Prostopleer – What’s the Russian for free music downloads?

You know what a sure sign of success on the net is, it’s when your name isn’t just a name anymore, it becomes a verb.

And we’ve certainly had that with Spotify when it comes to listening and building up a collection of free streaming music via the web.

It’s been great and still is. But once they realised that building our music libraries while they lost millions every month was not the best business model, things changed a bit. Because now with their free accounts limited to just 10 hours a month, the Spotify music gravytrain may not have come of the rails completely but we’ve definitely lost a carriage or two over the side.

So in that case, what else can we hitch our musical caboose to?

Well, there’s always We7. Not the service it used to be with its unlimited free requests for artists and songs (although you can still have 50 specific requests a month after you register), We7 has changed to an exclusively ‘Radio’ based format. And while I think it’s probably the best at that type of service, it does spoil the goodwill rather with just a few too many adverts.

And then there’s Grooveshark, the biggest free streaming music player available from the States. All request based I’m pleased to say with lots tracks and features although unfortunately there’s still no getting away from the ads. However once you get past a big advert on the front page, for something American it’s not too bad ad wise.

But if you prefer your free music players to be just about playing the free music without the big intrusive images, I have another option for you.

It’s called Prostopleer, it’s Russian and apart from Roman Abramovich’s millions if you’re a Chelsea fan like me, it might just be the best Russian export since Vodka.

Because what you get is a very cool, very minimal but very slick streaming music service that makes it a doddle to search for your favorite songs. And should you take the few seconds necessary to register with Prostopleer you can then drag and drop them into any number of playlists you create. The quality of the music is great and while not everything is on there, I’ve found plenty of tracks that Spotify and We7 don’t have.

Mind you, that might have something to do with the way Prostopleer gets its music, since it allows its users to upload new tracks to it and for that matter download those songs as well….for free.

Now whether you do that is up to you, I’m just saying that it’s a feature over and above its entirely safe music streaming. But I did my due diligence before writing this, ok I Googled for half an hour, and I found no bad reviews for it at all, reviews I could read in English anyway. Look, I’m just trying to cover my arse here.

I will categorically tell you though that I’m using Prostopleer a lot. If you’ve previously focused on Spotify it’s a great unlimited music alternative. And don’t be put off if it displays in its native Russian when first loaded, down the bottom of the page there’s an option to quickly toggle the user friendly English version.

I still don’t know though what Prostopleer itself means, to me it sounds more like a cure for male prostate problems. What I do know is that you should definitely dip your finger in.

Go on, perform your own examination now at the Prostopleer website.

Spotify. The latest music for free, FREE!

Have you heard, there’s a new player in town.

Because while I’ve already told you about We7 with all its wealth of free music, I’m compelled to tell you there is an equal source for all the latest and greatest tracks and full albums.

It’s called Spotify, and despite a name like an instruction to rub butter into the pores of a pimply teenager, with millions of songs to listen to, it spreads only musical joy.

And like We7 the music is all free and legal because the Spotify business model is likewise supported by advertising. Although unlike We7 whose adverts are short but frequent, Spotify has fewer ads but they are a more typical radio stylee 30 seconds.

Mind you, if you want to go to the expense of paying a premium service of 99p a day or £9.99 for a month you can turn those adverts off, although there’s no real need to. Unless of course you’re up for a night of seduction and rather not risk an awkwardly timed condom ad interupting that ‘Luurve’ playlist you prepared.

But anyway, one main difference between the two is that while We7 is a web browser based streaming service, Spotify is a downloaded application to your computer hard drive. It is quick and simple though, only requires filling in a short registration and is a tiny 1.45MB download size.

That’s because the actual tracks are not downloaded, they just play in the Spotify interface. This is free music remember, it’s not iTunes, you do need to be connected to the internet to access them and you can’t add any to your mp3 player, even if the interface itself will remind you of iTunes.

For the clean looks and minimalist controls make searching and playing a doddle and it’s easy to create your own playlists with the drag and drop functionality.

Plus when you are searching for a popular artist or song you’ll be wide eyed with its amount of results. Spotify will return your enquiry for the artists own albums, compilation albums, soundtrack albums, the lot, everything short of their kiddy photo album.

And while I could explain more, I’ll leave those discoveries to you. I will just add that Spotify is another fantastic free music source you’d be crazy not to take advantage of, and you can download it by clicking this link

So go on, get Spotify, spotifying and spotified, and I don’t mean with a knob of Lurpak.

(*Hi again folks. It’s November 2009 and clearly Spotify isn’t the little known application I spoke of 6 months ago, it’s become the Daddy of ALL the free music sites.

It’s moved on as well, new features include the option to buy the tracks and an improved Premium service that now provides iPhone integration,  access to your music off-line and apparently even better sound quality as well.

Myself, I’m still happy with the quality of the free stuff.)

We7, now have an advert break from the advert break.

