MP3 Free Downloader

MP3 Free Downloader is a tool that lets you discover MP3 files from around the web, download them, and even organize and play them from within the application.

If you enjoy managing your own MP3 collection and don’t necessarily want to rip your own CDs, then MP3 Free Downloader is a good option. It has a number of discovery features that you can use to find pre-made MP3s from around the Web. The basic search involves just a string-based query, but the advanced search lets you fill out fields, such as artist, song name, album, and so forth.

As mentioned, you can play songs from your MP3 collection from within the application, and MP3 Free Downloader can even play music and download songs at the same time. It has a minimalist user interface that is simple and effective and still looks modern, even though there’s been no UI update since the first version. The program supports album cover art as well, and that makes it easy to identify songs, albums, artists and categories.

MP3 Free Downloader supports task queuing, and you can continue to add songs to the queue while it’s downloading. It also supports concurrent downloads, which makes it easy to download a large number of MP3s at once if you have a fast Internet connection. The program can start with Windows and automatically begin any unfinished tasks at that point, and it has categorization and other organization tools so that you can manage your entire MP3 collection right from within the app if you choose.

The biggest issue with MP3 Free Downloader for some users will be bitrate. While the program is free to use, the free version limits bitrates to 128 Kbps or less and will actually reduce the Kbps of an MP3 being downloaded. If you want higher bitrates, you’ll have to upgrade to the pro edition, which costs money. Another issue is that while MP3 Free Downloader is fantastic at downloading MP3 files that it discovers, you can’t just point it to a particular website or MP3, which is something that most MP3 downloaders can handle.

Pros

• MP3 discovery features
• Minimalist, well-organized UI
• Supports album covers

Cons

• Bitrate limited on trial version
• Can’t target a specific MP3 on a specific website