Buying music downloads, hassle-free

In the news: Amazon has promised to launch an MP3-only, DRM-free music store later this year. Last month, Apple announced it was dipping its toe in the water of DRM-free downloads at its iTunes Music Store. Amazon's plans are much bigger, promising selections from "more than 12,000 record labels," but with pricing and other details remaining vague, we'll have to wait and see how it actually shapes up. Here at Zong of the Week, we see DRM-free, paid downloads as the next best thing to actually free music. DRM, which stands for "digital rights management," is the technology that keeps you from using the downloaded music you've paid for. It's the extra hassle that they give you as reward for paying to download the songs legally instead of copying it for free from a friend. (And when I say "reward," I'm being sarcastic.) For example, Apple's DRM makes it difficult for you to listen to your iTMS songs on any MP3 player except Apple's iPod. Removing DRM is a step in the right direction. Keep an eye on Amazon's plans. And I wouldn't be surprised if some other big names jumped on the DRM-free bandwagon this summer.

"Europa and the Pirate Twins" by Thomas Dolby

A new live version of Thomas Dolby's enigmatic 1980s hit is available as a free download. (You can also stream the new live version of "She Blinded Me With Silence.") For old-time Thomas Dolby fans, it's interesting to hear what has changed -- and what hasn't -- in Dolby's austere synth-pop style.

"99 Ways to Make a Difference (in 99 Seconds)" by Paul Nordquist

Before Zong of the Week was a free-music blog, there was a Zong of the Week project that actually recorded a new song every week. I started that project at a time (early 2004) when there was no mp3.com -- they had been driven out of business by the bad record company people -- and music.download.com had not yet launched. Believe it or not, it was hard to find free music on the web. The top results for "free music" or "MP3 download" at Google were useless sites filled with ads, or worse, nasty sites pushing malicious spyware. Now, in 2007, there is plenty of free, legal music to be found, and the only reason to actually spend money on music is that you have plenty of money to throw around but no time to spend building your music collection. The Zong of the Week project called it quits at the end of 2004 -- we found that even writing and recording songs can get to be a chore if you do it all the time. But I have continued to write and record songs since then. So indulge me as I point you to my own latest song, "99 Ways to Make a Difference (in 99 Seconds)." It's a little ditty about what we can do about global warming. In 99 seconds I run through 99 suggestions, and I'm sure you can come up with a few ideas of your own after you hear it. (Here's a thought: free music downloads have roughly 99% less global-warming impact than record-store CDs!) So, without further ado, please check out "99 Ways to Make a Difference."