P2P file sharing has become a cultural revolution of sorts. It is the thing to do, and everyone does it or knows someone who does it on a regular basis, almost exclusively. There are probably hundreds of these P2P download websites out there, some are more popular than others but most of them give out links to media files and software that are protected by copyright.
So unless you want to put yourself at risk of a civil lawsuit, especially if you are in the USA, Canada, the UK or Australia where copyright laws are well established, you might want to take extra care and make sure you only trade legal material.
So where can you do free LEGAL downloads of music, games, applications, TV shows and all sorts or other files for free? Typically, legal Torrent sites provide links to files that are covered by CCL (Creative Commons License). Files covered by CCL can be copied and downloades free of any legal liabilities. Below is a short list of “well-stocked” sites where you can get legal and free downloads.
1. Vuze Network
If you go into the Vuze network, you will find a good selection of P2P sources that are all legal. You can use these sources to download media by using the Vuze BitTorrent client, which is also free. This Vuze software client uses a simple interface with its own filter system that allows you to fine-tune your search results. You can enjoy worry-free downloads using Vuze Network’s legal bitTorrent sources. Get access to an entire portfolio of media like videos, music, audio books and TV shows.
2. Jamendo
Jamendo exclusively offers links to LEGAL sources of digital music, for FREE! This music-only site boasts of over 13,000 albums covering a wide range of musical genres. All music offered here are from independent artists who have published their work via the CCL (Creative Commons License). A majority of the tracks can be downloaded with the most common P2P programs which make it easy even for beginners.
One cool feature of this website is that it allows you to make your own review of the albums you have downloaded and listened to. You can share these albums with your own friends, too. Jamendo also makes it possible for you to make donations to your favorite artists, as a simple gesture of support for their work.
3. ClearBits
This website used to be called LegalTorrents, and is an excellent source of all types of LEGAL media downloads. The user-interfaces is very simple to use and makes searching fast and easy. You can search by categories, which are clearly displayed or you can simply use the site’s search box if you are looking for something in particular and do not wish to have to read through an entire list under a specific category. As a sampling, the media files you will find here includes but is not limited to, music, audio books, videos, TV shows, movies and games.
4. Legit Torrents
Legit Torrents boasts of some 1,800 LEGAL links for movies, music, books, games, anime’ and software apps. Their music downloads include formats like MP3, Flac and Ogg. What is really nice about the software apps in their selection is that they not only cover Windows, but Mac and Linux as well. They also have this forum where you can post comments or questions regarding downloads or non-download related stuff. Other torrent sites offer something like this, too which is a real good venue to make friends with the same interests as you do.
5. bt.etree.org
This site is most popular for live recordings of concerts by “trade friendly” artists and is provided by the etree.org community. They actively encourage users of their site to spread the word about new artists that they discover and support them by going to watch them live or buying their CDs. The file format of choice is Flac because they don’t suffer any loss and so the quality is excellent for pure listening pleasure. Granting the downloaded files can be huge, but well worth it. Here fans and supporters of the artists share the recordings freely.
6. Fenopy
This site has some really cool features. It is fully integrated with Last.fm and IMDB enabling it to offer some really good information for discovering and exploring new music and movies. Like other good torrent sites, Fenopy has a “fake finder” to keep you from wasting time on bad files. Fenopy’s selection of downloads include books, videos, anime’, games, software apps, TV shows, music and movies.
7. Panda.cd
Panda.cd is one truly special site for sharing music and music only. It is FREE. It is LEGAL! Their goal is to provide a venue for independent artists (who might make it big one day) to legally share their music to a growing fan base of individuals with a taste for original music.
Anyone can upload their own original material, and users in turn are encouraged to support these artists by making donations. The Site Administrator sound very strict which is all very well since struggling artists need all the protection they can get. They have a wide selection of music from across all genres, from acoustic to jazz to metal to alternative.
8. burnbit.com
All content shared through Burnbit are legal and safe. Torrent files only contain the metadata information that allows users to download the actual files. Burnbit is a website that offers automated creation and management of torrent metadata. The torrents themselves are not copyrighted but the files that are uploaded or downloaded could be. Burnbit only allows website sources that don’t use illegal files, malwares, pornography etc.
9. YouTorrent
YouTorrent is a legal torrent search engine that offers various files for download. Their website and any of their software are not to be used for illegal purposes like file sharing of any material protected by copyright. They remind their users not to assume that they can freely share any file just because it was made available online by someone else. Needless to say, all music, movies, books, games, TV shows, anime’, pictures and software available for download from YouTorrent can be downloaded free and without fear of any legal repercussions.
10. ExtraTorrent
ExtraTorrent claims to be the biggest BitTorrent system, whose goal is to provide a simple and easy to use search engine for all kinds of torrent files. The site is very pictorial in design, full of colorful photos that can be distracting. They have a very wide variety of selections for movies, music, TV, software, games, anime’, books and pictures. If you have children searching the net for music, you might want to keep them away from this one as they very openly advertise their links to porn sites, too.
Music will continue to be a major part of human existence. People will seek out all kinds of music that they can get access to, be it via the purchase of actual CDs from traditional music stores, be it via watching live concerts, be it via listening to covers of popular tracks by struggling and upcoming artists or be it via P2P file sharing.
Admittedly, P2P music sharing is a very popular option because it gives users a very easy and convenient access to all kinds of music downloads without having to leave their homes. They can do it in the dead of winter when it is too cold to step out, in the middle of the night or while on vacation up in the mountains. Most people will not take the time to verify the legality of their downloads, thinking that if it’s not supposed to be there then the source website shouldn’t have put it there to begin with. Makes sense, but it is also a very convenient excuse not to take personal responsibility for one’s actions.
The BitTorrent sites provided here are just some of the LEGAL download sites that people can use. It wouldn’t hurt to make a personal promise to patronize only those sites that protect against copyright infringement. They are very good sites, all with an impressive collection of liability-free music files among others. Check them out and find a wealth of music downloads that will not hurt the artist, the music industry and most importantly, not hurt you.
About Aurora Freegard
