Here’s a novel idea. What if you could download music for free — legally?

Starting today, cardholders at the

can do just that as the library launches

, a download service, on its website.

Freegal, introduced last May by the Virginia-based company

enables libraries across the country to pay a fee to give patrons free access to the gigantic

catalog.

The diverse catalog includes about 500,000 songs, with hits and little-known tracks by big names such as

,

,

, the

,

and

.

All residents need is a Multnomah County Library card and a pin number, and they can download up to three songs a week. That’s 156 songs year. Patrons can download songs onto a computer, MP3 player or mobile device at home or at library computer stations with a flash drive or MP3 player.

And the songs aren’t on loan. Once you download them, they’re yours.

“Just as the library went from circulating 8-tracks to vinyl records to cassette tapes to CDs, that progression now leads to the availability of digital MP3 files through this web-based services,” said library Director Vailey Oehlke. “It’s a natural evolution for the library, one that makes it easier for patrons to connect with music and to keep it in their collection forever.”

Multnomah County is the second Oregon library to offer the service, after the

. It’s unclear if other local libraries will add the service, but Washington County has no plans to at this time. Nationally, more than 300 libraries have signed on. Libraries pay based on expected users. Multnomah County spent $87,000 for a six-month trial and predicts the service will be a big hit. Patrons have already shown their love of music, checking CDs out nearly 2.5 million times from February 2010 to January 2011.

When the

rolled out Freegal last month, it got 12,300 downloads in three weeks.

“It’s been great,” said Kirk Blankenship of the Seattle library. “We saw a spike in new card requests, and it brought a lot of people to the library not just for those songs, but for the other services.”

Brian Downing, president of Library Ideas, says Freegal — which merges “free” and “legal”— fills the gap between pay sites and the illegal downloads that brought down Napster a decade ago and has snagged some in lawsuits. Sony sees dollars for songs that otherwise might be downloaded illegally. Libraries get to attract new people to their websites and services. And, of course, the rest of us get free tunes.

“It’s a great thing,” Downing said. “No matter what people are looking for, they can find some of that. This is what libraries are about, exposing people to different art forms."

Multnomah County Library cards are available free to residents of Multnomah or Washington Counties in Oregon, or if you live in one of of these Washington State jurisdictions: Camas, Woodland or Yale, or Clark, Skamania or Klickitat counties. If you live outside the city limits of Johnson City in Clackamas County, you may

also get a free library card.

If you live outside of these areas, you can purchase a yearly library card for $135.

To download music, go to the

, enter your library card and pin number, search for songs, artists or genres and begin downloading.

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