[LAU] Sample Packs/ Collections?

[James Stone]

This may well be a bit OT, but I would be grateful if someone could
point me in the direction of some reasonable quality sample packs (any
genres). There seem to be a lot of commercial packs across the
internet, some with pretty hefty pricetags, but as far as I can see,
most have no way of finding out what the quality is like before
buying. I don't have any objection to spending money if the samples
are good, and useful - I'm mostly interested in single-shot samples.
To my mind pre-bought loops are just a bit too lazy (even for me!).

Also, any pointers to good Free collections of samples? Most of the cc
stuff I've come across seem to be recordings of less than useful
things, such as sound in a cafe, coughing etc...

James