I'm a real journalist, with 19 years of experience, from 2005 to now, via three successive and different employers. If I count all the reviews I've made by having legal copies of CD or EPK, I'm at about 800 reviews and legal albums. That’s an average of 42 columns per year. I've got a legal EPK of 'The Mandrake Project' and I won't let anyone say or written that I downloaded the album illegally, because I have proof that I obtained it legally via my contact from the French society for the promotion of artists and BMG. And yeah, I'm really a journalist, sorry to disappoint you about that, no need to put this word in quotes when talking about me.
Otherwise, I agree with you. It's better to wait and buy directly the copy from the retailer, because you keep the magic of the moment when you remove the blister, open the case, look at the cover + the booklet and put the CD in the player. That's the best moment, when you are finally free from an endless wait after all these months.