Back in the early 90s, Jeff Duntemann published a book called something like Free Stuff from the Internet. I don’t remember all of what it described, but it opened my eyes to a whole new world of stuff that I could get free–for the price of a download. The treasure trove of the Internet made Compuserve look like a pauper’s purse.

We take a lot of free stuff online for granted these days, but often we don’t take advantage of it. Until recently, I had absolutely no idea how much free music is available online. For years I ignored Napster and other music sharing sites, figuring that the “free music” available online was either pirated copies of copyrighted works, or 1-minute song samples. I couldn’t have been more wrong.

Sure, there’s plenty of pirated music out there, but there’s also an incredible amount of legally available music, free for the download or just point your favorite music player at it and stream it down. For example, a few months ago I discovered GaragePunk.com, which creates weekly podcasts consisting mostly of old-fashioned garage band rock and roll. They have a half dozen or more DJs who create 30- or 60-minute podcasts covering many different sub-genres.

Not into garage punk? How about the Woodsongs Old Time Radio Hour, whose stated purpose is to to encourage grassroots, Americana music. You like bluegrass? Try World Wide Bluegrass or the Bluegrass Preservation Society. More into reggae? Try Allspice Reggae.

That’s just a small sample of what’s available. Whatever kind of music you’re interested in, there’s probably at least one site out there that features it and allows you to download stuff or listen to a stream. It can be difficult to find some things, but blogs like Indie Surfer and Vague Space make it much easier.

I’ll provide updates here periodically as I continue to explore the free music space. If you’re looking for new music (which I was, having become bored with my current collection), look for yourself. You’ll be amazed at the selection you’ll find online.