Far from putting your favorite musician out of work, downloading free music can help you discover new artists and give you a better idea of which albums you actually want to go out and buy. However, be wary; just because a song is available online, doesn't mean it's legal. Make sure that the music you download is being offered legally by the band's record company, or the artist themselves. When you're ready to start finding free music, follow these tips on how to find and download free music online.

• The information on this page is meant to show you ways in which you can easily find and download music that is legally available online. However, many of these methods can sometimes turn up results for illegally pirated material! Make sure to review the online piracy information posted on the official RIAA website, and be careful what you download.http://www.riaa.com/physicalpiracy.php?content_selector=piracy_details_online

Music fans from all over the world have begun to keep logs of some of their favorite music and post MP3s for their readers to download and listen to. These are called MP3 Blogs. Here are a few of the most popular music blogs, grouped by genre:

Indie

1. Stereogum: Music Blog: MP3 Downloads, Videos, News, Giveawayshttp://www.stereogum.com/
2. I Guess I'm Floating: Music, News, Music News, and Music/News of the Rock and/or Roll Variety http://iguessimfloating.blogspot.com/
3. Gorilla vs. Bearhttp://gorillavsbear.blogspot.com/
4. You Ain't No Picassohttp://www.youaintnopicasso.com/
5. Brooklyn Vegan http://brooklynvegan.com/

Pop/Rock

1. My Old Kentucky Bloghttp://myoldkyhome.blogspot.com/
2. Aquarium Drunkard: MP3 Blog, Music Blog http://www.aquariumdrunkard.com/
3. I Am Fuel, You Are Friends http://www.fuelfriendsblog.com/

Hip Hop/Soul

1. So Much Silence http://www.somuchsilence.com/
2. Soul Sides http://soul-sides.com/
3. The Rap Up http://www.therapup.blogspot.com/
4. Biff Hop: Biff's Hip-Hop Sectionhttp://biffhop.blogspot.com/

Electronica/Dance

1. Digital Eargasm http://digitaleargasm.blogspot.com/
2. Discobelle http://www.discobelle.net/
3. Missing Toof toof.com/
4. Resident Advisor http://www.residentadvisor.net/music.aspx

• MP3 Blog aggregators scan the most popular music blogs and filter them into a searchable MP3 database. Aggregators allow you to search for music by artist or song, as well as explore some of the most popular MP3 blogs online. Here is how to use a few of the most popular:

• The growth in popularity for online digital music distribution means that it's even easier to find free and legal downloads of all sorts of new music. Many major distributors will provide free tracks in order to promote other releases.

• iTunes
• Apple's proprietary iTunes music player program also doubles as an interface for its iTunes Store, which often offers free downloads.

1. If you don't already have it, download the iTunes software.http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/
2. You can then access the iTunes Music Store either directly through your iTunes window or launch it from this link.
3. Browse through releases for audio samples and for featured songs that you can download free of charge.
4. If you want to skip the searching, you can refer to sites such as Get Free iTunes Store Downloads!http://www.itsfreedownloads.com/ and Free iTunes Downloads//,http://freeitunessongs.blogspot.com/ which publish daily updates with direct links to free downloads in the iTunes Store.

• eMusic
• eMusic is a online distribution service similar to iTunes, and also provides free sample downloads.

1. eMusic offers a free trial of its service, where you can download and keep 25 free tracks-- without any commitment to subscribe to its service.http://www.emusic.com/
2. The site also provides a download of the day service, which requires that you install their "Discovery Toolbar" plug-in for your web browser.http://www.emusic.com/toolbar/download.html

• Rhapsody
• In addition to the free streaming previews of the music in its subscription program, Rhapsody offers a different free song available download every day on its Rhapsody Free Music Download page.http://mp3.rhapsody.com/playlistdetail?playlistId=ply.25288413

• Other Places to Look
• Aside from the big names in online distribution, there are plenty of other sources for legitimately free downloads. Record Companies will often upload sample tracks or audio clips onto MP3 sites in order to generate interest in a band and give people a sample of their sound.http://www.matadorrecords.com/matablog/2008/03/18/intended-play-sampler-2008-%E2%80%94-ready-to-download-and-burn/ You should also check in with smaller sites which also offer free MP3s, including:

1. PureVolume http://www.purevolume.com/
2. GarageBand http://www.garageband.com/
3. SoundClickhttp://www.soundclick.com/music.cfm

