If you search the net, there are many sites that will tell you that you can get free music and videos from many sites - which is true. Most will indeed try to point you in the direction of legal sources like AOL. Unfortunately, a time or two they point you toward a site that is just waiting to get busted.

When you get to a site, it is often hard to tell if this is a legal or pirate site. They look pretty much the same! Both ask for some sort of payment. Difference: the legal ones ask you to pay for the song or album you download. The pirates will ask you to pay a membership fee for their services.

One way you can double check that a site is good is to check their references. One site claims that they are the number one download music website on the net as seen on MSN, CNN,CNet and others but if you go to any of these highly rated sites, you won’t find any such recommendation. They just slap on the logos of these companies to impress you.

If you really want free music, check out the sites of the artists themselves or look for sites that truly are free and legal like GarageBand.com. Free music is definitely out there; just make sure that you get the legal one.

Technorati Tags: legal, download, free, music, pirate, CNET, MSN, CNN

Categories: Downloading Legally, Music

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Let’s face it. Free will always be the preferred cost of any item, not just that of digital content. It is human nature to want to avoid paying any amount if there is an alternative. Sadly many turn to piracy.

For those who do like freebies - raise your hand if you do - and love good music, a site that you must check out is that of FreeLegalMusic.net. They do exactly that - give away music to download for free. There are songs from bands like Bare Naked Ladies, Blur and artists like Allison Crowe.

How do they do it without becoming pirates? Simple. They link users directly to the artist pages, record label websites or other websites, such as CNet, where these tracks are being given away by the artists or producers. That saves you the trouble of having to hunt for them. All you need to do is enjoy the music.

Technorati Tags: music, download, Free, Bare Naked Ladies, Blur, Allison Crowe, CNet

Categories: Downloading Legally

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We’ve often been told that downloading music is killing the record shops. They tell us that people no longer buy CD’s or cassettes. Actually that isn’t completely true. People still like buying the discs but it is true though that some do prefer to order online rather than go to the local store. So isn’t it a good thing that some record shops have caught up with the digital age and sell music online?

One such store is Cat’s Music and DVD Store. This is family owned business with branches mainly in Tennessee and South Carolina. In 2001 they bought Memphis based Pop Tunes stores, expanding their reach. What many will be pleased to know: Cat’s Music and Pop Tunes are owned by Music City Record Distributors, the oldest record wholesaler in the US. They claim that Elvis was a regular customer, and he probably was indeed.

Lucky for the rest of us, it simply means that they truly love music and are doing all they can to bring great music to music lovers everywhere without closing the doors to their existing stores. You can bet that they know the copyright laws and they make sure that the music you get is legal.

Technorati Tags: music, store, download, Elvis

Categories: Downloading Legally, Music, Resources

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Everybody says that the best place to look for free music is among the new, independent artists. Unfortunately, there are hundreds of thousands of them out there and their music. It can be quite overwhelming.

You can go ahead and try wading into the independent music pool. The artists will definitely appreciate it. For a way to make it even easier to find music you love, try Goombah - the music discovery community. This personal search guide helps you find the kind of music you want to hear based on the music you already have stored in your iTunes. Once it’s done analyzing your collection it will connect you to people and music that hopefully match your tastes. You can then sample the recommended music. It works on both PC and Mac and the music you choose to download will play on any music player, not just the iPod.

The music on Goombah is free and legal. These are songs from emerging artists who very much appreciate the opportunity to have people hear their music. You help them move up in their industry even as you connect to people who share your taste in music.

Download Goombah for free and discover some great new music.

Technorati Tags: free, music, download, Goombah, search, discover

Categories: Downloading Legally, Freeware, Music, Resources

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If you’ve ever thought of downloading music or videos illegaly, please think twice. The RIAA are really out on a witch hunt and they don’t care who gets hit. Even the deceased are not safe.

Take for example the case of Elektra vs. Santangelo. The case against Patricia Santangelo was dropped yesterday by the five companies that sued her. As Judge Collen MacMahon so eloquently put it, Santangelo is an “Internet-illiterate parent, who does not know Kazaa from kazoo.” The motion filed though was to dismiss the case without prejudice, meaning that they can sue her again.

The sad part is that the reason that they dropped the charges against her is that they now have testimony from her daughter Michelle, who is now 20, and her son, Robert, aged 16, that they did download and share files with friends online 4 years ago. These testimony were given on behalf of their mom to prove her innocence and these are now being used against them.

Patricia Santangelo asks, why punish the downloaders? Shouldn’t the people who made the item available for download be the one punished? Some people really wouldn’t know if they were downloading from an illegal source.

The answer: just like with drugs, the punishment is for bith the pusher and the user. If you can’t distinguish between a legal download and pirating digital content, better stick to buying the CD from a record shop instead. Ignorance will not protect you from the law.

Technorati Tags: law, piracy, RIAA, case dismissed, music, sharing files, peer to peer, Kazaa

Categories: Downloading Legally, Music, Site News, Videos

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Yes, video downloading is here to stay. It is easier than going to the store and more convenient since you can do so anytime. You come home from work and the movie is ready and waiting for you.

