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Download and Watch Free Public Domain Movies

July 19, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Did you know that you can download and watch free public domain movies from your own home computer? A movie published between 1923 and 1963 will go into the public domain 28 years after the date that it is published. This means the work in question has become public property and it can be reprinted or re-broadcasted by anyone. You do not have to get permission from the original author and you do not have to worry about royalty payments.

You can search for public domain movies and download them for free and watch them on your computer at home. You won’t find the hottest new releases this way but you can find some very good movies, especially if you are a fan of the classics. What kind of movies are we talking about here?

Here are some examples:

 The Contender
 Charlie Chaplin
 Roy Rogers
 And more

But finding these movies online isn’t always so easy. If you try a basic search engine search, you’re going to find thousands, maybe even millions of sites about movies, offering movies or selling movies. You may also find sites with illegal, pirated copies of movies. This is not the same as public domain movies which are typically older movies.

Even when you do find sites with public domain movies, you will see that there are different types of them. Some are subscription sites where you pay a membership fee to gain access to the free public domain movies. Other sites sell stock footage of public domain movies and you will pay per movie you choose. The final type- and the one you will most want to find- will allow you to download these movies completely for free.

While it may take a little extra digging to find the totally free, non-subscription sites, it is well worth it to take the time to do so. You can be enjoying all of your favorite classic movies that made their way into the public domain and you don’t have to pay anything for them.

If you have a CD or DVD burner you can copy your movies onto disc for easier viewing later and to save space on the hard drive of your computer. You can also make copies and give to other people and since they are public domain, you even have the right to sell them if you so choose.

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Getting Free Public Domain Books Online

July 19, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Are you an avid reader? Do you have a school project that requires you to read a classic or older book? Do you enjoy reading books from online downloads or getting downloadable audio books? If you’ve answered yes to any of these questions, then you may enjoy free public domain books.

You can download many great books from your computer for free and read them without paying a dime. How is this possible? Well, about 15% of the books in the world are part of the public domain. This means they are accessible to the public to use however they want and you don’t have to pay for them.

What kind of books are we talking about here? Well, as mentioned, there are many books in the public domain and that doesn’t mean all of them are going to be something you want to read. In fact, a good majority of them are probably books you have never heard of before. But there are also some great classics that are public domain.

Some examples of time-worthy books you may want to consider are:

1. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
2. The Art of War by 6th Cent B.C. Sunzi
3. The Notebooks of Leonardi Da Vinci
4. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
5. Paradise Lost by John Milton
6. The Iliad by Homer
7. Beyond Good and Evil by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzche
While you won’t find the hottest new releases on the public domain, there are many great books to read that you can download completely for free.

So where can you find these public domain books? There are actually many different sources for public domain books but one location is Project Gutenburg. There are over 25,000 free books, mostly classic literature, in the Project Gutenburg online catalogue. If you’re looking for audio books, those are found in the public domain as well.

A book is considered public domain if it no longer has a specific copyright holder. There may have been a copyright holder at one time but there isn’t any more. There are different reasons why a book’s copyright may expire. In most countries, a book is copyrighted for 20 years but in the United States, the laws are a bit different regarding this.

In the U.S., any book published after 1923 becomes public domain 95 years after the date that it was published. Books that are published after 1978 will become public domain 70 years after the author’s death.

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The Difference between Copyright and Public Domain Music

July 19, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Do you know the difference between copyright and public domain music? Sometimes it can get a little confusing and many people tend to get the two mixed up. The authors of copyrighted music own the rights to these compositions exclusively. You can not use this music for your own personal gain in any way without the direct permission of the author. The copyrights to this music stay in effect for many years. It can be transferred, sold or even inherited by another family member during this time but the copyrighted music will still be protected. This means it cannot be used without permission from the one holding the copyrights.

You can use free public domain music for your own personal use without the permission of the author. However, it is important that you make absolutely sure the music you use is not protected by copyrights. Therefore, before you use any music make sure it is not copyrighted or that the copyrights have expired so you can use it legally. It is important to keep in mind that the copyright laws of today are different than what was placed on some of the older music so, check the date of the music and the laws pertaining to that year carefully before using the music.

Do not confuse free copyright music with free public domain music. There is a huge difference and you could get in trouble if you do. Free copyright music is free for you to listen to personally such as when they are downloaded into MP3 players and cell phones. However, you cannot reuse it for your own personal gain. It is still protected by copyright laws.

There is also a difference between recorded music and written music. Most all music in the United States that is recorded and copyrighted will be protected until the year 2067. You will also find that copyright laws vary from country to country and you will need to go by the laws of the country the music was copyrighted in.

One good way to make sure the music you find is free to use is by looking for music that has a copyright date on it. It should be safe to use any music that was published before 1922. However, you do need to make sure that you are using the original and not a more recent version that has already been remade and copyrighted by someone else.

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