Freebie Listening
Thursday, July 10, 2008 Posted by Christina
I love my iPod... it keeps me motivated when I'm exercising... and it keeps me on pace when I'm cleaning the house.
But once you've exhausted your music collection (and maybe those of your friends), it can get expensive to load your mp3 player. Those 99 cent-deals will bludgeon even the healthiest of budgets if you get a little too click-happy.
So, I've found some things you can download for FREE that will keep you entertained:
If you're looking for a reading of the classics, check out Librivox. You can download classic literary works for free. LibriVox volunteers record chapters of books in the public domain and then release them online.
Along those same lines, visit Free Classic Audio Books. You can listen to everything from "Alice in Wonderland" to "War of the Worlds."
My husband adores the stories he hears on National Public Radio's "This American Life." It's compelling stuff and it's updated weekly. He talked about the feature on Jerry Springer for days. Of course, National Public Radio has a lot of other great free podcasts to choose from.
This list would not be complete without mentioning iTunes. You can download free podcasts, television shows, college course lectures, the song of the week, and daily baseball updates from ESPN. And the program to run iTunes is a free download. Even if you don't have an iPod, you can still download whatever you want and then burn it onto a disc to listen to in a CD player.
Not to be outdone, Amazon frequently has free downloads
of MP3s. Make sure to watch them closely... sometimes they stick an 89 cents download in the list. Just sort the list from lowest to highest price and you'll get the freebies first.
But once you've exhausted your music collection (and maybe those of your friends), it can get expensive to load your mp3 player. Those 99 cent-deals will bludgeon even the healthiest of budgets if you get a little too click-happy.
So, I've found some things you can download for FREE that will keep you entertained:
If you're looking for a reading of the classics, check out Librivox. You can download classic literary works for free. LibriVox volunteers record chapters of books in the public domain and then release them online.
Along those same lines, visit Free Classic Audio Books. You can listen to everything from "Alice in Wonderland" to "War of the Worlds."
My husband adores the stories he hears on National Public Radio's "This American Life." It's compelling stuff and it's updated weekly. He talked about the feature on Jerry Springer for days. Of course, National Public Radio has a lot of other great free podcasts to choose from.
This list would not be complete without mentioning iTunes. You can download free podcasts, television shows, college course lectures, the song of the week, and daily baseball updates from ESPN. And the program to run iTunes is a free download. Even if you don't have an iPod, you can still download whatever you want and then burn it onto a disc to listen to in a CD player.
Not to be outdone, Amazon frequently has free downloads
of MP3s. Make sure to watch them closely... sometimes they stick an 89 cents download in the list. Just sort the list from lowest to highest price and you'll get the freebies first.If you're the type of person who likes to be ahead of everyone else when it comes to music, check out all of the free music at Rcrd Lbl.
July 10, 2008 8:51 PM
Thanks for this list. I have a few free downloads that I am going to try to burn to a CD, and see if it works. I don't have an iPod or MP3 player, and I prefer listening to things in the car rather than at the computer.
Another place to check is your local library. The Hennepin County System lets select some audiobooks for download. (You might be able to utilize this; I think a lot of Minnesota libraries have reciprocal agreements. http://www.hclib.org)
July 10, 2008 9:33 PM
Good point about the library! You reminded me that the Arrowhead Library System in northern MN also does free MP3 audio books. Thanks!
July 10, 2008 11:31 PM
Thanks for the recommendations! It is a great list!
i highly recommend the podcast on itunes idea. They make car trips so much more enjoyable, and are free. i like to subscribe to podcasts devoted to my fav tv shows. It's much more entertaining than the radio!