Thursday, January 15, 2009

Thing #70 Free (&legal) mp3 downloads

On looking at the list of (free) download sites I decided to try spiralfrog - solely because I liked the name. Unfortunately spiralfrog doesn't download outside the US. I then tried Amazon which also doesn't download outside the US.

Hmmm. Next it was off to Stereogum where I was able to download a 'premature evaluation' copy of Franz Ferdinand's Tonight. Stereogum had a pretty good range (some bands even I'd heard of!) There was some Radiohead but I figured that was a gimme as Radiohead are known for releasing their music online. There was a Springsteen track, some Dandy warhols, and a few others that i'd heard, and heard of.

I initially had some problems downloading - I seemed to get caught in a loop that allowed me to play the tracks only - but it turned out that it was Quicktime causing the problems. Once I'd downloaded a newer version things went smoothly.

Stereogum was easy to use but I doubt that I would find much music there that I would want to download (my musical tastes run from show tunes to the 70s & 80s - with the occasional hi-fidelity or radiohead thrown in for street cred)

I generally use a combination of Limewire & Youtube for my *free* music downloads but for this exercise Franz Ferdinand's Tonight slots neatly into my ipod between West Side Story & Rod Stewart!