About.com Digital Music

Free Music Downloads This Week

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 16:58:19 +0000

In our music discovery spotlight this week, we showcase another selection of free promotional tracks that cover a wide range of genres designed to broaden your musical horizons :

Adam Freeland

Out of Control (4:04)

The first free track, Out of Control, is from DJ Adam Freeland's new album, Cope released by Marine Parade. It is an unusual fusion of alternative rock (shoegaze) with a twist of electronica thrown in. The album is available now in various formats from their web site.

The Avett Brothers

I And Love And You (5:01)

I and Love and You is a new single by the Avett Brothers that is a taster for their forthcoming album due for release by Columbia records on Sept. 29th.

Sneaky Sound System

I Love It - Fred Falke Remix (9:01)

The last track in our spotlight this week is, I Love It (Fred Falke Remix), by Sneaky Sound System. It's a good example of an electropop 80s-styled song.

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Michael Jackson Fans Pay Ultimate Tribute Via Digital Music Services

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 08:08:37 +0000

After the sad news yesterday of the untimely death of Michael Jackson, fans on digital music services have paid tribute to the king of pop by purchasing his albums in their droves. At the time of writing, 7 out of the top 10 albums on the iTunes Store are Michael Jackson compilations. Currently, the Essential Michael Jackson album is number one followed by:

Thriller
Off the Wall
Number Ones

The other albums in the top 10 include, Thriller (25th Anniversary), The Ultimate Collection, and Bad.

This shows the far-reaching effect that Michael Jackson has in the music world and his fans have paid the ultimate respect by purchasing his music.

R.I.P. Michael Jackson, 1958-2009

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Free Music Downloads This Week

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 07:02:18 +0000

Starting this week, we're planning to bring you cutting edge digital music by providing links to free promotional music tracks. As well as showcasing forthcoming releases from major bands and artists, we'll also be highlighting new and up-and-coming talent that offer free music in order to gain that much needed exposure. One of the great benefits of using free music discovery resources is being able to 'try before you buy' without the financial risk of a blind purchase.

The promotional tracks that we're going to showcase every week will hopefully give you a wide variety of styles and sounds to experience. Here are the tracks in our spotlight this week:

Paul Oakenfold

Perfecto Vegas Teaser Mix (17:17)

This 17 minute monster mix showcases DJ Paul Oakenfold's new 21-track album, Perfecto Vegas, which will be released by Thrive records on July 7 - available in stores nationwide and via digital download.

Flashmen

Little Wildcat (3:48)

This track is part of the You Been Crushed Vol. 1 compilation album by Crushed Records that is due for release on July 7.

The Jaguar Club

Sleepwalking (3:40)

Sleepwalking by Brooklyn Indie band, The Jaguar Club, is a taster for their first full-length album slated for release on Sept. 1.

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Voice Removal Software: Eliminate Vocals from Your Songs

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 06:19:42 +0000

Have you ever listened to a song and thought, "love the music, hate the singing". In this situation, you can use a software audio tool that specializes in trying to filter out the frequencies of the human voice. Vocal removal can be a time consuming process that involves experimentation with various audio sources, but satisfactory results are achievable. The biggest stumbling block with voice removal is the nature of the music source. If you have a highly compressed song for example that has low quality audio data, then the chances of removing the vocals are poor. On the other hand, if you are working on a high quality audio file that has a good stereo image with vocals that are center-panned, then your chances of vocal removal are much higher. Overall, it really depends on how the song has been mixed and the frequencies involved.

There's a lot of fun to be had experimenting with the songs in your music library, and with an investment in time (and a little luck), you can produce some great results. For more information on removing vocals from songs, why not read our guide on Free Software for Removing Vocals.

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Forget Portables, Why Not Wear Your Music?

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 08:23:39 +0000

If there's something that gets people's attention, it's news that you can now carry music around with you on a T-shirt! Now, before you get too excited, it will come as a big disappointment to learn that the said T-shirt...doesn't actually play any music?!? At this point, you may be wondering if it's all just a gimmick? Not so. When you buy the T-shirt, a hang tag will provide you with a unique code that you can use to download the full album.

The Music Tee which has been created by Invisible DJ and LnA is an innovative merge of fashion and music. The hip hop artist, Mos Def, is the first to launch his new album, The Estatic, in the new 'fabric format' which will go on sale from July 7th. The T-shirt's design will feature the album's artwork on the front and a list of songs on the back.

The cost of the Mos Def T-shirt will be $39. If you're a fan and want the new album via a more traditional route, then you can still purchase The Estatic from digital music services, and on physical media (audio CD, vinyl).

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Smart Playlists: Create Song Lists That Keep an Eye on Your Music Library

Fri, 12 Jun 2009 09:41:40 +0000

If you've got a sizable music collection, then creating playlists is an essential task for playing, burning, and syncing your music in an efficient way. Most, if not all, software media players support the use of playlists which you can use to organize your music library in many different ways. The only downside to using normal playlists is that unless you update them manually, they never change. So, what's the alternative?

