How to Download Music for Free

Access the music library of your choice. Most major online music stores offer a variety of free songs available for download. These are often singles from full albums or tracks by emerging artists. Downloading free music is completely legal.

• Amazon hosts a rotating selection of free MP3 files.
• Google Play Music provides free downloadable tracks on a rotating basis.
• 7Digital occasionally offers free music downloads. Click on the "Free MP3 & Deals" button in the top menu.
• Jamendo offers free music distributed under Creative Commons licenses, allowing free downloads for personal use.

Check for promotions. Major retailers often run special promotions and events where music items are heavily discounted or even free. You can monitor their websites regularly during these promotional periods. Prices often drop during major holidays.

Check iTunes. In addition to its web store, iTunes has a dedicated store accessible through its program. Click on the "Free on iTunes" link to browse all currently available free songs. The music collection is constantly updated.

Visit music community websites. A growing trend in digital music is the use of online music platforms. Some popular ones include BandCamp and SoundCloud. These sites allow artists to upload their music for visitors to enjoy and download.

• Not all songs on SoundCloud and BandCamp are free to download. Often, new music may have limited free downloads before requiring a purchase.
• PureVolume offers many free downloadable songs. When you select an album, click the free MP3 link to download tracks.
• NoiseTrade is a music community where artists upload songs for fans to download for free. All downloads are completely legal.
• Last.fm provides a variety of free music sources from artists.

Search for music. You can search by artist or song name, or browse through music genres to discover new tracks. These websites often include remixes of popular songs that you can download or stream for free.

• Many artists are starting to release singles and early tracks for free on such platforms.

Convert online music into downloadable files. Some websites allow you to input the URL of a SoundCloud track and convert it into an MP3 file for download. Be aware that this action violates SoundCloud's Terms of Service.

Go to the homepage of your chosen website. Mixtapes (in this context) are albums blending songs from various artists and/or the creator of the tape. Online mixtape communities adhere to public domain standards, so you can download without fear of legal issues.

• The largest site for free mixtape downloads is DatPiff, which primarily features amateur hip-hop and up-and-coming DJs.
• Other popular sites include That Mixtape, LiveMixtapes, and MonsterMixtapes.

Register if necessary. Locate the login section on the website. (On DatPiff, the login section is on the right side of the homepage, slightly below the header.) Click the "Register" button and fill in the required information.

• These sites generate revenue through ads and may prompt you to register while displaying ads during the process. Look for a "no thanks" or similar link to skip the ads. (On DatPiff.com, it’s the red text in the bottom-right corner.)

Browse mixtapes. Read reviews and comments to find highly-rated tracks, or randomly explore new songs.

Download mixtapes. When you find a mixtape that interests you, click "Listen" or "Play" to preview it. If you like it, click the "Download" link to save it to your computer.

• Some mixtape communities limit daily downloads (unlimited downloads may require payment), but they also offer "free" mixtapes (meaning they don’t count toward your download limit). Browse these sections to ensure you can download multiple tracks daily.

Find your favorite artists. Follow them on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and through their official websites. Additionally, you can become a fan of their social media pages and subscribe to their mailing lists.

• Search the web for your favorite artists to find all the performances they’ve done. This ensures you stay updated on their activities.

Become a fan. Many bands and artists are active online, and you can follow them through social media platforms like Facebook or join their mailing lists on their personal websites. Loyal fans are often rewarded with free downloads of new singles, demo versions of songs, unreleased tracks, and live recordings.

Stay updated. Periodically, your favorite bands may release free sample tracks for fans to download. As a long-time supporter, you might gain access to new songs every week, all completely legal and public.

Visit free music websites. There are numerous sites and blogs offering free MP3 downloads. Some blogs provide entire albums before their official release. Alongside general music sites, many blogs cater to specific music genres.

• Most of these sites operate in a legal gray area. For legal free music, look for platforms that release music under Creative Commons licenses or community-use agreements.

