The internet is full of “free stuff.” I’m not talking about things that we find and simply use, but knowledge, art and even some music (legal for downloading). On this Off the Beaten Path, we check out a few of the freebies recently posted. The links here include a few “reruns” if you missed these in the past.
25,000 Old Records
From a Philadelphia company comes 25,000 records, thousands and thousands of songs and growing. It’s “The Great 78 Project,” a bunch of stuff from the days before LPs and 45s. Due to less standardized technology, the need to develop a turntable with four tone arms was presented. Each arm held a different stylus primed for the digital transfer of the old 78s. Here’s the story and link to that collection.
Free Art
If you’re looking for art and are interested in copyright-free images, here a link to centuries-old art. We’re not talking about dogs playing poker either. Here’s the link to the story behind this art with link to this British Library’s collection from the 17th, 18th and 19th century.
Free “Production” Music
This link claims to be royalty-free music. With that said, always use caution on stuff like this as to what they claim and be sure it truly IS royalty free. Music like this works well for production music or fill.
Free NASA Sounds
Looking to “zombie out” listening to the strange sounds in space? Trying to find that very unique of special weird sound for a production? From the people who landed us on the moon and send probes into deep space comes “Space Sounds Greatest Hits.” Okay, not how they market it, but just imagine old 70s TV commercial announcing “Space Sounds” … for free.
Public Domain Treasures (Free)
Want to get crazy on your next little video production? Interested in using some old public domain film, audio, pics and even some 3D models? This site contains a lot of interesting stuff.
Free Download Manager
Looking for an easier way to do a download or transfer (with Mac or Windows)? Sites like download.com and others have many of these, but so many come with spyware. My disclaimer here is to be careful with some of these and only use them for legal downloads and transfers.
Goofy Free Information
As kids, we’d dig in the backyard only to hear “you trying to dig a hole to China?” This goofy website shows you EXACTLY where you’ll come out if you could dig straight through the Earth. Just a funny bit of free information (and useless) showing a head going in a hole anywhere you choose on Earth, and where that head would pop out. (And, no, I don’t make this stuff up.)
And finally …
Ever see a funky little house or building “squeezed in” somewhere unexpected? Sometimes it is the result of mini “land wars.” Maybe a tiny piece of property someone owns and they want to put that to use. Maybe a neighbor that made another neighbor mad? In any case, here’s a funny little web article with pics from URBO about that topic. (Thanks to Tommy Chong of “Cheech & Chong” fame for posting this one.)
If you stumble across a good or unusual website that might be of interest, please don’t hesitate to send me the link and any info you might have about it. My email address is [email protected].
