While I prefer to buy cd's still and then rip them, I tend to try to only buy CD's at concerts/shows/festivals as that's about the only time the artist makes any sort of money out of the sale. If it's an album I really have been looking forward to, I will cave and go to a local cd store and purchase it. If it's something rather rare or don't want to wait for a special order cd to arrive, I'll just find a friend with the album and rip it from them.
I'm debating the whole Zune Pass thing, or another paid D/L service...but it's difficult to find one with a good amount of artists that I like (not much in the way of Goregrind/Death in most of those services).
It's a wash it's a face laughing through the cellophane that will give you back the price of your life.