Copyright-free Music for Educational Use

Several of you have asked about legality in using music in students' or teachers' educational projects. Fair Use Policy gives students and teachers lots of leeway, but the law is tricky and sometimes hard to understand. Here are two easy solutions:

C/Net's Music Download.Com only offers free music whose artists have given permission for its use. "Users may use the material on the site only for non-commercial personal or educational purposes." There's lots there, grouped by genre, with a handy button that says "download". Couldn't be easier.

Magnatune is a great site for teachers. As long as you are using the music for your educational project, you can download an MP3 version of the song and be free to use it.

• Go to the Magnatune site and click on the type of music you need.
• Listen to as many pieces as you wish. Listening is always free at Magnatune
• When you find something you want, click on License, then on Non-commercial (you may have some security screen pop-ups during this process. Just say "Yes" to get past them.
• Read the Non-commercial license explanation. Near the bottom of the page, click on "download the MP3"
• Continue to say "yes" to any security pop-ups
• When you see the list of available MP3 recordings by the artist you have chosen, you will need to find the title you want. To hear the recording again, you can click on the little floppy disk icon. To download song, right click on the icon and choose "save target as". On the resulting screen, select your download location.

This is a terrific site for music lovers. Take some time to explore new artists, then think about BUYING a song or two. You not only listen to the music before you buy, you actually choose HOW MUCH to PAY! I have purchased several pieces and have been more than happy with my choices!