Free music is and always has been one of the top internet favorites. (Remember Napster?) While the trend is already shifting from that dark p2p-age to the more civilized crowd, netizens today are still craving for free music and it IS available legally if you know where to look for it.

With millions of song downloads, the term “internet and music” can’t be separated from iTunes and the store. So, it’s natural that many people turn to iTunes to find (free) music.

There are lots of them that you can find there, listed under the menu iTunes Store’s Home –> FREE ON iTunes and because the iTunes Store has expanded their line of business, you can also get free videos and movies. Strangely though, not all the freebies are listed there.

To get the full list of iTunes freebies available, you need help from this site. On the front page, they show you the latest freebies from all categories (including free audiobooks), with links to the individual category freebies pages. They also give the option to get the latest updates using RSS.

If you think that is not enough, you can also download a free album with 34 songs from various artists.

Also keep an eye on a website called OCulture. Their RSS feed is worth subscribing to because they often tell you of free iTunes content worth downloading including music, audio books, podcasts and much more.

Finally, make sure to subscribe to MakeUseOf podcast here.

Getting an iTunes Account
Sadly, the freebies can only be downloaded by people with an iTunes account. This means that those who live in a country with no iTunes store (such as mine) cannot enjoy the goodies.

But there’s a solution to that problem. Using the free 34 songs offer above, anybody from any country - with or without an iTunes store - can get an iTunes account. Here’s how:

1. After getting the code, go to the iTunes Store from iTunes.
2. Click Redeem in the Quick Links panel at the iTunes Store’s Home page.
3. Enter the code and click Redeem. These three steps will be done automatically if you follow the link from TuneCore’s page
4. If you don’t have an account yet, click Create an Account.
5. Follow the steps and you’ll get the account.

Free iPhone Ringtones
Many people believe that Apple shouldn’t charge their customer more to have the purchased song converted into an iPhone ringtone. The people at Nakko have the same opinion. That’s why they provide a free tool to do just that. Sign up and start pimping that iPhone (their words, not mine).

Download Free Music, Videos & Movies On iTunes | MakeUseOf.com

Today we will be taking a look at nCleaner. It is a free Windows system cleaning application. This app will let you clean your system, applications, free more disk space, boost your system’s speed and get more stability and privacy protection. All for the low, low price of free…

Plus in case you’re wondering how this differs from apps such as CCleaner, read on for a full list of what Ncleaner will do for you….

nCleaner contains the nkProds patented system and application cleaner chock full of over 90 cleaning items.  That is enough to keep any geek busy for an evening. These tools include:

• a Registry Cleaner
• a Tweak Manager
• an advanced Startup Manager
• a Junk Finder
• a Free Space Shredder
• a System Resource Monitor
• a System Adviser
• real time system resources monitoring
• full on logging
• advanced Scheduling
• automatic updater
• plug in options
• custom clean
• and advanced statistics

“nCleaner has the best cleaning ration on the market due to an advance detection algorithm, also providing security and stability. With nCleaner you can free up to 2 GB of unnecessary disk space. nCleaner supports and handles all major Internet browsers including Microsoft Internet Explorer (and all derived browsers like Avast), Mozilla Firefox, Netscape and Opera. It also supports and handles all major Instant Messaging applications like Yahoo Messenger, Windows MSN Messenger, ICQ, AOL and Skype, office applications, and system items.”

I have tried loads of these types of applications but nCleaner from the same guys who make cCleaner have a great product here and best of all it is absolutely fricking free for non-commercial use. I have introduced this to several end users and they instantly fell in love. Some of them love the memory cleaning options while others like the ’set it and forget it’ options included.

Ncleaner - The App That Tells CCleaner To Take A Hike | MakeUseOf.com

A ground-breaking study of 4117 marijuana smokers in California reveals that the 'Gateway Theory' probably had it backwards. Instead of enticing young people to use other drugs, this study suggests that marijuana may have the opposite effect.

This first-ever clinical examination of a large number of medical marijuana applicants depicts a population that is remarkably normal. The percentages earning bachelors' degrees and doctorates are nearly identical to the national numbers. They are, in the main, productive citizens with jobs, homes and families who smoke marijuana weekly or daily – and have in some cases for decades.

For the vast majority of these applicants, their use of cannabis ultimately led to a decrease in the use of tobacco, alcohol, and hard drugs. Asked to compare their current alcohol consumption with their lifetime peak, over 10% claimed to be abstinent and nearly 90% claimed to have cut their drinking in half.

They also report using cannabis as self medication for stress and anxiety – with fewer side effects than the legal pharmaceutical alternatives.

As children, a significant percentage of the male applicants had been treated for ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). Today their routine morning use of minimal amounts of cannabis strongly suggests that it enhances their ability to concentrate by allowing them to focus on one problem at a time.

As one construction company estimator said, "After two hits and my morning coffee, I'm the best estimator in the company."

The Mysticgeek blog at the How-To Geek's site has a clever series of posts up that use free software tools to give Windows Vista Home Premium—the version that most often ships with standard laptops—the same kind of super-user powers you get with a copy of Ultimate. Mysticgeek uses FileHamster to replicate Ultimate's "Shadow Copy" function, installing a DreamScene power toy to get moving backgrounds, and DriveIMage XML to create sturdy backups (as Gina once detailed). Hit the link below for the FileHamster tutelage; and check out part 1 and part 2 for the other tweaks. What other tweaks do you use to add Ultimate-like features to your copy of Vista? Share them in the comments.

Turn Vista Home Premium into Ultimate - (Part 3) Shadow-Copy

The go-to Vista fix-it guy, The How-To Geek, offers a much-needed tutorial and walk-through on installing print-to-PDF functionality in Windows Vista. To start saving paper and creating PDFs, you'll need to install a copy of previously mentioned PDFCreator, but with the trick of turning off User Account Control while you install to enable its direct PDF-creating capabilities. For a simpler but much more restricted and feature-lacking solution, you could also try installing doPDF. Hit the link for some how-to wisdom. (Original doPDF post).

How to Print to a PDF File on Windows Vista [The How-To Geek]