If I hear a song I like on the radio, I google the lyrics and download the song. If I already like the artist, I’ll probably buy the album. If I don’t know the artist, I’ll listen to more of their songs to gauge my interest.

I’ve done this with songs like “Forever and For Always” by Shania Twain, Bob Carlisle’s “Lately” and Sixpence None the Richer’s cover of “Don’t Dream It’s Over” and The Corrs’ “Runaway.” I found the lyrics for “Lately” at http://www.starfiresredwall.net/chaos/lyrics/lately.html and a list of songs at the root of the lyrics directory. I like almost all of the ones I recognize, so it stands to reason that I would like the rest if I heard them. I plan to fire up Kazaa to verify that hypothesis, but I was surprised to find someone with musical tastes so similar to mine. The rather eclectic list includes Billy Joel, Sister Hazel, Blink 182, Vertical Horizon, The Righteous Brothers, Dan Fogelberg, Bread, Barenaked Ladies and Third Eye Blind.