... Users connect to each other directly (hence the peer-to-peer designation) without the need of a central server. Each user specifies the folders and files available for download from his/her system. Installing Limewire Basic is fairly straightforward. You’ll have to get past a bunch of warnings about the perils of P2P. The only thing that’s loaded is the program and Java runtime environment. If you decide to uninstall Limewire, there will be some Java files left behind, and the Java runtime environment will also remain. Limewire Basic intentionally limits the number of files found during searches. This (of course) was done to get you to purchase Limewire Pro. The interface is fairly easy to use and ads are pretty low key. There isn’t much in the way of online support for the basic version. You have to upgrade to Pro or Extended Pro to gain access to tech support. However, the freely available FAQ and user manual should get you through any rough spots. There’s also a user forum and that’s probably the best place to get answers to your questions. As for legal issues, the Limewire program is legal software. However, it can be used in illegal ways. The primary concern is with sharing copyrighted material. Copyright laws protect original works. Individuals who reproduce, distribute copies, or receive copies other than their own, without the consent of the owners, may be in violation of these laws. You should never copy (or allow anyone to copy from you) anything that is not produced for free public distribution ...

... But who cares? It’s worth it to save a buck per song. Then there are sites that provide free music downloads with no ads at all. But there is still a catch (isn’t there always?). You have to be a college student with an edu email address. Another type of site lets you stream music on-demand. Of course, you cannot actually download the songs like you can with MP3 based sites. But you can listen all day long for free. Some will even let you select the songs you want to hear and setup a playlist. Another possibility to download free music is from oldies archives. These sites catalog songs that were recorded many years ago and have been made available in the public domain. If you are into oldies type music, these sites could be for you. ... Free music usually brings questions of legal issues to mind. That’s because several years ago, the RIAA launched a legal challenge to music sharing sites and the people that downloaded music without paying for it. The claim was copyright infringement, and record producers pushed the cases as far as legally possible in order to stop the practice. So can you still download free music without all the legal hassles? The answer is yes. But you have to be sure that the songs are made available for free download by the artists. Music blogs are a good source for legal free music downloads. You can read about an artist and probably be able to download a couple of free MP3s. There are a lot of these blogs out there.   People tend to think about no-name artists and unsigned bands when someone mentions free music downloads ...