I forgot this used to be the way. These days I think I'd be a little grossed out by the public headphones but I loved sitting in the store and skimming through albums before purchasing them.
Or did you actually, out of "nessecity" and being cheap, really LISTEN to it and realized that it probably was good and not give up on it and jump to the next thing after 20 seconds as you do today?
Flip side it is early 1999 and you're in the 6th grade and you just spent some of your Christmas money on The Offspring's Americana, and you've no idea how there isn't a parental advisory.
It's the first album you've purchased with your own money and it exceeds all your expectations.
Or in my case you bought Toadies - Possum Kingdom and got pissed off that the entire album was only 37 minutes long and you payed $18 for it in the 90's... Have not bought music sense. Viva la Streaming!
I bought one (1) CD in my entire life. It was The Prodigy's Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned. Put it in my computer... It didn't work. No files. I was one of the victims to Sony's shitty DRM crap. Returned the CD and never stopped pirating since.
The industry ruins artists and consumers alike. Let it die
St. Anger. Metallica. Haven't listened to anything new from them since then, cause that album burned me so bad. Literally killed my lifelong fandom of Metallica. Still love the old stuff