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I have moved the site and changed the focus. Please visit:

http://www.onlinemusicresource.net

And set your bookmarks appropriately.

Get free music from YouTube

YouTube, while primarily used for watching videos (of course) is also a great place to find music. Most popular songs, and even many less known, can be found by doing a simple search. Whether you will get a music video, a fan video, or something else entirely is often unknown, but if you have a hankering to hear your favorite song or artist, give it a try.

Search here to go directly to youtube results.

What is DRM-free music?

DRM stands for Digital Rights Management or sometimes Digital Restrictions Management. It is basically a way for retailers or music publishers to keep some control over the music they sell, and to dissuade people from copying and sharing music to others who do not purchase it. It has recently become an interesting topic as Apple has announced to change all of its music available through the iTunes Store to be completely DRM-free. Previously, most music downloaded from the iTunes Store was under Apple's Fairplay DRM technology. This limited the music to be only playable on ipods, iphones, and within iTunes. With the removal of such restrictions, music purchased from the iTunes store is now unrestricted to be copied, shared, and used in or on other devices.

So simply put, DRM-free music is music that is free of restrictions. It can be used just as an MP3 that is ripped from a CD. Now, the legality of using the music however you like may be questionable...but the ability is there.

Free Song Stream: Animal Collective

From time to time I'll put up a song that's really good from a streaming site.

This one is by the band Animal Collective.

Free Music Search: SkreemR

SkreemR claims to be "The World's Greatest Mp3 Search Engine!" I came across this site recently, and while they may not be the "greatest," they certainly offer some very nice features. SkreemR allows you to search for artists or songs, and then brings up a list of results, enabling you to listen to the songs as a stream right there. But it goes one step further than that, telling you exactly where the mp3 was found (which is usually a blog) and gives you links to lyrics, wikipedia band info, youtube videos, how to purchase the song via Amazon music, and more. You can share the song via an embed code, through facebook, or just a simple link.

In many ways SkreemR is similar to SeeqPod, but they have different strengths. SkreemR has much more information about each song and artist, and links around the web to interesting things. What SkreemR doesn't offer are things like a streamlined playlist, and an overall aesthetic that is not quite up to par with SeeqPod. I say use them both.

Here's a streamed song by The Boy Least Likely To, via SkreemR:

	The Boy Least Likely To - Be Gentle With Me
	Found at skreemr.com

Free Music Search: SeeqPod

Seeqpod is a great online tool that allows you to search for music spread throughout the internet. It picks up mp3s from blogs and other sites and filters them out from the rest of the web. After you find a few songs you like, you can create a playlist that remembers the music that you have found so you can listen to it whenever you log back in.

SeeqPod is cool in that it provides an easy way for you to embed a player with a specific song (or more) to share directly with others on blogs, forums, etc. You can also email songs to your friends. Seeqpod is a great way to find "that one song" that you want your friend to hear, but that you don't have with you. All you need is an internet connection. Its strength over streaming radio is that you can listen to exactly what you want to, if it can be found from Seeqpod's crawlers. Fortunately, most semi-popular songs are very easy to find. Seeqpod offers many other great features that you should check out as well.

Here is a song by Grandaddy using the embedded player:

Internet Radio

Streaming internet radio is a great way to listen to music online, and you can do it anywhere with a connection and a web browser. The two main internet radio stations are Pandora Radio and Last.fm. They both allow you to enter the name of an artist or a song that you like, and then they play a "station" of music that sounds similar or that they think you will like.

Both sites ask that you register, which is very simple, but will allow you keep your preferences so when you log in from another computer all your settings and stations will be kept. Pandora Radio is probably the simplest to use, which makes it nice to just log in and listen. Last.fm has a lot more stuff, including free downloads of mp3s, a personal library that you build as you listen, and some social networking features. Both are fantastic, so go give them a try.

Get free music online? Legally?

Everyone knows that the internet is a hotspot for music and media. There are many ways to obtain and listen to music, but sometimes its hard to know where to go, and what sites will be the best suited for what you are looking for. I hope to provide a guide and resource for those wanting to legally listen to music online. In the process, you'll learn about the best sites to find good music, and maybe even get acquainted with some new music in the process.