Review music details. On most websites, song details are displayed alongside each result. Some files show track duration, file size (in MB), and bitrate. Choose based on your preferences.

• Bitrate reflects the audio quality of the file. Generally, MP3 files range from 60-320 Kbps, with higher numbers indicating better quality. CD-quality audio is 256 Kbps, while radio quality is 192 Kbps.
• Lower bitrates reduce file size, which is useful for users with limited storage on their computers or MP3 players but who want to collect many songs.

Preview the song. Click "Play" below the song title to listen in your browser and ensure it’s the track you want to download.

Download the file. When ready to download, right-click the "Download" link below the song title and select "Save as...". Choose a location on your computer and save the file.

• Some sites may redirect download links to external services instead of offering direct downloads.

Verify the downloaded file. Locate the file on your computer and double-click to open it. Ensure the file was downloaded correctly. Once satisfied, you can store and transfer the file to your music player.

Visit a YouTube conversion website. Several sites allow you to input a YouTube video link and "extract" the audio to create a downloadable MP3 file with average quality (128 Kbps).

• Converting YouTube videos violates YouTube's Terms of Service. Frequent downloads may result in your IP being blocked from accessing YouTube content.

Navigate to YouTube and find the song you want to download. Select the browser’s address bar and copy the entire URL of the video.

Paste the video URL into the conversion site’s dialog box and click "Convert Video." The conversion process may take a few minutes, depending on the video’s length.

Download the file. Once the file is ready, it will appear in the text box. Click "Download" to save it to your computer.

Check the file. Play it on your computer to ensure there are no errors. A few years ago, MP3 conversions were more prone to issues than they are today, but it’s still wise to double-check.

Install torrent software. One of the most popular ways to share songs and albums online is through torrents, which are files that direct your computer to copy bits of the target file or folder (such as an album) from other torrent users until you assemble a complete copy.

• This software runs torrent files and helps you manage them. uTorrent is a free, fast, and reliable torrent program. You can download it from the official website.
• While searching for and downloading torrent files is not illegal, standard copyright laws apply to any content shared via torrents. This means that if you don’t legally own a copy of the song you’re downloading, it’s considered copyright infringement.

Install the software. Double-click the downloaded file to run the installer. The installer may prompt you to install a search toolbar or additional software. You can opt out of installing these.

• Find torrents. Many websites aggregate and list torrents for searching, as torrent files themselves are legal.
• When you find torrent results, check user comments or star ratings. Choose files with positive feedback and high ratings—others may be misleading or harmful.

Download the torrent file. These files are very small—only a few dozen KB. This is because torrents are essentially sets of instructions for the program. Torrents will open automatically once downloaded, or you can activate them through your torrent client.

Wait for the file to download. Torrents can take anywhere from a few minutes to a day to complete. Factors affecting download time include the size of the torrent file and the number of people currently sharing it.

Save the torrent. After downloading the music, you can extract the file and enjoy your tunes. At this point, it’s considered courteous to leave the file in the list so others can download parts of it from you, though this isn’t mandatory.

• Some private torrent communities require you to maintain a certain upload-to-download ratio to remain an active participant.

Find music-sharing communities. Most major community websites (such as Reddit) have one or more dedicated music communities. Observe quietly and familiarize yourself with community etiquette before posting.

• Sharing music through forums is more illegal than torrent sharing. The appeal of using forums is that authorities find it harder to take down or track due to the private, member-only nature of forums.

Follow "share" discussions. Depending on the website you visit, sharing discussions may be rare or occur multiple times a day. If you find such a discussion thread, it’s worth exploring.

Choose an album. You’ll see users posting albums with hyperlinks to sites like Mega, Zippyshare, and Mediafire. These links are for direct downloads of the requested album.

• the link and paste it into a new tab. When prompted, click to download the file.

Scan for viruses. Once the file is fully downloaded, scan it with antivirus software as a precaution. This option is usually available in the right-click menu when you select the file.

