Finding Free iTunes Songs

Finding Free iTunes Songs
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Bored of Your Old MP3s?

Whether your music collection is synced to one device or none, you can still get bored of it, even if it amounts to over 80 GB of data. While this number of songs might take quite some time to listen to, it’s always fun to freshen up your library from time to time, particularly if you enjoy the thrill of shuffle mode on your MP3 player.

When you have all of your downloaded MP3s and purchased CDs saved in your iTunes library, the choice is to either purchase new songs from iTunes or find free music – a difficult and potentially risky path that could lead you down the path of copyright infringement if you’re careless.

So if there are any free iTunes songs available online, where might they be found?

Free iTunes Songs from the Store

From time to time you should notice that free tracks are available in the iTunes store and these can be downloaded and added to your library.

However these are few and far between; while iTunes makes single episodes of TV shows available for free from time to time (such as those listed along with the occasional tunes at freeitunessongs.blogspot.com) there are few free tunes available.

This should come as no surprise, however. The price of songs on iTunes is extremely low, and only those requiring a very quick iTunes library would be interested in free music.

The Risks of Piracy

Although software piracy began in the 1980s, there has been continuous difficulty in preventing data from being duplicated and used without authorization ever since. This problem was most notoriously reported on in the late 1990s and early 2000s with the birth of online filesharing, and particularly Napster.

Now rebranded as a legitimate company, Napster was originally founded to allow people to find new music for free by effectively searching other Napster user’s computers. The music industry took huge exception to this and Napster ended up being dismantled. Since then, more bulk file sharing has resulted in prosecutions, with websites such as Pirate Bay taken to court to account for their actions in providing not just music but video and software.

Without permission to share this data, unauthorized use is considered stealing; copyright theft is a big deal particularly in a music industry that seems to be losing money.

Legitimate Sources of Free MP3s

However there are plenty of legitimate sources for free MP3s away from iTunes. As many consider the current model of the music industry to be a poor adaptation of the successful business of the 1960s and 1970s with a bit of digital awareness bolted on the side, various online communities have sprung up designed to provide a more realistic, non/new-industry approach for developing new artists.

Such websites include:

https://www.artistdirect.com/music

https://www.tuneflow.com/

Meanwhile the formerly controversial MiniNova.org has progressed from making links to copyrighted material available and now only lists files that have been approved for filesharing via the BitTorrent network. These files are largely by up and coming artists; all three of these websites are great ways to the low-down on new music before it goes mainstream.

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