Some software media players such as Windows Media Player 9 and higher, support the use of smart playlists that dynamically change depending on the contents of your music library. Windows Media Player uses Auto Playlists which intelligently follow rules that you set. For example, if you define an Auto Playlist to contain only a certain genre, then it will populate itself with tracks from your music library that meet that rule. Even if you update your library with more of the same genre, your Auto Playlist will keep up to speed by automatically updating - this saves time when compared to normal playlists which would need to be manually edited. If you regularly add music to your collection and want a consistent order to your playlists, then smart playlists are worth using.

For more information on creating smart playlists in Microsoft Windows Media Player, be sure to read our guide on Creating Auto Playlists.

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Last.fm Founders Announce Their Departure

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 09:17:18 +0000

One of the largest music streaming services on the Internet, Last.fm, is to lose its founders two years after it was bought by CBS. Last.fm was purchased by CBS Interactive in 2007 for $280 million and now has 37.3M monthly unique visitors. The announcement was made via a Last.fm blog in which the founders (pictured from left to right: Martin Stiksel, Felix Miller, and Richard Jones), thanked all its users for 'scrobbling' over the years to make Last.fm what it is today. In the blog, Felix Miller wrote, "Being a part of CBS, and the recently formed CBSi music group, continues to open up many opportunities for Last.fm. Recent product releases such as the new visual radio, and the Last.fm on XBox announcement, are an indication of how much more Last.fm will achieve".

Even though their blog doesn't go into detail on why all three founders are leaving the company, the rumor that circulated earlier this year about Last.fm allegedly passing user data onto the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), is still being talked about in the blogsphere as a possible reason. However, the chief executive of CBS Interactive, Quincy Smith, has been eager to deny any private data has been shared with the RIAA, and has said that the rumor, published by TechCrunch, isn't the reason for their departure. There's no word at the moment who will be replacing them, only that they will be staying on as consultants until September.

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Organizing Your Music Library: Cover Design Software

Fri, 05 Jun 2009 16:09:24 +0000

If you have a collection of music, photos, or other types of files that you have transferred to CD or DVD, then you can better organize your media by using cover design software. Unless you are a very organized person who knows exactly what's on each disc, then finding what you need from your collection can be difficult, especially if you only have the words, "backup 1", written on the case, or disc for example.

Most CD and DVD cover editing software provides various design options that you can use to indentify your collection; typically you can make jewel case inserts, disc labels, and even booklets. One of the most useful features of this type of software is being able to add text to your designs - this is useful for listing what's on the disc such as music tracks for example. Some software can even automatically add a list of files that are on your CD or DVD - saving you the pain of inputting by hand. If you're lucky enough to have a printer that can directly print onto disc, then labeling your CDs and DVDs becomes even easier - not to mention paper-free. Even if you don't have this facility, using software to create and print covers is a great organizational tool.

Read our guide on Free CD and DVD Cover Design Software for more information.

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New High-definition Zune on the Horizon

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 09:30:02 +0000

Zune users in particular will be interested to learn that Microsoft have announced a new Zune music player. The new Zune HD is Microsoft's next generation portable that focuses on high-definition (HD) entertainment. As well as being able to display HD video, the new Zune will also have a built-in HD radio receiver, Wi-Fi, Internet browser, OLED touch screen, and access to the Zune Marketplace online store. The announced specifications are:

Display: OLED touch screen (16:9 aspect ratio @ 480x272 resolution)
HDMI Output Interface: Supports HD video playback (720p) to external HD TV (docking station not included)
Internet Browser: full screen with multi-touch functionality
HD Radio receiver: listen to HD radio stations and increase your choice using HD multicasting
Wi-Fi: Stream over 5 million tracks from the Zune music store

The Zune HD will be available in the U.S. this fall.

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Amie Street: What's the Real Value of Music?

Fri, 29 May 2009 05:32:51 +0000

Most 'paid for' music services on the Internet rigidly set the price of songs they sell. Even though services such as the iTunes Store have recently introduced a variable pricing structure (blog)- it's still some way off from being a totally dynamic system. Amie Street for example is one such service that uses a community-driven pricing system that reacts to how popular songs are. This in effect gives music fans the power to set song prices depending on how many people buy a particular song. Most new songs start off as free downloads, or very cheap, and increase in price as they become popular. The maximum price a song can be is 98 cents which keeps the service competitive; albums too have a maximum of $8.98 - unless you see a new one that you can grab for free.

If you're an independent artist looking for a promotional platform to show off your hard work and reap the benefits, then you'll be interested to know that Amie Street offer its artists 70 percent of the profits. As a music fan, it�s a great feeling to know that most of the money spent on a song will be going where it should - to the artist. Music fans also get cash rewards on Amie Street for recommending their favorite songs - this can then be used to download songs that you would otherwise have to pay for.

For more information, be sure to read our full Amie Street Review.

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