains more info and how to sign up. (The nice part of this service is that there are no "Napster" issues -- everything is licensed, so you get music fairly cheaply while the artists still get their piece of the pie.)
Downbeat mag recently started a subscription service ($18.75 for 3 months) that allows you to access a number of recordings of all types: rock, jazz, blues, country, hiphop, folk, New Age, reggae, gospel and soul, etc., and then listen to and download entire songs. If the Downbeat site interests you, I made a post about it several weeks ago which contains more info and how to sign up. (The nice part of this service is that there are no "Napster" issues -- everything is licensed, so you get music fairly cheaply while the artists still get their piece of the pie.)