Free Music

Websites devoted to music may not get the attention they deserve, but it’s becoming obvious there’s a lot of free music waiting for you online in a variety of ways. Sites like, Last.FM, Pandora and Slacker have gained real traction with listeners across the country, particularly because they can really open up musical horizons.

Streaming music websites are on the rise, and they offer a great way to listen to and discover new music, even when at work, for free and without any major commitment. But there are other unique applications, sites and services that are great for sharing and managing music with no cost to you. 

Songza http://www.songza.com
Think of this site as a free Internet jukebox that scours the Web and streams songs you want to listen to. Type in a query in the search bar, and all the songs that match show up in a list, including the audio clips from YouTube videos. Hence, why you can expect to find live versions of many songs. After signing up for a free account, you can create your own playlist of songs and access from any computer with Internet access.

nuTsie http://www.nutsie.com
This site’s name is actually an anagram of iTunes, and part of the reason why is because you migrate playlists from your iTunes library on your computer, so you can listen to them on nuTsie from any computer with Internet access. You can add the songs manually, or download a small nuTsie application (Windows PC or Mac) to speed up the process automatically. Signing up is free, and you get the chance to listen to playlists created by other users as well.

pulpTunes http://www.pulptunes.com
Similar in its core function to nuTsie, pulpTunes is basically a Web-based option for you to migrate your iTunes library so you can listen to it on any other computer with Internet access. You can even download the songs you want to those computers. You can’t access other users’ playlists, but you can send links to specific songs to friends for them to hear the music as well. It’s totally free to use and won’t take long for you to get used to it.
 
Grooveshark http://www.grooveshark.com
In the same vein as Songza, Grooveshark is an online jukebox where you search and add songs to a playlist that you can access from any computer with Internet access. The interface is slick, and there is a social networking aspect to it. Sign up for a free account, and once logged in, you can suggest songs to friends or be informed of recommended songs through others, or even the site itself.

Mojo http://www.deusty.com
Though iTunes may have been designed to make it a bit difficult to share music over longer distances, Mojo can solve that problem because it’s an iTunes add-on that allows two people to connect and see each other’s music libraries. So long as you and a friend are using iTunes with Mojo (which is free) installed, you can listen to anything on each other’s libraries, and even download songs you want, too.

Live365 http://www.live365.com
This site is a huge world network of radio stations of all types, genres and languages, so if you like a certain genre or ethnic form of music, then this is the place for you. There’s plenty of choice, thanks to tons of genre-specific stations, along with themed ones that go by decade or occasion. Most broadcasters are just regular users who have created their own online stations, which is something that you could do yourself if you wanted to create a station that you could listen to at work.

Musicovery http://www.musicovery.com
Take music and discovery, and you get this site, which aims to introduce you to songs you may have otherwise never thought of listening to. For example, choose what kind of mood you’re in, and it will then display a web chart of songs that are similar in melody and tempo, even if the genres are completely different. It’s free to take part and enjoy what the site has to offer, even if you do find some of its choices a bit weird.

Tunerec http://www.tunerec.com
This Swedish-based site is interesting in that you join for free, and then wait for it to “record” songs to your account, so you can listen to them whenever you want. It can take several days before you get to the tunes you’re looking for, but the way this site has been designed and how it works is cool. If you can be patient, at least. It’s in a closed beta, but if you sign up, you should get an invitation email.