6 Sites To Download Free Music

I hate to play the old man card but, back in my day if I wanted to listen to live performances, rarities, or import CDs of my favorite bands, I would have to go to a specialty record store and spend $35+ for it. Since the invention known as "the Internet" has become commonplace for music lovers, I no longer have to shell out the big dollars and can download the same CDs for free.

Here are six sites that I go to in order to do just that. I break them down by torrented versus direct download sites, if you need an account, if they tell the source of the music or not, and if it is lossy (mp3). If you don't know what any of that means, may I suggest a little site called Google. Enjoy!

- eTree - Torrent Site. You do not need to have an account. Gives the source information. Lossless. Probably my favorite torrent site. Here is where all the hippies flock to grab some Grateful Dead, Phish, and other jam band-esque music. A must for anyone into that type of music.

- Jam To This - Torrent Site. You need to have an account. Gives the source information. Lossless. Another torrent site. This one has changed a bit over the years. It now has a great deal of 80's and 90's hair metal. If you wanna rock, I mean really want...to...rock, this is a good place to start.

- Guitars 101 - Direct download from RapidShare or MegaUpload. You do not need to have an account. Generally doesn't give the source information. Lossless and Lossy. I like this site because it has a range of just about everything from Prince to the Dead, Van Halen to Frank Sinatra. On top of which, it does offer lossy if you want to grab stuff for your mp3 player.

- Pure Live Gigs - Torrent Site. You do need to have an account. Usually gives the source information. Lossless. Another rather general site. Has a lot of different stuff that I don't see anywhere else. It is a smaller community so some of the downloads may take a little longer to get a seeder.

- The Traders Den - Torrent Site. You do need to have an account. Give the source information. Lossless. This has a nice array of things. You can get your Medeski Martin & Wood, Prince, Metallica, and Sarah McLachlan all in one place. Worth checking out.

- Dime-A-Dozen - Torrent Site. You need to have an account. Gives the source information. Lossless. I included this but I will warn you it is one of the best torrent sites for its range of different music and the quantity is unreal but getting an account is a real pain. Basically, you have to wait until someone gets kicked off so you just have to keep trying until you get one. Good luck.

Any sites that you would like to recommend, go ahead and leave it in the comments section.  Happy listening.