Free and Legal Music Downloads

In the 1990s, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) began suing Internet users who were facilitating the copying and sharing of copyrighted music. According to the Electronic Frontier Federation, an organization dedicated to protecting the rights of Internet users, more than 20,000 people have been sued for sharing copyrighted music.

While sharing and downloading copyrighted music carries considerable risks, there are numerous legal sources for users to obtain music. Some of these sources are paid, and others are free. Of the paid sources, Apple, Inc.'s iTunes Music Store is the most popular. In iTunes, you can purchases songs for 99 cents.

However, while iTunes has proven to be very successful, many people still want free music. Thankfully, there are still many sources of free and legal music online.

One popular website is purevolume.com. PureVolume lets you listen to music from both popular, signed bands and independent, unsigned bands. Depending on the band, you can even download some of the songs that you are listening to. For example, in 2006, now-popular band Hellogoodbye offered their entire EP CD for download at no charge.

Another great website for listening to music is Pandora.com. When on Pandora's website, you type in the name of a band that you like and they create a customized radio station that plays bands that sound like whatever you typed. For example, if you typed in Hellogoodbye as the band, they would play similar-sounding groups like Adam and His Package.

eMusic.com offers 25 free downloads for anyone who signs up for a free trial. If you cancel your account before your trial period is up, you still get to keep the free downloads. eMusic hosts mostly unsigned and independent bands, although popular groups like punk-rock band Sugarcult are featured prominently. It is a great way to discover new music.

For university students, www.ruckusnetwork.com offers unlimited access to over 2.5 million tracks, including very popular bands and Top 40 hits. The only catch is that it does not work on Macs. However, for Windows users, Ruckus' offer is very attractive.

Online giant AOL has a popular music website at www.music.aol.com. On AOL, you can watch music videos as well as listen to popular music. AOL also hosts "Listening Parties" that let you preview entire CDs shortly after they are released.

CNET's music site, http://music.download.com, hosts thousands of free music downloads. You can sort the tracks my genre or artist, as well as use their 'Search' menu to find a band.

There are many places to find legal, free music without having to resort to illegal methods.