There's a growing concern about unauthorized music downloading, and the legal consequences it can bring. What's not talked about are the thousands of free, legal downloadable songs available on the Internet. Many artists offer free tunes from their catalog as a way to build an audience. If you're willing to venture beyond the Top 40, there's a lot of outstanding music awaiting discovery.

MySpace.com is a great place to start. Most band pages have an audio player so you can check out their songs online. And sometimes they include the option to download the tracks as well.

And since MySpace is all about social networking, it's pretty easy to find artists that are stylistically similar. I just start on the MySpace page of a performer, such as Jimmy Catlett, and follow the links from the "Friends Space" box to a related artist, like Steve McWilliams, and from there to another, such as Todd Wright and so on.

Some artists offer free MP3s downloads on their own websites as well. Jonathan Coulton, for example, gained notoriety for his song "Ikea," partially because of its use in a YouTube video (another great place to discover bands). The song itself is available as a free download directly from Coulton (and can be purchased at most fine music download stores).

Speaking of stores, free tracks are often made available on music download sites such as iTunes and Rhapsody to help break artists, or as part of a special promotion. You usually have to have an account with the site in order to take advantage of this resource, however.

Whatever the source, the goal of a free music download is pretty much the same -- to provide a sample that will encourage you to purchase more.

Sometimes it doesn't work. Kasino was a Scottish band I discovered through "The Tartan Podcast." Unfortunately, by the time I tracked them down, they had already split up. As a parting gift, however, Kasino left most of their recordings available on their website as free downloads. "Never See" from their album "Fearless" is my personal favorite, and it's a shame a group as talented as Kasino wasn't able to break through.

Explore, listen, download. That's what I do. And if I like what I hear, I'll also purchase to prevent other bands from going the way of Kasino.