When I got my first CD player in middle school, I couldn't afford CDs, so I borrowed them from the library. My library borrowing habits nowadays tend to be Jazz (since I am least familiar with it), obscure classical and lots of opera. Sometimes you have to clean the cd, use some polycarbonate scratch removers, and run the disc through the Skip Doctor buffing wheel so they won't skip. I figure I'm doing the library a favor!
Your local library
For most this won't be of any suprise,but recently I got my first library card. I am completely amazed at the vast collection of music CD's I can borrow from the library. Probably 90 percent of the recommended recordings I have read about on Audiogon are available at my local libraries. I can take out 25 at a time and keep them for 3 weeks. I'm sure this is old news to most,but for those who haven't utilized their library system-give it a try.