If you’ve been paying attention since the second post I ever wrote on here you may already know about a website called We7.

But since only my wife and our cat have been around all that time you could perhaps have a look at my enthusiastic review of the thing by clicking this link to it.

But if you must know, without referring to my purple prose, We7 is a free music site. A free music site that has millions of whole tracks and complete albums to listen to online totally legally.

And the reason it’s all free, and this is the only minor downside, is that between this musical bonanza are very short adverts which generate the income so that We7 can provide such a service at all.

But now you don’t even have to suffer that tiny inconvenience, because you can enjoy the double delight of having the free music and having it advert free for a whole month as well!

That is if you know how to and fortunately I do.

I can’t claim any secret knowledge though as it’s actually courtesy of a promotion that We7 have with the Daily Star newspaper, but since they always say no purchase is necessary I thought I’d giveaway the details here too.

So go to this address we7.com/go/dailystar and if you’re already a member log in on that page, or if not complete the short registration form, then in the box for the Special Promotional Code add this not very secret code 52GWNSW8HB7B.

I have and it works but since I’m not sure how long it will work for, you’d better go and do it now hadn’t you.

Ahem, could I interest you in a free music voucher?

Who wants a free music voucher then eh?

Because it just so happens that I have some to give away, courtesy of my new friend Mr Steve Pardham, the CEO of We7.

That’s right, ever since his comments about my review of WE7, THE GREAT FREE MUSIC SITE*, we’ve also swapped emails and he has generously offered ten £2.50 vouchers codes for me to give away to you my loyal readers.

(*Yes, We7 is a great free music site to listen to on your computer, but to download tracks requires payment, which is where the £2.50 credit comes in. If you don’t know about the many joys of We7 yet, find out by clicking this link)

Anyway, blessedly he is that impressed with my little effort here that he’s helping me to promote myself the old fashioned way, by bribery.

However for me to give you your £2.50 voucher code you have to do two things first…

1. You have to be registered with We7, but it’s very quick to do and as I keep telling you, IT’S A FREE MUSIC SITE!
2. You have to leave a comment for me.

Preferably of course with feedback about stuff you like or found useful from this humble blog but I don’t mind anything you have to say. You could just tell me what star sign you are or about a nasty rash you have, I simply want to build a sense of community here.

That is so we all get to know who’s visiting and perhaps for that matter, who we should avoid physical contact with.

But once you add your comment, by either clicking where it says Comments or No Comments below a subject, it also provides me, and only me, your email address and I can privately send you your voucher code.

And don’t worry, I promise there wont be any follow ups with great deals on Viagra or penile enhancement devices, I’m keeping them all for myself.

I may need them for the Russian women who are apparently dying to meet me.

So what are you waiting for, get commenting, it’s first come first served for the vouchers.

You can put ointment on your rash afterwards.

We7, the latest music for free, FREE!

Since my last post about Cooliris dealt with sight, let’s focus this time on the issue of sound. More specifically how to hear complete music tracks and the latest whole albums for FREE.

Because I want to introduce to you a website where you can legally access MILLIONS of tracks on demand, in full, and where they are adding up to 30,000 more songs to it’s library each day!

It’s called We7 and I love it.

But what’s the catch I hear you cry, didn’t the music industry nail Napster for doing the same sort of thing?

They did, but the reason this is legal and has the full backing of the record companies is that We7 are coughing up the royalties and are doing it the way most commercial companies provide free stuff…by advertising.

And that’s the catch but trust me, it’s a very minimal one.

These mini-verts are all placed between tracks, not during them, and last only a few seconds. If you’re playing a whole album from start to finish you might expect these very short messages every 3 songs.

To access all the tracks you only have to visit the we7 website but to really get the most from this free music bonanza requires completing the short registration process.

And once you have it’s like a mini iTunes interface mixed with a mini social networking site. You can browse by genre, search for specific tracks, get suggestions from others and create multiple playlists that We7 remembers and will even allow you to share with friends.

But what you can’t do without actually purchasing the tracks, although you can do that as well with We7, is add the songs to your MP3 Player…that would be asking for too much.

This is a streaming service so you need to be sitting in front of a web browser to play the music. Mind you, it doesn’t have to be at your computer it’s wherever you happen to be online.

Nevertheless as a FREE music source the amount and quality of the content is amazing, but it’s the acesss to new albums that’s the incredible bit.

I haven’t brought a new album for months because of this site, they’ve all been available for free on We7. Even with the advertising revenue I don’t know why the record companies are allowing it.

But that’s their issue, yours is only what to listen to next.

So to hear the new Kings of Leon album, you’ve been given a royal decree.

Aiming for the new Guns N’ Roses album, shoot straight to it.

Dying to listen to the new Killers album, dig in.

Or keen to hear the Same Difference album, not a problem…but I think you may have one.

To mine this free musical motherlode for yourself, just click on this here link www.we7.com