Legal Music Downloads
With the scandals in past years involving the famous (or
infamous) Napstar, more and more net users who love music are
searching for good quality free legal music downloads. The
Record Industry Association of America and the FBI are
threatening to find and prosecute people who pass along illegal
downloads. This is not an idle threat, since it is easier to
trace people who download music illegally than it is to find
people who make unauthorized recordings through conventional
devices. Therefore, legal music downloads are a safer way of
finding the music you want to listen to at no cost. Although
some complain about the quality of most legal music downloads,
fellow browers can give valuable hints and advice.
There was once a vast library of legal music downloads with
millions of recordings to choose from. This music "library" was
http://MP3.com, which was later
bought by another company and taken offline (no doubt the
purchaser realized that the company was giving jewels away for
free).
Although more than one lover of legal music downloads compared
the dissolution of http://MP3.com to
the burning of the great library in Alexandria, there are ways
to find great legal music downloads, although it takes much more
investigation than was required in the heyday of http://MP3.com.
Many independent musicians who are promoting their work provide
legal music downloads from their sites for free. Although they
may not be big names, they can sound like those at the top of
the charts. It can be fun and exciting searching for these up
and coming bands and downloading their music. You can get tips
from other music lovers on what bands provide the best free
music downloads, or many musicians will give you their
information at concerts.
The reason musicians can afford to offer free legal music
downloads is that they see it as a way of promoting their music,
and they know that those who enjoy the downloads often buy their
CDs. It works on the same principle as the bookshop/cafes that
allow shoppers to sip coffee and browse through their titles for
free; samples increase actual sales. Since these independent
musicians do not yet have big names, free legal music downloads
is sometimes the only way they can give potential CD buyers an
idea of their music.
One of the best ways to find legal music downloads is through
iRATE radio, which has a very large database of downloads, and
enables the listener to download music, give reviews and rate
each recording. You can look at other ratings and reviews as you
submit your own, and from this feedback, you can find the best
legal music downloads. IRATE radio will send you samples of
music that fits your stipulated categories, and if you like a
certain artist or style, it will automatically download new
recordings for you.
Word of mouth is the best way to locate your favorite legal
music downloads, and several friends can get together and make a
hobby out of searching for the best new downloads. It is a good
idea to look through music magazines and e-zines for reviews of
the best up and coming bands and artist. The reviewer will often
give you a link to the artists' website which might contain free
legal music downloads.
However you find your music online, keep in mind that it is much
easier and safer to stick to legal music downloads than to take
advantage of offers that might involve a violation of copyright
laws. In the old days of VHS, it was easy to just make a
recording without anyone knowing about it, but most PCs can be
easily traced, and your music downloads can be investigated by
authorities.
Therefore, if your dissatisfaction with the quality of many
legal music downloads is tempting you to bend the rules, it
might be a good idea to do a more thorough search among legal
music downloads to find truly good ones. There are great
independent bands out there who sound even better than the big
names.