Open the file. After completion, open the file and extract the music files inside. Avoid sharing these files with others, unlike torrent sharing.

Contribute content. Once you feel comfortable in the community, you can request music if other users have it. However, you’ll be better received if you share your own albums first.

Download music via file-sharing networks. File sharing involves directly exchanging files with other users. Soulseek is currently the safest and most reliable free file-sharing client. It also provides access to music from anywhere on the internet.

• With all file-sharing programs, be cautious when downloading files from unknown sources. Programs like Soulseek do not scan for viruses or prevent users from sharing malicious files. Safe downloading is the user’s responsibility.
• Sharing music through file-sharing programs is illegal if you don’t own a copy of the song being downloaded. Providing music for others to download also carries risks. These programs are generally safe as they are tightly controlled communities, but be aware that sharing music you don’t own carries legal risks.

Download Soulseek software. The latest version is available at http://www.soulseekqt.net/news/node/1. Simply click the top link under the heading for your operating system (Windows, Mac, or Linux).

Install the software. Double-click the downloaded file to launch and install the program.

Run Soulseek. You’ll be prompted to create a username; this isn’t critical, so you can choose any name you like.

Set up a music folder to share with other users. Most Soulseek users don’t allow strangers to download from their libraries unless you share your own content. You don’t have to share your entire library, though it’s considered courteous.

• Click on the Options tab.
• Select the File Sharing tab in the Options menu.
• Click the Share Folder button at the top of the window.
• Navigate to the folder you want to share and click "Share." You can repeat this step to share multiple folders.

Search and download music. Click the Search tab and enter your query in the text box. Press Enter to view results. Check the bitrate (on the right side of the results) and file formats (Soulseek supports MP3, M4A, and FLAC files), and if satisfied, double-click to download the file.

• You can sort the list by Transfer Speed to prioritize users with faster connections.
• To download an entire album at once, double-click the folder in the results. This will download all contents within that folder (i.e., everything in the album folder). Some users don’t organize songs by album, so be cautious to avoid accidentally downloading a folder with thousands of songs.
• Search results update continuously until you stop them.
• Each new search opens a new tab below the search bar. You can close it when done.

Monitor progress. Click the Transfers tab to display two sections: Uploads and Downloads. The Downloads section shows files being downloaded or queued. The Uploads section displays files, if any, that others are downloading from your computer.

• Light blue text means you’re still waiting to download the file. If an entire album list remains light blue for too long, right-click and select Retry Download to restart it. Most users limit simultaneous downloads, so there’s often a queue.
• Dark blue text indicates a file is actively downloading. You’ll see a progress bar on the right and the transfer speed. Higher numbers mean faster downloads.
• Green text means the file has been successfully downloaded. A full progress bar will appear next to the file name.
• Red text means the download was canceled or failed. This can happen for various reasons. Wait for other downloads to finish, then retry the red files before searching elsewhere. Right-click the file and select Retry.

Add files to your library. By default, Soulseek saves completed music files in a folder named "Soulseek downloads" on your hard drive, within a subfolder called "complete." After downloading, you can drag and drop or copy the files from the download folder to your music player.

• Podcasts often include music, though you might hear dialogue mixed in. AOL offers a podcast called MP3 of the Day, which features a free song daily.
• You can stream music directly through the internet instead of downloading files. This allows you to enjoy songs online instantly without using hard drive storage. Grooveshark, Pandora, and Last.FM are popular platforms offering free audio streaming. YouTube is also a great option for listening to specific songs, as long as you don’t mind the music being part of a video.

• Downloading music without payment is a violation of music copyright. While the legal risks are relatively low, you should be aware of potential consequences. Fines for illegal music sharing can be substantial.

• http://mashable.com/2007/10/31/free-and-legal-music/
• http://www.freemake.com/blog/how-to-get-free-music-legally-on-the-internet/