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May 15, 2009 5:25 AM PDT

Score free MP3s from Amazon, Rhapsody, MP3.com

by Rick Broida
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Are there any sweeter words in the English language than "free music?" (I know, "free pizza" runs a close second, followed immediately by "free beer," "free chocolate," and "free Tibet.")

If you're looking to stock your iPhone, iPod Touch, or Zune with some fresh, new tunes, you can find a mountain of free stuff if you know where to look. I'm talking legal free stuff, not the "free" tunes you pilfer from P2P services. Bad user, bad!

Rhapsody generously offers a free MP3 every day of the week.

As you probably know, iTunes gives away one song every week (gee, wow, thanks). Head to Rhapsody, however, and you can score a free song every day. And not just obscure tunes from little-known artists: Green Day's new "Know Your Enemy" was a recent download of the day (ahead of the new album's release, even), and yesterday's selection was Poison's classic power ballad, "Every Rose Has Its Thorns." (Couldn't...help...myself.)

Next, pay a visit to Amazon's MP3 store, which is home to a whopping 827 free downloads (and counting--the site adds new tunes every week). You may not recognize all the artists, but you'll find gems from the likes of Death Cab for Cutie, Flight of the Conchords, Iron & Wine, and Better Than Ezra.

Finally, CNET's own MP3.com offers a huge library of free tunes, though it's not a particularly easy library to browse.

Know any other good sources for free, legal, and worthwhile MP3s? Head to the comments and name 'em!

Update: Coldplay's new live album, LeftRightLeftRight, is available free for the download starting today. The only tricky part is connecting to the band's already overloaded Web site.

Rick Broida, a technology writer for nearly 20 years, is the author of more than a dozen books. In addition to writing CNET's The Cheapskate blog, he oversees BNET's Business Hacks. Rick is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CBS Interactive. Disclosure. Deals found on The Cheapskate are subject to availability, expiration, and other terms determined by sellers. Follow Rick on Twitter at cheapskateblog.
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by rickbroida May 15, 2009 5:49 AM PDT
Here's the direct link to Coldplay's free album download. Let me know if you have luck getting it! I've been trying all morning and, so far, no soap.

http://lrlrl.coldplay.com/leftright.html
Reply to this comment
by karenwei May 15, 2009 12:05 PM PDT
I was able to get it just now. Thanks for the link!
by rickbroida May 15, 2009 6:03 AM PDT
Oh, and Amazon (www.amazonmp3.com) has Green Day's new album, including a bonus track, on sale for $4.99. Not free, but cheaper than anywhere else! I'll shut up now... :)
Reply to this comment
by rnot1 May 15, 2009 7:41 AM PDT
I pre-ordered this from iTune's and got an early download (including the 4 bonus tracks and booklet) for $14.99, but had I known I could get it for $5, I would've gone to Amazon!
by rickbroida May 15, 2009 8:25 AM PDT
Yeah, I intentionally waited to see if Amazon would have a deal on the album's release day. They did the same thing with U2's new one a couple months back.
by kski May 15, 2009 9:58 AM PDT
hey check out this website www.purevolume.com many artists give a few tracks away for free!
Reply to this comment
by AaronCT123 May 15, 2009 10:27 AM PDT
Yea, MP3.com is super hard to browse, it needs a search bar under the free music tab so you can actually find things. The way the old site, music.download.com worked was so much easier.
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by djstewpac May 15, 2009 10:49 AM PDT
free beer still ranks number 1...
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by brewster1 May 15, 2009 12:22 PM PDT
Would someone please tell me what happened to download.com's music site?? That was fantastic and easy to browse. A sorely missed source of little known and unknown artists.
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by bennywhatever May 15, 2009 1:15 PM PDT
Check different record labels' web sites. Sometimes, if there's a new album coming out, they'll post a one or two day free download of a single.
They did that last week with Dream Theater's new one, A Rite of Passage.
Reply to this comment
by SwapSavers May 17, 2009 11:59 AM PDT
Thanks for the list. You can also get a weekly free download at Walmart.
http://www.swapsavers.com/forum/topics/2166855:Topic:1780
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by cmsell May 17, 2009 8:47 PM PDT
You can now track Amazon's Daily Free MP3 song on

http://www.frugalgadgets.com

You can track it on that site or install the gadget on another page, like your iGoogle homepage...
Reply to this comment
by anhtney May 20, 2009 6:18 AM PDT
last fm has free downloads too!

http://www.last.fm/music/+free-music-downloads
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by rickbroida May 20, 2009 8:09 AM PDT
Excellent find! Thanks for sharing.
by Kurt Wolff May 26, 2009 5:12 PM PDT
CNET Download Music now redirects all its pages to Last.fm. And as someone pointed out already, there are tons of free downloads of Last.fm! And it's easy to browse by genre.
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by JoeAnne10 July 8, 2009 2:55 AM PDT
Why do we need to score this free MP3 when we already can have any song we like without any cent at any time? You may have forgotten how easy it is nowadays. Even the <a rel="follow" href="http://www.realbeerblog.com/?page_id=111">Beer of the Month Club</a> will be stolen soon
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