How to Download Free Music for iPod

Sleek and slim with a beautiful gleaming appearance in a variety of colors, the Apple iPod is an MP3 player like no other. From the tiny, squarish iPod Shuffle to the rectangular iPod Classic to the latest and niftiest iPod Touch, there is an iPod for any music lover. Even if you are really not that addicted to music, you will get hooked with this device. The sound quality of the stored tracks is superb and unparalleled. And the iPod is designed for portability. With a convenient size, light frame and easy-to-access controls, listening to music on the move has never been easier.

One aspect of MP3 players is the process of storing music on them. With conventional MP3 players, transferring music involves connecting the player to a computer, simply copying the music files from the computer to the MP3 player and disconnecting the player. But the iPod differs from such devices in the way it handles its file management. The iPod uses Apple proprietary software, known as iTunes for managing its file transfer and syncing. You cannot just connect your iPod to your computer and copy-paste files onto it.

Downloading Music on Your iPod

The iTunes software is not only a file management interface for your iPod, it is also an online digital music Store, where you can search and download almost any music track on Earth. Unlike some MP3 sites, which feature certain musical genres or only popular tracks, the iTunes Store houses umpteen number of artists and albums, from movie soundtracks to classical music. To download such tracks, you need to connect your iPod to a computer, connect to the iTunes Store and search for the song you want to download. But you have to pay a certain amount for each song downloaded. Now, the amount is reasonable but if you are a music buff, downloading a lot of songs can get costly. Is there a way to download free music onto your iPod? The answer is yes and no.

How to Download Free Music for iPod

So to avoid paying for a music download every time from iTunes, here are some direct and indirect ways in which you can get music for free onto your iPod.

Be thrifty, look for free stuff: Similar to sales or bargains in retail shops, the iTunes Store offers a weekly promotion, where two or three songs can be downloaded for free. Some music artists allow certain songs from their discography, to be downloaded for free. The Discovery Download promotion allows you to download free songs from genres, you normally don't listen to, so you can broaden your musical horizons. Take advantage of such offers and look for featured music to download it for free from the iTunes Store.

Borrow CDs and rip them: Before the digital age, when everything was available online or from the cloud, people used silver-colored circular discs (called compact discs) to store and play songs from. Borrow CDs from friends, family, neighbors, anyone who can borrow things from and import the music tracks from the CD to your iTunes library. Then sync them to your iPod.

Use P2P networks: Peer to Peer (P2P) networks allow web users to share content with one another, using a file-transfer software. Instead of accessing a store or brand, you are connecting to someone directly and receiving the file from the user. Movies, music, videos, games, software... you name it, there is an unlimited and ever-growing supply of content on such sites. Of course, with such freedom comes a downside. P2P downloading is regarding as illegal, as it encourages privacy and violates digital rights. Also in such sites, along with your downloaded file, you can download malware, Trojan worms, viruses and spyware, i.e. all sorts of nasty digital stuff. If you want to use such sites, accept the risks as well.

Visit legal music downloading sites: If downloading music illegally from a suspicious site is not your cup of tea, how about doing it legally from a legitimate site. There is a catch, however. Such sites will not ask you to pay per downloaded song but instead require a one time membership or login fee to register with the site. So pay once and for all and remain a member of that site for life. Which means you can download their musical content for free, anytime, anywhere and legally. Two such sites are MP3downloadnet and HotMP3download. These sites are top-notch and the best rated sites globally, for downloading music legally, for your iPod. A legal P2P site for downloading music with a fee, is iMesh.

Other sites which feature free music downloads but with limited genres or artists are:

• Macidol
• Epitonic
• 3Hive
• MP34U
• PureVolume
• Garageband

That sums up the limited ways to get free music for your iPod. If you are downloading from P2P sites, be careful with viruses and malware, by arming your computer with an antivirus.