Yes, it's free and it's legal. That's why it's called Freegal.
The Prince George Library has a new music database where library card holders can download as many as three songs per week from the Sony Music catalogue at no charge.
The best part for local and regional library card holders is that the music files, which work on virtually any computer, tablet, smartphone and mp3 player, do not expire.
"Freegal has an amazing collection of more than 500,000 songs in its catalogue across a diverse range of styles," said chief librarian ,Allan Wilson. "Along with our library app for smartphones, this is just the latest way we're using technology to make the library accessible to everyone."
To use Freegal, simply visit the main page of the library's website and follow the link. Library card holders will need their card numbers and their personal identification number (PIN) to log into Freegal. Once there, residents can search by song titles, artist and genre for the music they like. There's also an option to listen to a sample of the song before downloading. After downloading three songs, the system will not allow the card holder to obtain any more songs until the following Monday.
Area residents who want to use Freegal but don't have a library card have to visit either the Bob Harkins branch downtown or the Nechako branch in the Hart Shopping Centre to get a card. Besides using Freegal, a library card offers free access to more than 200,000 items in The Prince George Public Library's physical collection, such as CDs, DVDs, magazines, newspapers and books, too. The library also offers a vast and growing network of online resources through its website.
