Handpicked Software

I’m celebrating Buy Nothing Day 2005 by spending the afternoon surfing for free legal music downloads. Why fight the Black Friday crowds when you can sit in the comfort of your own home and discover great—FREE—music? Here are just a few great music sites that I’ve found:

betterPropogranda
betterPopoganda offers new, independent music. You can stream five channels of music (All, Electronic, Hip Hop, Rock and Other), and you’ll find one or more free MP3s available for download from most artists listed.

Epitonic
One of my favorite sites. I’ve discovered some great music here. Epitonic offers a great selection of cutting edge music arranged in over 50 different genres. Genre walk-throughs offer audio guided tours of select genres, presenting “history and context.” You can select one or more genres and stream the audio, create your own playlist by saving favorites to your “blackbox,” or download MP3s from your favorite artists.

Fat Planet
This blog, a companion to a radio show broadcast every Sunday in Sydney Australia, offers a great selection of new international music.

Insound
This is a commercial site, but they offer a generous selection of free MP3s, which you’ll find listed here.

SMART-MUSIC.NET
This site, based in Germany, claims to “search the web for the finest and free dancemusic available,” but that charter is broadly defined, encompassing broken beats, downbeats, easy listening, electronica, house, indie-pop, jazz, pop, R&B and soul. Easy to use, offering all-in-one zip files, including CD cover art.