The Songs I Chose to Download on Freegal this Week

Each week I can use my Mentor Public Library card to download five songs from Freegal. (It's called Freegal because you can download the music for free and it's legal.)

And each week it takes me almost an hour to decide which songs I'm going to get. Because, when it comes to Freegal, I'm the proverbial kid in the candy store.

Except, in this case, the candy is mp3s of music and the store's selection includes Elvis, The Civil Wars, Frank Sinatra, Miley Cyrus, Kenny Rogers, John Coltrane, The Beatnuts and a whole lot more.

And you can keep the candy forever -- play it on your computer, sync it with your phone or mp3 player, burn it on CD -- whatever you want. It's yours.

So these are the five songs I chose to download this week. It'll give you a sense of all the different music Freegal has to offer. (And, once more, it's free with your library card.)

Two quick caveats first: One, these aren't necessarily the five songs you should get. You can download whatever five songs you want -- with your parents' permission.

Two, this isn't a "Mentor Public Library" endorsement of these songs or the artists. Once more, they're just the five songs I downloaded. (In case you're wondering, the "I" here is Jason Lea. I'm the Community Outreach Coordinator for the library.)

So, without further prologue, my Freegal picks from this week:

1. Jolene by Dolly Parton: This is classic country. Even Questlove loves this song.

2. Hopeless Wanderer by Mumford & Sons: You can download the music video for this song on Freegal, as well. (I hope Ed Helms and Jason Sudeikis appear in more music videos. They could do some brilliant stuff with 2 Chainz.) But you should know, videos count for two downloads; so that means you'll get one less song that week.)

3. Chameleon by Herbie Hancock: I prefer Hancock's original; but if you like Maynard Ferguson's brassier, more aggressive version, they have that on Freegal too.

4. Brave by Sara Bareilles: This was my song of summer and somehow I went the entirety of the summer without downloading it. I was probably too busy getting Suit & Tie and Get Lucky. (Yes, both are available on Freegal. However, if your summer jam was Robin Thicke's Blurred Lines, you can use your library card to stream the whole album from Hoopla.)

5. Nas Is Like by Nas: I could have expended all five downloads on Nas songs... or Herbie Hancock or Dolly Parton, for that matter. That's why this is such a difficult choice each week.

But it's a choice worth making because, when it's over, you get a whole lot of free music to love.

One last note: If you're having trouble navigating Freegal, MPL Adult Reference Librarian Mary Pelton made a video explaining how you can sign up and use it.