I'd like to legally download popular music for free. Any suggestions?
It needs to be legal here in the United States, for starters. It needs to work on a PC (Windows Vista). It needs to offer downloads, not streaming music - I already stream music through Pandora and Yahoo! Music, so no need to recommend more services like that.
Also, I've tried out QTrax and didn't like it very much. They require you to be connected to the Internet to listen to the files, which doesn't always work for me. (Satellite Internet isn't always reliable...and I disconnect from the wireless network here at home when I want to get some real work done.)
Oh, and I know how to find independent / unsigned downloads - I'm looking for popular music. Everything from Melissa Etheridge to Godsmack to Eminem...and then some. I've already taken advantage of eMusic's free trial, too, so no need to mention that service.
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M$6 Answers
http://www.jimmyr.com/mp3_search.php
It works really well and it can find almost any mp3 to download.
The are a few downsides to this. First, there isn't a structured database of music like on services like itunes. This can make it a little slower to find and download music, so thats a definite downside.
The second downside is that the legality is debatable. If the reason you want to download legal music is because you are afraid of legal action, then you have nothing to worry about. You can only get in trouble for uploading music, not downloading it. Really it is the websites that are hosting the music that are performing the illegal action, rather than the person who is downloading the music.
However if your reason for wanting legal music is a moral one, then this probably isn't the solution for you. The record labels won't receive any compensation for your downloads.
I know its not a great solution, but at least its a free option for finding popular artists. Here are a few of the songs I found with this method.
Eminem:
http://g2radio.frag-media.net/mp3a/Eminem%20-%2004%20-%20Cleanin%20Out%20My%20Closet%20-lordraven.mp3
http://www.yoraps.com/music/mixtapes/eminem-relapse.mp3
Godsmack:
http://nozdormuserver.myip.hu/Zene/Saj%C3%A1t%20Zen%C3%A9k/Godsmack/ -- (4 CDs)
Melissa Etheridge
http://hfbtest.net/Songs/Melissa%20Etheridge%20-%20The%20Only%20One.mp3
http://music.d3net.net/English/melissaetheridge-theweaknessinme.mp3
http://fiesta.mp3mirror.com/M/Melissa%20Etheridge/ -- (12 CDs)
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M$
http://www.friedbeef.com/40-ways-to-download-free-music-legally-an-ultimate-guide/
There are more than enough ways to download music FREE, and legally.
Last.fm
Etree.org Live Music Archive
Amazon.com
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M$
http://hypem.com/
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M$
the recently updated page here on Mahalo is looking for a page manager. Qtrax
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M$
http://www.mp3-music-download-sites.com/
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M$
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M$
Yea I figured you were. The Spiral Frog business model doesn't work though. I have seen a lot of companies like that fail. Since they all use DRM, when they are gone, so is your music usually. So when it comes to downloading free popular music, "dubious" is really the only long term solution currently available.
Hopefully someone comes up with a business model that works soon though.
I was actually looking for downloads that aren't of "dubious" legality. Spiral Frog was fully supported by participating artists and labels, which is why I'm looking for something similar to that service, as I mentioned in my question.