Who Download Free Music Online!

Approximately 60 million people have downloaded music from the Internet in the United States alone. That is a staggering number and it means that online music is rapidly overtaking the regular music industry. Free music is even more popular!

If you have ever done search for a favorite song online, you know that there are plenty of websites offering to let you download music . . . for a fee. Some of them work on a per-download basis, charging around $1 per song, while others charge the same amount per "disc" or collection of songs (anywhere from 10-20 songs), with the stipulation that you have to buy a specific number of collections in order to receive the bonus price. There are also membership sites where you pay a set monthly fee and can download as many songs as you wish.

But most people aren't looking for deals, not even such incredible ones as listed above. The majority of music downloaders are searching for free music! That's why this phrase is one of the most-searched song-related phrases on Google.

Free music is available on the Internet, you just have to know where to look. One popular program for free searches is Ares. This program can be downloaded for free online and works like a search engine on your desktop. This shareware program searches the entire web for your songs (or movies, pictures, whatever).

While the original program can be downloaded without charge, its expansion pack, Ares Galaxy, is not free. This expansion speeds up download times. The advantage to having a search and download program such as Ares, is that you can set it up to download up to ten songs at a time, then go to lunch or whatever.

You can also do a search on regular search engine, pick your favorite. There are countless websites that offer free music downloads, but it can take a bit of looking to find one that gives you the version you want.

Free music is typically available in MP3 format which can take up to 15-30 minutes to download. Considering you aren't paying anything, this is not unreasonable.

When searching for your free music downloads, keep in mind that these websites tend to put your computer at risk. You need to have a good antivirus installed before attempting to add music to your computer, since these files can carry viruses. You are more likely to pick up a virus from a free website than from one that requires payment.

To avoid an infection, save the files to your desktop and don't open them until you have used an antivirus program like Norton to scan for potential problems. If you do end up with a virus, take note of which website it came from so you can avoid it next time around.

Another danger is Spyware which lurks on the pages of the song download websites and sneaks into your computer to record passwords and browsing habits.

Apart from these two minor setbacks (both are fixed with the correct software), free music downloads can be a great resource.