Freegal Downloadable Music Service
Freegal provides FREE MUSIC DOWNLOADS for Albany Public Library cardholders!
Here’s how Freegal works:
- Download music for free, and legally, from the Freegal site
- All music is free and you get to keep it forever – no due dates
- All songs work on MP3 players, iPods, iPhones, and so on
- Albany Public Library cardholders can download up to three songs each week (the counter resets to zero every Monday morning)
- Hundreds of thousands of songs in over 100 genres of music are available to download
Quick tips for using Freegal:
- Have your Albany Public Library card and PIN number handy to log into Freegal (Hint: Your card number needs to start with 21182 to work with this service.)
- Search by genre and artist (bands that start with “The” are listed under the letter “t”)
- Preview a song by clicking on the arrow to the left of the song title
- Download a song by clicking “Download Now” and the clicking “Save”
- If you click “Download Now” and then click “Cancel,” you still use up one of your weekly song downloads
Some Freegal FAQs:
What is Freegal?
Freegal is a downloadable music service, like iTunes, provided to you by Albany Public Library. All you need is your library card number (on the back of your card) and PIN number (usually the last four digits of your phone number) to download music. Freegal provides digital music from the Sony Music Entertainment catalog, which has hundreds of thousands of songs in more than 100 genres of music. No special software is necessary, and there are no digital rights management issues to deal with. Access to Freegal is limited to Albany Public Library cardholders.
How many songs can I download?
You may download up to three songs per week, as long as you have an Albany Public Library card. Your Freegal counter resets to zero every Monday morning, allowing you to start downloading that week’s songs. Your download allotment is displayed in the upper right corner of the screen on the Freegal site.
How do I download a song?
When you’ve selected an artist and song you want from Freegal’s menu, click on the “Download Now” link next to the song. You’ll see a pop-up window where you can choose to “Save” the song. Select the folder or drive where you want the song saved. Remember, any time you click on “Download Now,” the song is counted toward your weekly allotment, even if you decide to cancel the download.
Will the downloaded songs work on an iPod?
Yes. The easiest thing to do is to download the files to your desktop or your music folder. Import the song into iTunes by either dragging the song into the window or importing it from the menu. The song is now in your library. The next time you synch up your iPod, the song will be in your music library.
How do I burn music to a CD?
Though each computer system is different, you can use iTunes, Windows Media Player or third party software to burn Freegal’s downloaded songs onto a CD. Just follow the instructions found in the software for burning your CD. This service is not available on library computers.