When iTunes, Apple Inc.’s wildly popular MP3 music store first launched in 2003, it sold a whopping million songs in its first five days. Since then, it has continued to hit music benchmarks: Five million, ten million, one hundred million…last year, Apple reported that it had already sold a billion songs. A billion MP3s! People obviously have a gigantic appetite for music to load onto their iPod or MP3 player.
Nothing much has changed since last year’s 1-billion-songs-sold announcement. People are still downloading millions of the latest hits, oldies, and everything in between. People want music! However, with the Recording Industry Association of America repeatedly suing users who downloaded music off of “illegal” file-sharing networks like Kazaa and Morpheus, people are wondering if the days of downloading free or cheap song downloads is over.
Absolutely not! In this guide, I’ll show you where to find the best cheap, or even free (and completely legal!) music downloads on the Internet. Soon, your iPod – or other MP3 player if you, heaven forbid, don’t have an iPod Nano, iPod Video, or iPod Shuffle – will be bursting at its hard drive seams with all of your new music!
Search Engines (NOT LEGAL)
If you’re really geeky, you can find music using search engines like Alta Vista or Google. The Google method has received a lot of press. “What do you mean, I can find mp3 music using Google?” you ask.
You see, when people upload their files onto their Internet servers, they sometimes leave it open to the public. Usually, this is by accident. In other words, THIS IS ILLEGAL. This is NOT one of the method for free and legal music downloads. That being said, many people wonder how to do it out of sheer curiosity.
Using Google, copy and paste the following string of code into the search field:
-inurl:(htm|html|php) intitle:”index of” +”last modified” +”parent directory” +description +size +(wma|mp3) “Nirvana”
Change “Nirvana” to the name of the singer or band you are looking for, and search! Google will give you a list of all the MP3s from that artist that you can download.
Alta Vista, another search engine, lets you specifically search for MP3s using their regular search engine.
FREE and LEGAL Song Downloads (for a limited time)
Some paid-music websites let you download a limited number of tracks for free.
eMusic.com is one of the best sources. When you sign up, you are given 25-50 free music downloads (depending on the promotion you signed up under). As of the end of 2006, eMusic had 2,000,000 tracks available in its online music store and had sold over one hundred million MP3s. After your free tracks, you pay using a subscription model (you pay a monthly fee and are allowed to download a set number of songs). eMusic is an excellent choice for indie bands and classics/oldies. eMusic works for the iPod and has NO copy restrictions.
FREE and LEGAL Song Downloads (all the time)
Amazon’s music store lets you download hundreds of free tracks, usually singles from albums that they’re selling. You can often find whole albums that you can download. There’s everything from rock to jazz to techno. Amazon’s Music Store works for the iPod and has NO copy restrictions.
Epitonic’s music store has a limited selection for free MP3 songs for you to download, but don’t expect any hits or Top 40 songs here.
Creative Commons’ audio website is a collection of music that has been released under the Creative Commons license, meaning you are free to distribute it. You can find some songs here from “popular” artists, as well as a lot of obscure bands. A great way to wow your friends into thinking you are an audio-snob!
Saddle Creek’s store lets you download numerous mp3s from its artists, including hit indie artist Bright Eyes (they’ll even let you download tracks off of Bright Eyes’ newest CD, Cassadaga!). Songs work on the iPod, have no DRM-restrictions, and are excellent quality.
BEST Paid Legal Downloads (cheaper than buying albums in the store!)
iTunes is, by far, the most popular online music store with the largest selection. Songs are 99 cents a song or $9.99 an album. MP3 quality is set at 128 kbit/s in AAC file format, or 256 kbit/s AAC for EMI artists (you’ll pay a premium for the higher quality). iTunes has a large selection of free podcasts and movie trailers, as well as paid audiobooks and movies (both Hollywood releases and music videos). iTunes works, obviously, with the iPod but it does have copy restrictions.
MusicMatch charges 99 cents a song or $5.99 a month for unlimited listens, but once you stop paying, all of your music vanishes (one of the downfalls of the subscription music model is that you never own the songs you are listening to, unlike in iTunes). MusicMatch does NOT work with the iPod. In fact, you must have Windows XP or higher to utilize this store, severely crippling its usability. MusicMatch is now owned by Yahoo! (the search engine company).
Napster’s online music store, once the poster child for illegal file sharing, is now a legitimate music store selling mp3s. It costs $14.95 a month (subscription-model), and songs come at a 128 or 192 kbit/s quality in WMA format. Does NOT work with the iPod, and you must have the Windows operating system for it to work.
Real’s Rhapsody music store sells subscriptions at $14.95 a month. Unlike the previous two online song stores, Rhapsody works on the Mac.
In summary: The best free music downloads are listed. The best online store is iTunes for its compatibility with the iPod, as well as its large selection of songs with everyone from indie artists to Top 40 hits.
Don’t have an iPod yet? Not sure what iPod or MP3 player you want to use for all the new legal and free song downloads you just got? Check out this review comparing the iPod Shuffle with the Creative Zen Stone.
