When I arrive for my music lesson, my teacher, who usually has back-to-back lessons and is a smoker, goes over to the window for a smoking break. First, though, he puts on an interesting CD to listen to. I've had to tell him that this is causing the lessons to be very expensive for me, as I invariably end up buying most of the CDs at some point down the road. So that's one way to find them...

This isn't confined to my music teacher. A few years ago, a friend I was visiting played me part of a contradance album. I not only eventually bought that album, but several others as well to jumpstart my contradance collection.

Concerts are always good for adding to the collection, especially smaller ones where the performer can see if you DON'T buy one. (Just kidding..)

Then there was the recent occasion when a friend raved about a performer and I went with her to see him…and she was right. I bought one album at the concert, and am now in the process of acquiring every other album he's ever made. (he's well represented on Mudcat threads.)

Then there are the catalogs, music magazines, radio shows, online review info, festival sales booths, and OF COURSE Mudcat comments. I hardly ever shop in music stores. (at least the generic ones around here. If you have a good folk oriented store in your area, I guess it's worth it.)

Did I leave anything out here?