Haha... yea I used to have a folder called "Transit" that served as a temporary storage place until I sorted out where everything should go, but after a while I realized that it just collected random stuff that I'd never get around to sorting. Out of sight, out of mind.
Now I just leave stuff on the desktop until I get so annoyed that I'm forced to sort everything into its proper place.
This works for me, because it doesn't take long for me to get to that point... meaning, if I have more than 2 or 3 things on my desktop, I have reached my breaking point. lol...

That's gotta be some kind of compulsive behavior, no?

Yeah. I cannot make myself do it so I just get annoyed.
Not working :D
But if it works for you it's a good method :)

Download a couple of albums at a time. Listen to them in order and then decide whether they warrant another listen. I have a separate HD for my music (well 2 actually) and albums only make it onto the sacrificial altar for serious dissection.

I always put albums into My Music folder first. On rare occasions they can sit and fester for a while until I see fit to tear them apart. If they are REALLY good then I will buy said album on C.D. When I buy C.D's I rarely blind buy (unless I see something intriguing knocking around for £2 or under) so when I do buy C.D'S I am buying something that is definitely wanted.

Even if I had the money I would not buy 5-10 C.D's without hearing them at least once. No need to really with the internet being what it is.

So to answer your question- you have more money than me at this time and are probably over buying and not giving enough attention to each album.

My method isn't quite as sophisticated as some previously depicted ones.
I download it all and it sits there unlistened to for about six months or until I decide I'm in the mood to try something new.

So to answer the OP question briefly: I don't.

I actually leave most of the music I download in a downloads folder and when it's unzipped and listened to after about a week or two. I go through that folder and sort everything out.

If I do have a method, then it's beyond analysis. I just listen.

I download 18 albums at a time from a list of classifications (ie: 3 new releases, 2 2010 releases, 3 albums from the 90s, 3 by artists I already listen to, etc.).

I listen to 15 of these, generally over the course of a week, and leave a pool of 3 behind to allow me to procrastinate stuff I'm not as interested in.

I rate these releases on a scale of 1 to 5 where 1 means I never want to hear it again, and 5 means it is a top priority. Then I delete the download from my computer.

I then purchase anything I want to hear again, typically coming from section 5 on the list, and from there I listen willy nilly.

I add new music to my collection, then listen to it when I find the motivation. If I like a musician in a band, I might check out what that musician has done in other bands and so on and that's often how I check out new things these days .. Or that I read about something which interests me.

I don't often sit down to listen to a band I don't know with people I don't know in it. I generally have very little motivation to do so.

I'm also curious to know, when you guys listen to new music, do you do something while listening to it? (browsing the web, reading, playing video games, exercising)

I like to drink a beer while listening to music.
I shouldn't be typing too actively because I will miss out on the music then.
Usually I'm behind my PC while listening so I usually am doing something.

I am NEVER around people when listening to NEW music, as I always try to make people feel comfortable while they're here so I usually adjust the music I play to the people I have over. That's not possible with new music so I never feel good listening to new music with people over. Except for my ex-girlfriend, who has absolutely the same taste as I to and one of my friends, Bauke, who is over so often that I just do whatever I want (well... not everything obviously) when he's over. And he taps his foot on whatever I play. So that's cool anyway.