Free and Legal Music Downloads

To answer the question, yes, there are still free music downloads out there online. Beware of copyright laws and guidelines, but many places can help you get the music you want.

Sharing Sites

Places like YouTube will share anything that other users have put up there. If you want to know the lyrics of a song you already have, or something you've heard, you can find it on YouTube. If you want to see part of a music video, or even the whole thing, most likely someone has put it up too. All of the YouTube videos are user made and intended for users to share with each other. You can download these to your computer if you want to keep them for later. Free music downloads are all over on YouTube, it's just a matter of what kind of music files you are looking for. If you just need some info about a song, or background music for something, this might be a good, cheap knockoff of the real thing.

New Bands

Another place to look for free music downloads is sites that are highlighting new bands. Sometimes new bands do covers of other popular songs that you like, and to promote their name they offer downloads for free.

Online radio sites like Pandora.com and Slacker.com don't offer free music downloads, but free streaming radio that you can customize. There are preprogrammed stations, and if a song comes on that you don't like you can skip it. Pandora tracks personal listening habits and tries to keep songs coming that are similar to what you have liked in the past. Even though its not your music to use for making your own playlist or taking around town, for all of your day that you are next to the computer you can have your taste of music coming through for free, minus all the traditional radio DJ jabber. These sites can link you to music downloads for other sites if you want to buy any song or album.

Downloading Sites

Most of the good music downloading sites charge fees per song or subscriptions, but will often offer deals for new customers, special occasions, or bulk purchases. They will allow you free music downloads if you comply with the guidelines for that promotion. These places really are the best place to download music for your personal use like mp3 players, because they are good quality, and in formats that can easily be streamed to your players. Keep your eyes out for these and if you are signed up for a couple of different sites, you're still likely to save a lot on music while keeping your music budget under control.