"Well actually it provides an opportunity to listen to a CD before ordering"

That's what Spotify's online service is for (and it's even free if you listen to a few adverts), so that doesn't really excuse or explain the need to download.

I don't think there's ever been a time when record shops allowed you to make a copy of a record and take it away with you on the basis that you might come back and buy the original.

Seeing as this is a folk music forum, and even the "big names" in our genre are not exactly minted, I urge you to think about the morality of your actions.