HOW TO get free albums without using torrents
 

So we all know that torrents work great, but they can take forever and aren't a good option if you're opting for speed/ease. If you have to ask what a torrent is, chances are you aren't into this kind of thing anyway ;). Anyway, there is an incredibly easy way to get albums for free that most people overlook or never think to use. Of course, if you like an album when you download it - you should really consider buying it. It helps support the musicians. That is of course unless the they're racking in millions of dollars as it is and your measly sale is insignificant because 80 percent of it goes to the label anyway. But anyway, that's not the point. The point is this:


Go to Google.

Enter the following syntax into the search bar:

Album Search site:url=http://www.mediafire.com

Press the search button. Now bookmark the results page, this will make it easy to come back and do this anytime. It should look like this:

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._3171930_n.jpg

Now what you have here is your new, super easy to use Album Search page. This utilizes the file hosting website Mediafire. Bloggers or people who are storing their files online will upload albums to this service. What you are doing is using the Google Search engine to locate these files. To find an album, simply replace "Album Search" with the name of what you're looking for.

Let's do a search for the Jimi Hendrix album Are You Experienced (which I'm completely guilt free about because Jimi died in 1970).

http://hphotos-snc3.fbcdn.net/hs561...._8029776_n.jpg

Here we have our results, with several .zip files and .rar files to choose from. If you don't have a program that can open .rar files, I suggest getting one. You'll probably be dealing with .rar and other similar file types quite a bit. WinRAR is an excellent program for it, but there are many free ones out there that work just as well.

What you'll want to do is look for a download that seems organized and tagged. Choosing a file that looks like "The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Are You Experienced (1967)" is always better then getting one that looks like "jimi hendrix are you experienced". Another thing to keep in mind is the bigger the file size, the better the quality of the Mp3s. It's also likely that downloads with bigger file sizes contain things like Album Artwork and linear notes.

One thing to about this method is that while it works, you don't strike gold every time. Sometimes you'll download an album and it turns out to be poor quality, or in a format you don't like. This rarely happens however if you pick good downloads, and they are so quick you won't mind getting one again. One last point of note is that you'll want to have a pop-up blocker when you visit Mediafire. The pop-ups aren't malicious or obscene, just a nuisance.

Well there you have it, folks. A simple, effective way of getting music without going through torrents. I reconize some of you probably use this method already, but I just thought I'd throw it out there because it's so effective. Cheers.

Disclaimer
I am in no way, shape, or form advocating or discouraging file sharing. This tutorial may simply be used to download out of print albums or albums that were released for free. The application of this tutorial is 100% up to the individual reader, whether his activities be approprate or not.

Megaupload and rapid share usually got some too. I don't even DL tunes, and I know this.

The only problem with that way is if you go direct to the hosting sites you have no way of finding out passwords if they're password protected.

If you do a search on this site
FilesTube - Search for files on rapidshare and other download sites
It gives you a link to the hosting site and the original source.

It works just as well with those two, but the reason I highlighted Mediafire is because it seems to be a very underrated file hosting service. For one, there is no wait time to download. Another benefit is that downloads are unlimited. Rapidshare isn't even worth bothering with any more, it's become such a piece of crap. :rolleyes:

I usually make mixed discs using video2mp3.com it transfers youtube vids to mp3, and youtube usually has everything I need, including alternate versions.

But the sound quality on YouTube is pretty bad.

I've sometimes used Filestube myself. The reason I prefer using Google is because it's a much cleaner interface and feels more safe. It also seems to bring more focussed. But that's just me.

I second Filestube - it's gold! It saves a lot of unnecessary wading through endless blog pages.

But see the thing about this is it takes you directly to the downloads. You don't need to look for the links on the blog pages. I myself quite enjoy reading blogs for discovering new music, but when it comes to looking for music... it's usually this or torrents. I used to get on Last.fm and stream entire albums there. But they've done away with that feature it seems.

I don't mind it, I'm usually faded if I care that much about quality, but thats outweighed by the fact that I'm wrecked.

I like trawling blogs as well but only when I have heaps of free time otherwise I end up downloading stuff and contributing to a backlog that won't diminish in the foreseeable future.

Mediafire is honestly the best file-sharing site I've come across. The good thing is that it's not popular (or notorious) enough for my ISP to throttle, unlike RS which often goes at dial-up speed.