• Bit-Torrent file sharing protocol allows multiple Internet users to download and distribute large amounts of data at the same time. Using BitTorrent may be a little more involved than just saving a file from a website, but the fruits of your labor are often of higher quality. To get started:

1. Choose a Bit-Torrent client. There are plenty of choices to get yourself started, but some of the more popular clients include:
   • The Official Bit-Torrent client from the protocol's designers http://www.bittorrent.com/download
   • uTorrent http://www.utorrent.com/
   • Vuze (formerly known as Azureus) http://www.vuze.com/
   • Torrent Swapper http://bit-torrent.sourceforge.net/
2. Although each client may work slightly different than the other, the general usage is the same for this kind of software:
   1. Download and install your chosen client
   2. Locate .torrent files that will allow you to download the music you're searching for.
   3. Leave the program running until the download completes.

• Now that your computer can process torrents, it's time to start looking for them on the Web.

1. Visit The Pirate Bay, the largest and most trusted torrent "tracker"http://thepiratebay.org/
2. Click on "Browse Torrents"
3. Click on "Audio"
4. You will now see a list of the most recently updated torrents in Pirate Bay's system
5. The column marked "Size" indicates the size of the file
6. The column marked "SE" indicates the number of users currently "seeding" this file (See Step #12)
7. To download, click the name of the file you wish to access
8. You will see an information page giving a quick rundown about the file
9. Click "Download This Torrent"
10. Your Bit-Torrent client will pop up on screen and begin the download
11. Most clients include a "% Downloaded" so you can watch your file's progress
12. Once your download is complete, it is considered polite to continue to "seed" the file for other users.

• Seeding: Continuing to upload the file to other users even after you have finished with your download.

• • Generally, the more users are seeding a file, the faster it will download to your computer.

• Beware of "honeypots:"

• • Some sites have been set up to trap users looking for torrents to illegally download copyrighted material.

• • For example, the large tracker site TorrentSpy has been ordered to track and log all of its visitor activity.http://www.torrentspy.com/ http://news.com.com/TorrentSpy+ordered+to+start+tracking+visitors/2100-1030_3-6189866.html

• The largest P2P networks are Gnutella, ED2K http://www.amule.org/wiki/index.php/FAQ_ed2k and Soulseekhttp://www.slsknet.org/
  
  
• Popular Gnutella clients:
  • Lime Wirehttp://www.limewire.com/
  • Acquisition (Mac Only)http://www.acquisitionx.com/
  • Morpheus (PC Only)http://www.morpheus.com
    
    
• Popular ED2K client:
  • eMule (PC Only)http://www.emule-project.net/home/perl/general.cgi?l=1
    
    
• Popular Soulseek clients:
  • Soulseek Client (PC Only)http://www.slsknet.org/download.html Official
  • SoulseeX (Mac Only)http://mac.softpedia.com/get/Internet-Utilities/soulseeX.shtml

• If you're using a Wireless Router to connect to the Internet, chances are it comes with a Firewall installed.

• Firewalls will sometimes block your computer's access to peer-to-peer file sharing networks.

1. Go to the Options or Preferences menu in your P2P client and look for the Port or Listening Port setting.
2. You'll need to know which port the client will be using in order to set up your router (Ports are usually three-to-five digit numbers)
3. Log on to the router from your computer.
4. Instructions for most routers can be found online.http://portforward.com/routers.htm
5. Look for the headings Application or Configuration in your router's menu and click on it.
6. Enter in the same port number from your P2P client and, if possible, enter in the name of your P2P client so you'll remember why you left open this port later
7. Click Save.
8. Your router should now be set to allow for P2P downloads.

Search for new music. When you see a song you want to download, just double click, and it will usually begin downloading or queuing automatically. If many users are attempting to access one set of files at the same time, an online queue automatically forms, and downloads will start on a first-come first-served basis. (TIP: Monitor your queued or pending downloads as disconnections or hiccups are common.)

Most clients allow for multiple simultaneous downloads. Check the files you have downloaded before burning to a CD, as occasionally they will be incorrectly labeled or of low quality.

Be specific; overly general searches can produce too many results. For example: Instead of "Prince," try "Prince Purple Rain".

Once you're downloading a song from another user, most P2P clients will give you the option to view all of their shared content. Try right-clicking on their username. This will enable you to find whole albums to download rather than individual songs. Likewise, if you find another user with similar musical tastes to your own, it can be a great way to discover new music.

Most P2P clients have a chat option. Network chat rooms are a good way to find other users with similar taste, and to see who is online and what music they have to share.