Many parents though are concerned about finding content that is not only legal and of good quality, but also videos that the whole family can enjoy. There is also the aspect of security. Who wants to download anything that has adware, spyware or any other similar programs.

Verisign’s Intelligent Content Delivery Network has been chosen by Axiom TV to do all of these. Verisign is after all one of the most trusted signs on the net. They also have the necessary infrastructure that AxiomTV needed. Utilizing their Kontiki peer to peer and streaming technology, people can be assured that they will be getting videos of the highest quality as well as family friendly.

Check out Axiom TV.

Technorati Tags: download site, legal, secure content, videos, Verisign, family entertainment

Categories: Downloading Legally, Videos

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There are a couple of new download sites that you may want to visit if you are looking for new movies. Interesting to note, both are joint vetures with Intel Corporation. This brings broadband entertainment to a whole new llevel.

Coolroom, which launched today, boasts that movies downloaded from the site can be viewed throughout the home using the wireless network thanks to Intel Viiv technology. You’ll be able to watch in any room of the house with a simple click of a button.

You can find both music and video available on this site since they have agreements with Universal Pictures, Universal Music Group and V2 Music, with more sources to follow. They’ve already released Miami Vice, You, Me and Dupree and The Fast and the Furious 3 for download.

The other newcomer to the downloading business is ClickStar. This site is a joint venture between Morgan Freeman’s production and Intel Corporation. This site has movies that debut on the site rather than in the cinema, beginning with “10 Items or Less” which stars Morgan Freeman. They also intend to make new movies available within weeks of the movie showing and before the DVD release date. There are also three “artist created channels” - Our Space hosted by Morgan Freeman, Jersey Docs from Danny DeVito and Peter Bogdanovich’s Golden Age of Movies.

Technorati Tags: movies, download sites, Morgan Freeman, Intel, Viiv Technology

Categories: Downloading Legally, Videos

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When Napster shut down their peer to peer service the RIAA rejoiced. They had scored another one for the anti-piracy campaign. The pirates were out of business.

This was true. Napster’s founder, Shawn Fanning had to file for bankruptcy in 2004. However when you are onto a great idea, there’s just no way to keep you down. He and his team may have had to close down their peer to peer network but they have come back strong. Their new product is Snocap. It is so useful that the myspace network utilizes it.

Snocap allows any artist to register online and upload their music for free. The company then verifies that the music is not owned by any other artist. Once they have confirmed this, the applicant is given a mystore. People can buy the music of these artists directly from these sites. Snocap charges 45 cents per song. The rest of the money goes directly to the band or performers which is truly great.

What is even better: anyone who likes the music of any specific band can easily help the band gain more fans and income. They simply click on share this music on the mystore and copy paste the code they are given to an email or to a website. It is really easy and the bands are truly appreciative. Now that is the way to go!

Technorati Tags: download, music, legal, snocap, share music

Categories: Downloading Legally, Music

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Here is another band giving away their music for free. Stuck Mojo has made their 8th album available for download at absolutely no cost. The album is titled Southern Born Killers and has a different voice on the tracks since their previous lead vocalist, Bonz left the group earlier this year. They now have Lord Nelson on board as part of the band.

“Why would they do that?” you wonder. As guitarist and founder Rick Ward explains, they’ve been making music for free for the last twelve years. Fans may have been paying $16 at retail stores to buy their CD and support the band. In reality though six dollars of that went to the store and the rest went to the recording studio.

Stuck Mojo says anyone who likes their music or just wants to support the band can buy their CD from their official website: www.stuckmojomedia.com. The cost includes the music video of their song “Open Season” as well as a 20 minute behind the scenes documentary of the making of the video. The CD has a 16 panel full color booklet and is of the highest available music quality.

As promised though, you can get all the songs FREE by simply visiting their other sites. For those who have myspace, they can get it at myspace.com/stuckinthemojo. Those who don’t use myspace can go to www.stuckmojo.us instead. You can also check out the video of “Open Season” on youtube. Spread the word.

Technorati Tags: music, band, Stuck Mojo, free music, download

Categories: Downloading Legally, Music, Videos

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If there is one essential tool for almost everyone nowadays, it is their mobile phone. Thanks to technology, they aren’t just used for phone calls anymore. You can send SMS, listen to music, play games, take pictures and videos just to name a few of the things you can do.

After a while though you may get bored playing the same old games. You may want to add songs to your music collection or just add ring tones. If this sounds like something you want to do, check out Nareos Peer Box Mobile.

This is a legal peer to peer network. They began with legal downloading of music but have recently expanded to allow legal downloading of other content as well. Basically this means that all copyrighted materials are considered premium and you pay to download them. They use digital fingerprinting to identify copyrighted content to prevent piracy.

One of the coolest features is the identify feature. If you hear a song you like but don’t know the title to (so you can’t download it), simply click on the identify icon on your phone, hold it up to the speaker and allow it to record about 15 seconds worth of the music. The software will do the work of identifying thesong and send you that information so that you can download it.

You simply download the software for free into your phone (check that it is compatible with your unit) and you can get started once it is installed. You can get the program from their site.

Technorati Tags: Nareos, Peer Box Mobile, mobile phone, games, music, videos

Categories: Downloading Legally, Freeware, Mobile Phones, Music, Ringtones, Videos

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