Music websites and free MP3 downloads

Here's a selection of sites where you can find legal free MP3s and free music downloads, as well as some places where you can buy digital music.

14 day free trial of Real Rhapsody (US only)

If you're based in the US, Real Rhapsody offers you a catalogue of over 1.3 million legal tracks. You can burn CDs for $79c a song and can listen to 60 ad-free stations. You can also create your own custom station, playing your kind of music. You'll need a Windows PC.

Sign up for a free 14 day trial now.

Get 25 free MP3s from Emusic.com (worldwide)

In 1998, Emusic.com became the first site to start selling MP3s. Surprisingly, it's survived the boom and bust of file sharing and is still with us today. What's more, it's still selling MP3s for just 25 cents without any digital rights restrictions, so you can easily copy them to portable devices (including iPods) and burn them to CDs. Don't expect to find Kylie and Britney - the range is wide but not comprehensive and tends towards indie and obscure music. Acts available include Warren Zevon, The Pixies, Clannad, XTC and Ella Fitzgerald. There are 275,000 tracks to choose from across 12 categories, including a well-stocked classical section. Emusic is ideal for the serious music explorer looking to broaden his or her music collection. At about 14p to own a track, you can't go wrong. Emusic.com is based in the US and its MP3s are fully licensed and legal.

Get 25 FREE Music Downloads for your iPod® or any MP3 player!

Free audiobooks at Audible.com

Whether you're interested in fiction, humour, politics, history, biography or any other subject, Audible has a great library of audio books for your PC or portable MP3 player. Use this special offer to get three audio books for free. It's risk-free.

Get three audiobooks for free now.

5,000 internet radio stations at Live365

At Live365, the radio playlists are created by fans, so you're guaranteed a good time once you find a broadcaster with a similar taste to yours. Buying a premium subscription will give you access to more stations and enable you to listen to audio in the MP3Pro format, which is close to CD quality. Although there is a strong US-bias in the playlists, there are plenty of international hits.

Online music stores

• Amazon.co.uk Hot 100 CDs
• Amazon.com music downloads
• Big Noise Music - music download site with 10% donated to Oxfam
• War Child Music

Some of my favourite musicmakers (official sites)

Adam Ant The Beatles Bjork Blur Cake Clannad Client The Cure Depeche Mode Brian Eno Enya Exile Inside Flaming Lips Ben Folds Frankie Goes to Hollywood Garbage David Gilmour Tom Hingley Inspiral Carpets Jean Michel Jarre

Jesus Jones Aimee Mann Kylie Minogue Alanis Morissette Morrissey Mike Oldfield Pink Floyd Eddi Reader They Might Be Giants Tanita Tikaram T'Pau U2 Colin Vearncombe Roger Waters Kim Wilde Brian Wilson J Xaverre Tim Ten Yen Frank Zappa

Independent musicians

Any descriptions come from the bands themselves...

• thebluemask - Film and production music from composer Simon Wilkinson
• The Escorts / The Do's & The Don'ts - 50's & 60's Rock 'N' Roll from Iowa.
• Sonic Hospital - Eclectic, guitar-based one-man-band from Northampton UK
• Enam - Celtic new age music
• Starcrost - simple, danceable, melodic rock/pop music
• The Neurons - Dance. World Fusion and Groove.
• Mark Horgan - Heady poetic rock, ambience, funk & world rhythms
• Neuadd Sibly - Original rock and pop from Wales via Germany
• Awkwardguy - animated and theatrical folk-jazz and piano-pop
• Nicola Boschetti - Italian musician, composer and arranger
• AndIf.com - Explore JazzRock, Rock/Pop, Progressive Rock, and more.
• Bendy Monsters - unsigned rock/pop/punk band from Sheffield
• Rembeatz - Ambient to techno, a bit Orbital/Enigma
• Finn Arild - Pop/Rock with progressive roots
• Vehicle
• Eamon Alger's Flying Dreams- all original tracks, a blend of rock and blues
• The Urban Wasteland - making Peri's music available free of charge
• Uncle Lucius - Country rock band based in Austin Texas
• wave7musicals - songs, musicals, backing tracks and CD recording services for schools.
• Olegy - influenced by Depeche Mode, Massive Attack, Tricky, Air and HIM.
• Dodgie Williams - Robbie Williams tribute band in the UK

Resources for music fans and musicians

• EIL - collectable records and memorabilia
• KR Tip Sheet - music licensing and television/film music placement service.
• Taxi - independent A&R company helping unsigned bands, artists and songwriters get record deals and publishing deals.
• Get it all - Guitar and bass licks, riffs, rhythms and lessons for all playing levels.
• Harmony Central - Excellent resource for music news and links
• Kelly Industries - develops surround sound plug-ins for DirectX, VST, Adobe Premiere, and Adobe Audition
• Whistleanddrum.com - your source for Irish Tin Whistles, Irish Flutes, Penny Whistles and Bodhráns.
• Guitar chords
• Wimpy Player - software for embedding music in webpages
• Radio Blog - another program to put a flash music player in your website
• Flash MP3 Player - an easy-to-use Flash music player for your website
• Zooloops - Free fruity loop files and beats
• Sound Advice - get an independent review of your music
• Motile - UK record label combining improvisation and experimentation
• ABC Learn Guitar - Free guitar lessons, plus tips and resources on buying a guitar, songwriting, recording and creating a music career
• Shithotrecords - Free Music Downloads from a wide range of Independent UK Music artists
• Home Recording Connection - online community of artists helping each other

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