free iTunes music

iTunes users probably know that Tuesdays are new release days in the music store. They are also the days that Apple changes the free song of the week and offers an additional “discovery” download. Usually one of the two is interesting.

The single of the week (Apple's pick, not mine): The Gossip – Listen Up!
Apple’s Discovery Download: Jackie Allen - Tangled

What you may not know is that there are many more songs available for free. Podcasts are one option, and radio stations KCRW and KEXP each offer a song of the day. These are hit-and miss, but the price is right and they are mp3 format without DRM. From KEXP, check out Billy Bragg, Silversun Pickups, Grand National, and Magnet. For KCRW, just subscribe.

KEXP’s Song of the Day (there are 91 previous ones to choose from)
KCRW’s Today Top Tune (only the last 3 episodes are available)

More ambitious still is Apple’s just-announced back to school promotion offered through Facebook: 25 songs each week for the next 10 weeks. This week’s theme is electonica, and at least 5 of the songs are pretty good (and all 25 will make you seem hip). I like:

James Figurine – Apologies
Junior Boys – In the Morning
Alias & Tarsier – Dr C
Camille – Te douleur
The Pinker Tones – Sonido Total

Like the weekly downloads, these are DRM-protected mp4 songs indentical to the versions for sale. To get your free songs from iTunes and Facebook:

1) Log in to Facebook or register if you do not already have an account. You can join your college network with an edu or alumni email account. For example, stanfordalumni.org email addresses work well
2) Join the Apple Students group. It has 170,000 members so far; the first 1 million each week get tunes
3) Click to receive your offer code
4) Launch the iTunes store and select Redeem under Accounts to start your downloads
5) Repeat process each week until the end of September